Combined effects of anisotropy and heterogeneity of materials on ultrasonic field radiation

Anisotropy of materials (e.g., stainless steel, composites) has strong effects on ultrasonic radiation. In components of complex inner structure (welds, multi-layered composite plate etc...) heterogeneity and anisotropy combine resulting in complicated and non-intuitive field structure. A model developed at CEA for quantitatively predicting fields radiated in such media is presented. Examples given (effects of stainless steel cladding, radiation in a weld) demonstrate the necessity for accurate modeling tools to improve NDT methods in such cases.