A performance appraisal of flexible array structures using a facet ensemble scattering technique [transducers]

Flexible transducers offer new and versatile applications for improved ultrasonic operation in the fields of nondestructive examination and biomedicine. In this study, the design of such transducers is assisted by the extensive use of a linear systems thickness model to predict the transduction process. The practical imaging capabilities of these flexible transducers and the subsequent development of signal processing and imaging strategies is appraised by a modified facet ensemble technique, whereby the scattering surface is synthesized from a number of elementary, planar strip reflectors, positioned end to end in two dimensional space. This simulation model permits the generation of high quality synthetic ultrasonic scan data for curved arrays insonifying arbitrary surface topographies. Both theoretical and experimental array performance for a prototype array configuration are compared, and good agreement is achieved for the images thus obtained via image reconstruction techniques for a variety of surface topographies