One-dimensional equivalent circuit for ultrasonic transducer arrays

Ultrasonic transducer arrays utilized in medical imaging and NDT applications are generally composed of several piezoelectric elements arranged in 1D or 2D ways. These structures are usually modeled by sophisticated 2D and 3D numerical methods. In this paper, a one-dimensional electromechanical circuit inspired from the Mason’s simplified one, is utilized to model a transducer array composed of seven piezoelectric elements made of PZ27. The validity and the limitations of the model are pointed out by comparing the computed electrical impedances and displacements to the ones obtained experimentally. The novelty of our approach is to offer a simple electrical method to analyze the physical behavior of piezoelectric transducer arrays. This one, allows the study of the mechanical crosstalk between array elements and does not need expensive experiments such as displacement measurements using a laser vibrometer. Finally, the electrical model is expected to be utilized in harmonic and transient domain in order the reduce the crosstalk phenomenon.