Finite element analysis of transient receiving performances of PZT transducers

Due to structural parameters and acoustic impedance differences of piezoelectric transducers, unwanted reflection and wave conversion of the receiving signals occur,which will reduce sensitivity and resolution of an ultrasonic inspection system. The study is performed in this paper to reduce these reflection differences with the usual way. With a finite element modeling program ANSYS, several transducer configurations with different damping structure parameters and acoustic impedances are simulated. From the simulation, the wave field and electric field snapshots and voltage response waveforms are acquired , which make it possible to pinpoint the causes of reflection. It is found that the proper design can improve the performances of the transducers significantly. The results show that the finite element method is useful to the design analysis and can decrease the development time and cost of the piezoelectric transducers drastically