The role of the reflection coefficient in precision measurement of ultrasonic attenuation

Ultrasonic attenuation measurements using contact, pulse-echo techniques are sensitive to surface roughness and couplant thickness variations. This can reduce considerable inaccuracies in the measurement of the attenuation coefficient for broadband pulses. Inaccuracies arise from variations in the reflection coefficient at the buffer-couplant-sample interface. The reflection coefficient is examined as a function of the surface roughness and corresponding couplant thickness variations. Interrelations with ultrasonic frequency are illustrated. Reliable attenuation measurements are obtained only when the frequency dependence of the reflection coefficient is incorporated in signal analysis. Data are given for nickel 200 samples and a silicon nitride ceramic bar having surface roughness variations in the 0.3 to 3.0 microns range for signal bandwidths in the 50 to 100 MHz range

Ultrasound attenuation dependence on air compression or expansion processes

In this work variation of ultrasonic attenuation coefficient is analyzed in terms of air compression or expansion processes. In\ud closed spaces changing air volume, the ultrasound attenuation coefficient depends on thermodynamic processes which occur\ud during the air volume change. Two limiting cases are possible: 1) if the change of air volume is very slow or intensive heat\ud exchange occurs between the system and surrounding environments, so the system stays in a thermodynamic equilibrium;\ud therefore an isothermal process occurs; 2) if the change of air volume is very fast or the working environment has a good thermal\ud insulation, so the heat exchange between the system and the surrounding environment does not occur. In this case an adiabatic\ud process is presented. The attenuation coefficient of ultrasound varies very differently depending on the process (isothermal or\ud adiabatic) that occurs during the change of air volume. In particular, these differences occur when measurements are carried out in\ud a frequency range above 500 kHz during air compression. Initial relative air humidity has high influence on the ultrasonic signals\ud attenuation. Carrying out ultrasonic measurements in such systems, due to reliability of the measurements it is necessary to\ud evaluate thermodynamic process and ultrasound attenuation variation during the process. Oversaturated water vapour may occur\ud during the measurement process, therefore the measurement conditions become more complicated.\ud Keywords: attenuation of acoustic signals in air, relative humidity, isothermal process, adiabatic proces

Preparation and characterization of cogon grass natural fiber as a concrete filler for gamma radiation shielding

Concrete is a combination of cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, and water. Concrete has a high shielding potential against gamma radiation from radioactive source. Concretes having a higher attenuation coefficient may be produced by varying the additives of various specific densities to increase the shielding performance. This study uses a cogon grass fiber, an invasive and unwanted grass due to their ability to grow, and disrupt desirable vegetation efficiently as a reinforcement material mixed into the concrete composite to observe its performance in radiation shielding. Natural fiber is known to have a tolerance to post splitting, high energy absorption and increased fatigue resistance of cement-based composites. Cogon grass fibers are use with different percentages of 0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% fiber content with four different thicknesses. In this study, the chemical and physical properties of cogon grass were characterized by the hydrolysis process (Chesson Method) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), respectively. The effect of different percentage of cogon grass fiber in concrete with different thickness to linear attenuation coefficient, the difference of linear attenuation coefficient value between lead concrete and cogon grass fiber concrete and half value layer (HVL) were also investigated. The possibility of using cogon grass natural fiber as a block of concrete for gamma radiation shielding was also evaluated based on the results obtained in this study. The results show that the hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin content of raw cogon grass fiber were 27.60%, 36.62% and 6.11%, respectively. AFM micrograph of cogon grass showed a blocky and rough surface. The calculated linear attenuation coefficient of cogon grass fiber showed an increase with the increase of fiber content and thickness. However, lead concrete showed a higher attenuation coefficient and lower HVL value compared to cogon grass fiber. Despite that, cogon grass fiber concrete may have the potential to be used as shielding material with some improvement

On the attenuation coefficient of monomode periodic waveguides

It is widely accepted that, on ensemble average, the transmission T of guided modes decays exponentially with the waveguide length L due to small imperfections, leading to the important figure of merit defined as the attenuation-rate coefficient alpha = -/L. In this letter, we evidence that the exponential-damping law is not valid in general for periodic monomode waveguides, especially as the group velocity decreases. This result that contradicts common beliefs and experimental practices aiming at measuring alpha is supported by a theoretical study of light transport in the limit of very small imperfections, and by numerical results obtained for two waveguide geometries that offer contrasted damping behaviours

Methods for correcting microwave scattering and emission measurements for atmospheric effects

The author has identified the following significant results. Algorithms were developed to permit correction of scattering coefficient and brightness temperature for the Skylab S193 Radscat for the effects of cloud attenuation. These algorithms depend upon a measurement of the vertically polarized excess brightness temperature at 50 deg incidence angle. This excess temperature is converted to an equivalent 50 deg attenuation, which may then be used to estimate the horizontally polarized excess brightness temperature and reduced scattering coefficient at 50 deg. For angles other than 50 deg, the correction also requires use of the variation of emissivity with salinity and water temperature

Image reconstruction using iterative transpose algorithm for optical tomography

This paper describes a transpose algorithm for use with an optical tomography system. The measurement system consisted of two orthogonal arrays, each having ten parallel views, resulting in a total of twenty sensors. The measurement section is divided into hundred equi-sized pixels. The forward problem is modelled by allocating an optical attenuation coefficient to each pixel. The attenuation of incident collimated light beams is then modelled using the Lambert-Beer law. The inverse problem is defined and the transpose of the sensitivity matrix is used to obtain an estimate of the attenuation coefficients in each pixel. The iterative method is investigated as a means of improving reconstructed image qualit

Critical sound attenuation in a diluted Ising system

The field-theoretic description of dynamical critical effects of the influence of disorder on acoustic anomalies near the temperature of the second-order phase transition is considered for three-dimensional Ising-like systems. Calculations of the sound attenuation in pure and dilute Ising-like systems near the critical point are presented. The dynamical scaling function for the critical attenuation coefficient is calculated. The influence of quenched disorder on the asymptotic behaviour of the critical ultrasonic anomalies is discussed.Comment: 12 RevTeX pages, 4 figure