MATHEMATICAL BASIS OF ULTRASONIC TOMOGRAPHY FOR INTEGRITY EVALUATION IN WOOD STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

ABSTRACT

Ultrasonic tomography is a non-destructive technique used in the internal evaluation of wooden elements. Usually, research in this area lies in the influence of different factors in the obtained tomograms given by commercial software. The mathematical fundamentals of tomography are sparsely discussed. The aim of this study is to present the mathematical process, and thus to allow the implementing of a specific computational tool. This paper presents preliminary results for detecting internal flaws in wood specimens. The generated images identify the presence of the flaws, and show the influence of the material anisotropy in the ultrasonic pulse velocity.

Keywords:
nondestructive test; ultrasound; inspection