Laws of formation of grating lobes in the acoustic field of electromagnetic–acoustic transducers as a linear array of unidirectional conductors

Abstract Investigation of acoustic fields of transducers is the important stage of development of techniques and means of ultrasonic testing. Appearance of grating lobes in the acoustic field of phased array is possible, thus leading to misinterpretation of testing results. The paper proposes the model of an electromagnetic acoustic (EMA) transducer represented as a linear array of unidirectional conductors with current. The influence of the design features and excitation parameters of this transducer on formation of grating lobes is investigated. It is shown that the amplitude of grating lobes is mainly determined by the gap between the inductor and the testing object, the operating frequency of the transducer, pulse character of excitation and the aperture, number and parameters of unit elements of the inductor. The necessity of searching for a compromise between achieving the required sensitivity and the absence of grating lobes is stated. The obtained results can be applied when developing the design of EMA transducers with optimization of the gap, aperture, number and parameters of the inductor elements to achieve the required directional pattern.