Patent ID: 7516664

Claim:
A method for an ultrasonic testing of a workpiece in a curved surface area thereof, the method which comprises: providing an ultrasonic test head with an ultrasonic transducer configuration having a plurality of individually driveable transducer elements arranged next to one another; acoustically coupling the ultrasonic test head to the workpiece in the curved surface area; respectively combining, in chronologically successive test cycles, a number of transducer elements to form a group and driving the transducer elements in a plurality of test pulses within the test cycle in a time-delayed manner with respect to one another, and to sweep a transmitted ultrasound beam in the test cycle within a predetermined angular range, so that each group receives a number of echo signals corresponding to a number of test pulses from different directions of the workpiece; and determining which test pulse results in a backwall echo signal maximum, and using the echo signals of the test pulse for assessment purposes for which the backwall echo signal received from a backwall is at a maximum.