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PCDISP: a tool for the simulation of wave propagation in cylindrical

waveguides

Article · January 2011

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This paper describes an old (2002) version of the PCDISP package. I recommend you check this
one instead:

F.Seco and A.R. Jiménez, "Modelling the generation and propagation of ultrasonic signals in
cylindrical waveguides", in Ultrasonic waves, Intech Open Access Publisher (2012), chapter 1, pp.
1-28 (ISBN 978-953-307-955-4).

Find it here:

http://www.car.upm-csic.es/lopsi/people/fernando.seco/papers/chapter_pcdisp.pdf
 PCDISP: A TOOL FOR THE SIMULATION OF WAVE
PROPAGATION IN CYLINDRICAL WAVEGUIDES
Fernando Seco, José Miguel Martín, Antonio Jiménez, José Luis Pons, Leopoldo Calderón, Ramón
Ceres

Instituto de Automática Industrial (CSIC)

Ctra. De Campo Real km 0,200 28500 Arganda del Rey, Madrid, Spain

Corresponding e-mail: fseco@iai.csic.es

Abstract

In this communication we present a scientific software package named PCDISP, that allows to study
quantitatively several aspects of the propagation of mechanical waves in waveguides with cylindrical
symmetry (namely solid cylinders and pipes in vacuum). The Pochhammer-Chree frequency equation,
which is the mathematical foundation of the software, is discussed first. Then we illustrate the use of
PCDISP to study the following properties of the behavior of the waveguide: (a) the structuration of waves in
three families of propagation modes (torsional, longitudinal and flexural); (b) the dispersion curves of the
phase and group speed; (c) the distribution of the displacement vector, stress and strain tensors and energy
flow across the waveguide; (d) the propagation of signals; and, (e) the response of the waveguide to arbitrary
external stresses and volume forces using modal analysis. The utility of the modal analysis technique is
demonstrated in the problem of the generation of ultrasound in a steel pipe with a phased transducer array.
PCDISP has been developed in the Matlab environment, and its source code is open and available for
download from the Internet.

INTRODUCTION

The interest in the propagation of ultrasound waves in solid waveguides arises in several areas of the
acoustical community. The main practical application is probably the non-destructive testing (NDT) of
piping, cables, etc. The advantages of using guided waves for testing are summarized in [1] as: (a) ability to
test a long structure from a single probe position; (b) inspection of its entire cross section; and (c) possibility
of in-site inspection (under water, without removal of insulation, etc). Conversely, some practical
considerations to be addressed are the mode selection for defect detection, dispersive effects, frequency
response, etc. There are many research groups actively working in the utilization of guided waves in NDT
[2,3,1].

Except for a commercial package [4], the authors know of no general purpose software that permits
the numerical study of wave propagation in cylindrical waveguides, so every researcher of the field must
develop her own programs. This is a time consuming task because several non trivial aspects of the
numerical solution of the frequency equation need to be addressed. We want to contribute a software, named
PCDISP, written in an open environment (Matlab), and which can be used freely and adapted by every
researcher for her own purposes.

PCDISP is available for download from the page of the author

(http://www.iai.csic.es/users/fseco/pcdisp.htm).

PCDISP FEATURES
Theoretical Background

Only a minimal background on the mathematical theory of wave propagation in cylindrical waveguides, as
well as the conventions used by the software, will be given here. The reader is referred to more
comprehensive references [5,6,7] for further study.

Waves propagating in the z+ direction along the waveguide are assumed to be time harmonic and
can be described by:
 
u (r , , z, t )  u (r )e jn e j (t z ) , (1)
   
where u  ur er  u e  u z ez is the displacement vector in cylindrical coordinates (r,, z), and  and  are
the frequency and the wavenumber, respectively. The circumferential order n is an integer that describes the
symmetry of the waveform around the z axis. The modes with n=0 (axisymmetric) can be decoupled in two
families: torsional T(0,m), with azimuthal displacement only, and longitudinal, L(0,m), with both axial and
radial displacements. The modes without axial symmetry are named flexural, (F(n,m), with n  1 ) and
exhibit all three displacements coupled. The three families of modes are illustrated in figure 1.

Figure 1: torsional, longitudinal and flexural modes in a cylindrical waveguide.

When the assumed waveform of equation 1 is combined with the boundary conditions (namely, that the
inner and outer surfaces are traction-free [6]), we arrive at the frequency equation for the waveguide:

det D f ( , , n;{ p})  0 , (2)

where Df is a 66 matrix, whose elements are given in file pcmat of PCDISP. The pipe parameters, {p},
are: inner radius a and outer radius b, bar velocity c0, and Poisson ratio . As can be seen from equation (2),
for a given {p} and circumferential order, the result is an implicit relationship between the frequency and the
wavenumber, which can be solved to find a finite (possibly zero) number of propagating modes, with real
wavenumbers, and an infinite number of evanescent modes, which have complex wavenumbers and do not
propagate. PCDISP zero finding routine (pcsolvefreqeq) uses Ridders method [8] to solve equation (2).

Dispersion Curves and Signal Propagation

The pcdisp routine solves the implicit relationship between frequency and wavenumber,  ( ) , given by
equation (2), and computes the phase and group velocities from the usual definitions:

 d
c ph ( )  c g ( )  . (3)
 d

Dispersion curves are used to find which modes are excited at a given frequency. Also, from these curves,
the propagation of arbitrary signals in the waveguide can be simulated by the method outlined in [9], and
implemented in routine pcprop.
Mode Profiles

From a known solution of the frequency equation, the mode shape (i.e. the radial distributions of the
 
displacement vector u (r ) , stress tensor,  (r ) , and power flow P(r ) ), are computed with the pcwaveform
routine. In NDT, mode profiles are useful to understand which defects are likely to be detected by a given
excited mode. Mode shapes are also required for modal analysis.

Modal Analysis

Modal analysis is a mathematical method to find the response of a waveguide when excited by arbitrary
external forces [10]. The signal is expanded as a sum of a finite number of propagating modes
 
(  p a p ( z )u p (r , ) ) and an infinite sum of non-propagating ( q aq ( z )uq (r , ) ) modes. The amplitudes of
the propagating modes, a p (z ) , are computed as:
 j z

a p ( z) 
e p
4 Pp 
Rg
e
 j p z '
f p
s

( z ' )  f pv ( z ' ) dz ' , (4)

where Pp is the power carried by mode p, Rg is the generation region and the terms f ps (z ) and f pv (z ) are
given by:

  
f ps ( z )   j  u *p (r , )   e (r , , z )  en dl ,  (5)
D
and

f pv ( z )   j  u~p* (r , )  fˆe (r , , z ) dS .  (6)
D

PCDISP functions pcextvolfor and pcextstress contain respectively the volumetric forces
 
f e (r , , z ) acting in the material of the tube (region D), and the traction stresses  e ( , z ) applied on the
internal and external surfaces (region D ). The routine pcanamod can be used to find the amplitude of the
modes excited, as a function of frequency or other parameters.

Limitations and future developments of PCDISP

The main limitation of PCDISP is its inability to handle complex roots of the frequency equation, thus being
unable to model media with losses, fluids, etc. To consider such roots it is needed to develop a reliable zero
finding algorithm in two dimensions [4]. Another future addition is the handling of multilayer systems
through the MLM technique [7].

STUDY OF A PHASED TRANSDUCER ARRAY WITH PCDISP

As an example of the application of PCDISP, we will show how it can be used in the study of a piezoelectric
phased transducer array for the generation of ultrasonic waves in a pipe [11]. This device consists of a
number of piezoelectric (PZT) rings capable of exerting a normal traction stress  rr on the external surface
of the tube. The same excitation signal is applied to all of the elements, although delayed by fixed fractions
of the signal period, achieving one-sided generation as well as very good mode selection. We will consider
the testing of a Schedule 40S 4” steel pipe, with the data given in table 1.

pctdpra.m pcextstresstdpra.m
Inner radius (m) a=51.1310-3 Periods Nper=4
Outer radius (m) b=57.1510-3 Elements per ring Nel=5
Bar velocity (m/s) c0=5060 Ring width (m) zringwidth=410-3
Poisson ratio nu=0.30 Ring separation (m) zringsep=1.2510-3
 Table 1: mechanical data of the pipe and the designed phased array transducer.

Dispersion curves (phase speed)

8000

7000

6000 L(0,2)

Phase speed (m/s)

5000

4000 load
line
3000

2000 L(0,1)

1000

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Frequency (kHz)

Figure 2: dispersion curves and design line c ph  S  f .

The dispersion curves for the longitudinal modes in the pipe for frequencies up to 300 kHz are shown
in figure 2. Two modes are present for frequencies above 16 kHz, so the working frequency must be chosen
at which the modes L(0,1) and L(0,2) are well separated, and also where the dispersion of the mode (the
slope dcph()/d) is minimal. From the dispersion curve and the design equation S=cph/f [11], we see that
mode L(0,2) can be excited at 200 kHz (phase speed of 5203 m/s), with an array of spatial period S = 26
mm. Suppose that we can only employ PZT rings with a fixed width of 4 mm, and control the separation
between adjacent rings. Then we could design a transducer consisting of 4 periods of 5 elements each, with a
ring separation of 1.25 mm, and total length of 104 mm, as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: designed phased array transducer. The phase in each PZT ring is indicated through the shade of
gray.

We test our analysis by finding the frequency response and directivity of the transducer; we also
check the power of the mode L(0,1), which will be inevitably generated along with mode L(0,2). Running
pcanamod with the parameters of table 1, we obtain the results of figure 4, where we notice a clear
separation betweem the ‘head’ and ‘tail’ directions of mode L(0,2) at 200 kHz (the relative power levels are
21.2 and –17.5 dB, respectively). At the same frequency the mode L(0,1) has a power inferior to –18 dB.
Although the first longitudinal mode is dominant around 70 kHz, from figure 2 we conclude that the
waveguide is highly dispersive at that frequency, which makes that mode useless in NDT applications.
 Power (logarithmic)
30 L(0,1) [head]
L(0,2) [head]
20

10 L(0,1) [tail]

Power (dB), re 1 W
0
L(0,2) [tail]

-10

-20

-30

-40

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Frequency (kHz)

Figure 4: frequency response of the enhanced (‘head’) and weakened (‘tail’) side of the phased transducer
array of figure 3, for modes L(0,1) and L(0,2).

The shape of mode L(0,2) at 200 kHz is computed with pcwaveform and displayed in figure 5. At
that frequency the mode has an almost constant power distribution in the cross section of the pipe.
Displacements & power flow, mode L(0,2), f = 200 kHz Stresses, mode L(0,2), f = 200 kHz
57 uz 57

56 56  zz
Power
Radius (mm)
Radius (mm)

55 55

54 54  rr

53 53

52 52
ur  rz

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Displacement Stress

Figure 5: displacement, stress and power flow of mode L(0,2) at 200 kHz.

Finally we illustrate the distortion suffered by a signal propagating in the waveguide, using the
pcprop routine, and an excitation signal consisting of 6 cycles of a pure sine wave (200 kHz) modulated
by a Hanning window. The waveforms at z=0 and after propagating 2, 4 and 6 m, are shown in figure 6.
 z = 0m z = 2m
1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 400 450 500

z = 4m z = 6m
1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
800 850 900 1200 1250 1300
Time (s) Time (s)

Figure 6: original and simulated signals after propagating 2, 4 and 6 m.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper we have presented a scientific software tool, named PCDISP, which permits to study
quantitatively the excitation and propagation of mechanical waves in pipes. PCDISP has been written in an
open environment that permits modifications and adaptations by the user. The software is demonstrated in
the design and evaluation of a phased array transducer.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The financial support for this research by the Comunidad de Madrid and the European Fund for Regional
Development (FEDER) is gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES

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[2] M. J. S. Lowe, D. N. Alleyne and P. Cawley “Defect detection in pipes using guided waves”,
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[3] H. Kwun and K. A. Bartels “Magnetostrictive sensor technology and its applications”, Ultrasonics,
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[4] B. Pavlakovic and M. Lowe “Disperse: A System for Generating Dispersion Curves. User’s
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[5] K. F. Graff, Wave Motion in Elastic Solids, Dover (1991)

[6] D. C. Gazis “Three-dimensional investigation of the propagation of waves in hollow circular

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[7] M. J. S. Lowe “Matrix Techniques for Modeling Ultrasonic Waves in Multilayered Media”, IEEE
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[8] W. H. Press, S. A. Teukolsky, W. T. Vetterling and B. P. Flannery, Numerical Recipes in C. The

Art of Scientific Computing, 4th edition, Cambridge University Press (1992).

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 [10] B. A. Auld, Acoustic Fields and Waves in Solids (Wiley Interscience, 1973)

[11] W. Zhu, “A Finite Element Analysis of the Time-Delay Periodic Ring Arrays for Guided Wave
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