A STUDY ON THE DESIGN OF A SHEAR-WAVE ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER CONSIDERING THE EFFECT OF THE SIDE LAYER

Most researches on the design of ultrasonic transducers deal with the optimal design of matching and backing layers. The importance of the s ide layer has not been noticed so much and detailed investigation into its effect has been done quite rarely even though it plays a vital ro le in the proper operation of a shear wave transducer. The effect of t he side layer structure and its material properties is analyzed with t hree-dimensional finite element method, and based on the results, a sh ear wave transducer with highest sensitivity is designed. The same pro cedure can also be applied to the design of a wideband transducer. The validity of the design is verified through comparison with experiment al data with a prototype transducer constructed following the design v alues. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.