skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Stochastic simulation for the propagation of high-frequency acoustic waves through a random velocity field

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4716408· OSTI ID:22004026
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. CEA, LIST, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

In-service inspection of Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) requires the development of non-destructive techniques adapted to the harsh environment conditions and the examination complexity. From past experiences, ultrasonic techniques are considered as suitable candidates. The ultrasonic telemetry is a technique used to constantly insure the safe functioning of reactor inner components by determining their exact position: it consists in measuring the time of flight of the ultrasonic response obtained after propagation of a pulse emitted by a transducer and its interaction with the targets. While in-service the sodium flow creates turbulences that lead to temperature inhomogeneities, which translates into ultrasonic velocity inhomogeneities. These velocity variations could directly impact the accuracy of the target locating by introducing time of flight variations. A stochastic simulation model has been developed to calculate the propagation of ultrasonic waves in such an inhomogeneous medium. Using this approach, the travel time is randomly generated by a stochastic process whose inputs are the statistical moments of travel times known analytically. The stochastic model predicts beam deviations due to velocity inhomogeneities, which are similar to those provided by a determinist method, such as the ray method.

OSTI ID:
22004026
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1430, Issue 1; Conference: 38. annual review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation, Burlington, VT (United States), 17-22 Jul 2011; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English