Abstract
Ultrasound signals have been used extensively for non-destructive evaluation (NDE). However, typical reconstruction
techniques, such as the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT), are limited to quasi-homogenous thin media. New ultrasonic
systems and reconstruction algorithms are in need for one-sided NDE of non-homogenous thick objects. An application example
space is imaging of reinforced concrete structures for commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs). These structures provide important
foundation, support, shielding, and containment functions. Identification and management of aging and degradation of concrete
structures is fundamental to the proposed long-term operation of NPPs. Another example is geothermal and oil/gas production
wells. These multi-layered structures are composed of steel, cement, and several types of soil and rocks. Ultrasound systems with
greater penetration range and image quality will allow for better monitoring of the well’s health and prediction of high-pressure
hydraulic fracturing of the rock. These application challenges need to be addressed with an integrated imaging approach, where the
application, hardware, and reconstruction software are highly integrated and optimized. Therefore, we are developing an ultrasonic
system with Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBIR) as the image reconstruction backbone. As the first implementation of
MBIR for ultrasonic signals, this paper document the first implementation of the algorithm and show reconstruction results for
synthetically generated data.
