Plane wave imaging for ultrasonic inspection of irregular structures with high frame rates

Abstract : Ultrasonic imaging with high frame rates is of great interest to perform fast inspections and to reduce NDE costs. In this communication, we propose a new fast imaging method which is derived from the medical Plane Wave Imaging (PWI). The PWI method is applied to different immersion-testing configurations (specimens with plane or complex surfaces) and to different imaging modes (imaging with direct or half-skip wave paths) according to the type of defects (point-like or extended crack-types defects).