Beam profiles are often a key output used in the design of phased array transducers.
In this design study, we will simulate a 2D phased array to see the effects of focus angle on beam profile.
What is symbol?: Check out these articles to get more familiar with OnScale's scripting language symbol.
Phased arrays are ultrasonic devices which are made up of multiple elements which transmit and receive signals that are pulsed from each element in such a way that causes the sound waves to combine to form a single wave front propagating in a direction. The direction of the beam can be controlled by adding delays to the firing of each element (a.k.a. delay laws). This 2D phased array consists of 16 elements which is focused using an angle and a radius. This angle will be swept from -30 to 30 degrees to see the change in beam profile.
Download and Open the Model
OnScale Input Files have the file extension *.flxinp. To open the downloaded file:
- Open OnScale
- Select Analyst Mode
- Select the Menu button in the top left of the application
- Select Open
Preview model is used to view the geometry dimensions and material assignment of a model to ensure the script is correct. To preview a model, select the Preview Model icon in the Home tab of the application ribbon.
Note: Preview model will display data from any grph commands that come before the prcs command. If you have more than one grph command, you can cycle through the graphics by continuously selecting Preview Model. To close the preview, select Stop Preview.
Run Model on Cloud
To run the model on the cloud, select the Run on Cloud button in the Home tab of the application and follow these steps:
- Click Select and open the file you wish to run (2D_Phased_Array.flxinp)
- Set Start Value of angle to -30 and End Value to 30
- Set Increment of angle to 5
- Select Estimate
- Select Run
- From the Home tab, select the Storage icon
- Select the Refresh icon to refresh storage
- Select the Job Name from the dropdown menu
- Select all Simulation folders using SHFT + Select
- Right click on Simulation folder and select Download Selection By Type > .flxhst
- Repeat Step 5 for .flxext
- Repeat Step 5 for .flxdato
- Repeat Step 5 for .2D_Phased_Array
Choose a directory to download the results to. These results will be stored in the folder: 2D_Phased_Array-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS where YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS is the current date and time.
Switch to Post Processor
Post Processor is a suite of tools used to visualize and analyse output data generated from OnScale simulations. Switch to Post Post Processor.
What kind of analysis can I do in Post Processor? Find out here.
To see some of the beam profiles from the simulations, follow these steps:
- In File Explorer, navigate to the download directory, expand folder Simulation 1 and double click the file '2D_Phased_Array.flxdato' to load it
- Repeat Step 1 for files in Simulation 4, 8 and 11
- In the Home tab, select Configure Viewport > 4_1 and click the first viewport
- In Results Manager, double click the first data array 'pmax' to open it
- Repeat Steps 3 & 4, plotting the second 'pmax' data array in the second viewport and so on
- Select the first viewport and in Plot Controls set Plot Title to 20 degrees
- Tick the User defined data range box and set Max to 6e+4
- Repeat Steps 6 & 7 but set the Titles to -15 degrees, 5 degrees and 20 degrees
Simulate a 3D Phased Array