2.

1 Perpendicular Incidence on Single, Plane Interfaces 17

If, in the reverse case, the wave coming from water strikes steel, an exchange of
Z1 and Z2 gives
R = +0.935, D = 1.935.

Since R is positive, incident and reflected wave are in phase. The transmitted wave
has 193.5 % of the sound pressure (Fig. 2.1 b).
In ultrasonics amplitude (and intensity) ratios are measured in decibels (dB)
(cf. Section 6.1). For amplitudes of sound pressure P (or intensities J) the following
definition applies:

ratio in decibels =20 19 ;: dB (= 10 19 ~: dB).

Applying this to the values of the factors of reflection and transmission in the above
example, one obtains for the transition steel/water:
IR I = -0.58 dB (0.58 dB decrease of the reflected amplitude compared with the
incident),
I D I = -23.81 dB (23.81 dB decrease of the transmitted amplitude compared with
the incident).
For the reverse transition from water to steel one obtains:
IR 1= -0.58dB,
ID I = + 5.74 dB (5.74 dB increase of the transmitted amplitude compared with
the incident).
At first glance a sound pressure exceeding 100 %seems paradoxical and one su-
spects a contradiction of the energy law. However, according to Eq. (1.4) the inten-
sity, Le. the energy per unit time and unit area, is not calculated from the sound
pressure (squared) only but also from the acoustic impedance of the material in
which the wave travels. However, since this impedance in steel is very much greater
than in water, the calculation shows that the intensity of the transmitted wave is
very much smaller there than in water in spite of the higher sound pressure.
The balance expressed in intensities calculated for a given boundary in the case
of perpendicular incidence gives

i.e. the incident intensity appears again as the sum of the reflected and transmitted
intensities, as required by the law of conservation of energy. However, in the case of
sound pressure one has

P. + Pr = Pd or 1+R = D
as is confirmed when recalculating the above two cases.
Phase reversal, characterised by a negative value of R, always occurs in the case
of reflection from the sonically softer material. However, since the phase value is
usually of no interest when testing materials, we shall generally omit the negative
sign in what follows.
Disregarding the sign, the reflecting power is independent of the sequence of
two materials but not, however, their transmittance.