Modeling of an omni-directional electromagnetic acoustic transducer driven by the Lorentz force mechanism

Abstract

The electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) are gaining much attention in recent years due to their non-contact operation in ultrasonic wave generation and reception in NDT field. Quite often the transduction efficiency of EMATs is low, so efforts are always necessary to gain a better understanding of their complex and multi-physics transduction mechanism. In this work, we focused on modeling of an omni-directional Lorentz force-based EMAT operating on an aluminum disk and containing a rounded meander coil to generate a pure Lamb wave mode. We introduced an approach to solve the underlying eddy current equations in cylindrical coordinates directly, and applied this approach to a multi-conductor electromagnetic model to investigate the skin and proximity effects. These effects existed both for the complete and incomplete equations. Then we built the omni-directional EMAT model composed of three sub-models and two geometries. The two-geometry structure made it possible to reduce the total number of elements. Time varying spatial distribution of the Lorentz force vector was plotted. Propagation velocity of the simulated wave packet was compared with the group velocity of desired S0 mode Lamb waves. Interaction of the waves with a slot defect with a depth of 50% thickness was studied. The response to high current excitation and dynamic magnetic field was also investigated.