Estimation of liquid volume fraction using ultrasound transit time spectroscopy

Abstract

It has recently been proposed that the propagation of an ultrasound wave through complex structures, consisting of two-materials of differing ultrasound velocity, may be considered as an array of parallel ‘sonic rays’, the transit time of each determined by their relative proportion; being a minimum (tmin) in entire higher velocity material, and a maximum (tmax) in entire lower velocity material. An ultrasound transit time spectrum (UTTS) describes the proportion of sonic rays at an individual transit time. It has previously been demonstrated that the solid volume fraction of a solid:liquid composite, specifically acrylic step-wedges immersed in water, may be reliably estimated from the UTTS. The aim of this research was to investigate the hypothesis that the volume fraction of a two-component liquid mixture, of unequal ultrasound velocity, may also be estimated by UTTS. A through-transmission technique incorporating two 1 MHz ultrasound transducers within a horizontally-aligned cylindrical tube-housing was utilised, the proportion of silicone oil to water being varied from 0% to 100%. The liquid volume fraction was estimated from the UTTS at each composition, the coefficient of determination (R2%) being 98.9 ± 0.7%. The analysis incorporated a novel signal amplitude normalisation technique to compensate for absorption within the silicone oil. It is therefore envisaged that the parallel sonic ray concept and the derived UTTS may be further applied to the quantification of liquid mixture composition assessment.