Computational and Experimental

Studies on Aircraft Structural

Health Monitoring Systems

Joana Roque Capinha

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em

Engenharia Aeroespacial

Júri

Presidente: Professor Afzal Suleman

Co-orientador: Professor Agostinho Rui Alves da Fonseca
Co-orientador: Professor Afzal Suleman
Vogais: Professor Horácio Cláudio de Campos Neto

Outubro 2007
Abstract

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a research eld that has been growing in the
last years. It has the ultimate goal of guaranty the safety of the aircrafts but with
the minimal costs as possible. To achieve that, the aircrafts will be subjected to
nondestructive tests (NDT) that don't need them to stop their activity. The sensors
used in the tests will be ideally embedded in the structure and will be interrogated
when the aircrafts stop to regular inspection between ights or even when in the air.
Structural aws represent changes in eective thickness and local material prop-
erties. The Lamb waves can be used to detect those changes. Therefore mea-
surements of variations in Lamb wave propagation can be employed to assess the
integrity of structures.
This thesis will focus on the generation and reception of Lamb waves to detect
damage in a aluminum plate.
Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) were bonded on the plate to evaluate
its capability in Lamb wave generation and detection. The advantages of PWAS are
their simplicity, small size and potentially low cost.
The Lamb waves group velocity was predicted theoretically and compared with
the experimental results. The response to changes in the excitation frequency was
also studied. Cuts were made in the plate in order to see if the Lamb waves could
detect them.
Numerical simulations of the wave propagation process and interaction with
damage were also performed using the commercially available nite-element code
ANSYS.

i
Resumo

A monitorização da integridade estrutural de aeronaves é um campo de pesquisa

que tem vindo a crescer nos ultimos anos. O seu objectivo é garantir a segurança
das aeronaves com o minimo de custos possivel. Para atingir esse objectivo, as
aeronaves serão sujeitas a testes não destrutivos que não impliquem a sua paragem de
actividade. Os sensores usados nesses testes serão idealmente integrados na estrutura
e são interrogados quando a aeronave parar em actividades regulares de manutenção
entre voos ou até em pleno voo.
As falhas estruturais levam a alterações de espessura e de propriedades locais
do material. As ondas de Lamb podem ser usadas para detectar essas alterações.
Assim, medições de variação na propagação das ondas de Lamb podem ser usadas
para garantir a integridade de estruturas.
Esta tese vai focar-se na geração e recepção de ondas de Lamb para detectar
danos numa placa de aluminio.
Como sensores e actuadores serão usados piezoelectricos para testar a sua ca-
pacidade de gerar e receber ondas de Lamb. Este tipo de sensores/actuadores têm
como vantagem a sua simplicidade, pequenas dimensões e baixo custo.
A velocidade das ondas de Lamb foi calculada teoricamente e comparada com
os resultados experimentais. A resposta a variações na frequência de excitação foi
também estudada. Foram feitos cortes na placa para ver se eram detectaveis com
as ondas de Lamb.
São também efectuadas simulações numericas do processo de propagação das
ondas de Lamb e sua interação com danos utilizando o programa de elementos
nitos comercialmente disponivel, ANSYS.

ii
Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, professor Agostinho Fonseca

and professor Afzal Suleman, whose expertise, understanding, and patience, added
considerably to my graduate experience.
I have a special thank to Bruno Rocha who introduced me to the Lamb waves
concept. His guidance and support was very important along this all process. He
was able to pass me all his enthusiasm about this subject.
I would also have to thank Carlos Silva for his patience clarifying some doubts
and ideas changed.
Finally, I have to thank Pedro who always had faith in me and help me whenever
I needed.

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Contents

1 Introduction 3
1.1 Structural Health Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Thesis Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Nondestructive Tests and Evaluation 7

2.1 Historical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 NDT/NDE Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.1 Visual and Optical Testing (VT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2 Liquid Penetrant Inspection (LPI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.3 Magnetic Particle Testing (MT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.4 Electromagnetic Testing (ET) or Eddy Current Testing . . . . 13
2.2.5 Radiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.6 Ultrasonic Testing (UT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Lamb Waves 22
3.1 Dispersion Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 Selective excitation of Lamb wave modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3 Damage Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4 Piezoelectrics Sensors and Actuators 31

4.1 Piezoelectric eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2 PZT structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3 Piezoelectric as a sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4 Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.4.1 PWAS Generation of Lamb waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.5 Wave Propagation in Electromechanical Structures . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.5.1 Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.5.2 Wave Propagation Due to a Single Actuator . . . . . . . . . . 38

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5 Experimental Setup 43
5.1 Lamb Waves Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.1.1 Limitations of the equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.1.2 Actuation Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2 Dispersion Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.3 Time of Flight (TOF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.3.1 Direct Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.3.2 Reections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.4 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.4.1 Variation with the frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.4.2 2D Visualization of the Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

6 Damage Detection 61
6.1 First Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.2 Second cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.3 Increase of the damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

7 Numerical Simulations 66
7.1 Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.2 Natural Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.3 Lamb Wave Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.4 Damage Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.4.1 1D Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.4.2 2D Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

8 Conclusions and Further Research 73

8.1 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
8.2 Recommended Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

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List of Figures

2.1 Liquid applied to the surface of the part [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.2 Removal of the excess liquid from the surface [17] . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Penetrant out of the defect on the surface where it can be seen [17] . 10
2.4 Visual inspection under UV light[17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 A bar magnet with 2 poles [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Flux leakage eld [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.7 Longitudinal magnetic eld [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.8 Circular magnetic eld [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.9 The importance of magnetic eld orientation [17] . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.10 Detectability of aws according to direction of magnetic eld [17] . . 13
2.11 Lights for magnetic particle inspection [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.12 Lights for magnetic particle inspection [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.13 Eddy current principle [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.14 Here a small surface probe is scanned over the part surface in an
attempt to detect a crack [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.15 The electromagnetic spectrum [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.16 Radiation source [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.17 Radiographic images [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.18 Radiographic images [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.19 Typical ultrasonic system [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.20 Longitudinal and shear waves [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.21 Snell's Law [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1 Symmetric mode, S0 [8] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2 Anti-symmetric mode, A0 [8] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Lamb waves movement [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4 Wave speed vs frequency [4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.5 Group velocity vs frequency [4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.6 Example of application of TOFD method for damage location [1] . . 29
4.1 Internal Structure of an electret [23] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 A sensor based on the piezoelectric eect [23] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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4.3 Piezoelectric wafer transducer axed to the host structure [4] . . . . 34
4.4 Interaction forces and moments [4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.5 PWAS on a 1D structure [4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.6 PWAS on a 2D structure [4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.7 Actuators surface-bonded to an elastic medium [10] . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.1 Experimental setup used in the laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Aluminum plate used in the experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3 Function generator, oscilloscope and board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.4 Square wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . . . 46
5.5 Ramp signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . . . 46
5.6 Sine signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . . . . 46
5.7 Cosine signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . . . 47
5.8 Actuation wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . 47
5.9 Actuation wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right) . . . . . 48
5.10 Dispersion curves for an aluminum plate of 2 mm thickness (Fre-
quency vs Phase velocity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.11 Dispersion curves for an aluminum plate of 2 mm thickness (Fre-
quency vs Group Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.12 Variation of S and A wavelength with frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.13 Coordinates of the piezoeletric actuatiors/sensors in the plate . . . . 51
5.14 Distances between the piezoelectrics actuators/sensors . . . . . . . . 51
5.15 Reections of the waves in the boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.16 Lamb Wave in the case of a innite plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.17 Reections arriving at sensor 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.18 Actuation wave (blue) and received wave (orange) from 1 to sensor 2 55
5.19 Actuation wave (blue) and received wave (orange) from 1 to sensor 2
with time shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.20 Wave generated by actuator 1 and received by sensor 2 (blue) and
sensor 3 (orange) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.21 Inuence of the frequency in the received waves (actuator 2 to sensor
1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.22 Inuence of the frequency in the received waves (actuator 2 to sensor
3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.23 Received wave for an actuation of 250kHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.24 Actuation wave passing through sensor 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.25 Actuation wave passing through sensor 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.1 Location of the rst cut in the plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.2 Location of the rst cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

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6.3 Zoom of the rst cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.4 Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 with the rst damage(orange) and without
(blue) any damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.5 Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 with (orange) and without (blue) damage . . . 62
6.6 Location of the second cut in the plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.7 Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 with the second cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.8 Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 with the second cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.9 Plate without damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.10 Plate with a 20mm cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.11 Plate with a 25 mm cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.12 Plate with a 30mm cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.13 Plate with a 35mm cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.14 Plate with a 40mm cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7.1 SHELL63 geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.2 First mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.3 Second mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.4 Third mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.5 Fourth mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.6 Fifth mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.7 Sixth mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.8 Convergence of the natural frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.9 Convergence of the maximum displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.10 Grid and boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.11 Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.12 Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.13 Results for the three cases (1 nodes, 3 nodes and 5 nodes) . . . . . . 70
7.14 Case damaged vs undamaged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.15 Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 (rst cut)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.16 Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 (rst cut) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.17 Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 (second cut) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.18 Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 (second cut) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

1
Acronyms

FFT Fast Fourier Transform

LPI Liquid Penetrant Inspection

MPI Magnetic Particle Inspection

NDE Nondestructive Evaluation

NDT Nondestructive Tests

PWAS Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor

SHM Structure Health Monitoring

TOF Time of Flight

UT Ultrasonic Testing

VT Visual Testing

S0 First Lamb wave symmetric mode

A0 First Lamb wave assymetric mode

cS S Waves Velocity

cP P Waves Velocity

2
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Structural Health Monitoring

Structure Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology leading to the devel-
opment of integrated systems capable of continuously monitoring structures. The
ultimate goal of SHM is to increase reliability, improve safety, enable light-weight
design and reduce maintenance costs for all kinds of structures.
SHM involves integration of Nondestructive Tests (NDT) methods into a vehicle
in order to improve damage detection and minimize the human intervention. Actual
NDT systems are stationary and ground based which imply that the aircraft is
fully stopped whenever it needs to be inspected. Aircrafts have regular mandatory
inspections and every minute that an aircraft is on the ground is an extra cost to
the company due to the non operation. With the new SHM systems the mandatory
periodic procedures will be reduce which will result in a reduction in the maintenance
costs.
The development of integrated vehicle health monitoring could also reduce or
eliminate a number of present design constrains which will make possible new struc-
tures with less redundancy and therefore lighter.
Damage detection using Lamb waves is a new promising research eld. This the-
sis will focus on that area. Structural aws represent changes in eective thickness
and local material properties, and therefore measurements of variations in Lamb
wave propagation can be employed to assess the integrity of these structures. In
this work piezoelectric wafers are used to transmit and received the Lamb waves.

1.2 State of the Art

Damage in a structure would result in shifts in natural frequencies and changes in
the vibration modes. There are damage detection techniques that allow the mass

3
and stiness matrices to be updated based on theses changes in natural frequencies
and modes. However, that changes only happens signicantly when the damage has
a certain size and not due to small incipient damages [1].
For damage detection using Lamb waves it is important to select the optimal
wave mode and to know the propagation and the interaction with defects. Therefore
research elds are: sensors, excitation, bonding/embedded of sensors, propagation
[2], interaction with defects [2], signal processing and signal evaluation.
Experiments and simulations with Lamb waves to monitoring plates have been
performed [3] such as experiments to detect aws with the pulse-echo method [3].
Some nite element analysis of wave propagation in a beam specimen have been
successfully done [4].
Edalati, Kermani, Seiedi, Movafeghi had investigated the numerical method for
drawing the dispersion and displacement curves of ultrasonic Lamb wave propa-
gated in Aluminum thin plate. Two ultrasonic lamb wave techniques, pulse-echo
and emission, were used for interpretation of notch defects.It was observed that
these techniques are sensitive to evaluate defects, especially in short probe to defect
distances [5].
Lamb waves generally have multiple modes highly dispersive and in consequence
pulse dispersion can become pronounced and can make dicult of impossible the
interpretation of pulse-echo responses. Studies show that selective generation of only
one mode will overcome that diculties [3].
Ullate and Espinosa (2006) obtained the experimental dispersion curves applying
a 2D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm to the data collected from an optical
vibrometer [6]. A nite element model, using a commercial simulation program,
PZFlex, was also developed to calculate the dispersion curves and to compare them
with the analytical and experiment ones.
Develop an ecient method to model numerically elastic waves propagation for
damage detection [7]
Current work in SHM has focused on damage detection methods and sensor
optimization [2]. In order to put that systems in service there has to be test stan-
dards and certications. Wardle and Kessler [18] present experimental results from
durability testing of piezoelectric Lamb wave transducers and oer a framework for
developing SHM test standards. Lamb wave sensors have been tested in a variety of
environments (including high temperature and large strain) so that their operational
envelop can be characterized.
The investigation of the fundamental aspects of using piezoelectric wafer ac-
tive sensors (PWAS) to achieve embedded ultrasonics in thin-gage beam and plate
structures opens the path for systematic application of PWAS for in situ health
monitoring [4,8,9]. One of the aspects that was object of study was the optimal size

4
and location of the piezoelectric transducers [13], [11].
Nieuwenhuis, Neumann, Greve, and Oppenheim report the use of nite element
simulation and experiments to further explore the operation of the wafer transducer
[21].
Wang and Huang (2004) provided an analytical and numerical study to simu-
late the wave propagation in an elastic half plane with surface-bonded piezoceramic
actuators under high-frequency electric loads [10]. They had also provided a the-
oretical study of elastic wave propagation in a cracked elastic medium induced by
and embedded piezoelectric actuator [14].
Greve, Oppenheim, Sohn and Yue (2006) have been exploring an inductively
coupled Lamb wave transducer that eliminates the need for wired contact. An
advantage of this type of transducer is the absence of any electrical connections,
which eliminates a major point of failure. In their paper [33] they present the results
of experimental demonstrations using two dierent transducer design, a ferrite pot
core transducer and a planar coil transducer.
There are a lot of international research programs and activities which are de-
voted to structural health monitoring. Van der Auweraer and Peeters [15] discuss
the EU-cooperative and the main US and Far-East activities.
Farrar and Lieven [16] has discussed the concept of damage prognosis. It at-
tempts to forecast system performance by assessing the current damage state of the
system estimating the future loading environments for that system and predicting
through simulation and past experience the remaining useful life of the system.

1.3 Thesis Outline

In the chapter 2 there is an introduction to the Nondestructive Tests (NDT). After
that is a summarized description of the NDTs that are actually used in the structures
health monitoring. There is also a brief historical perspective of the NDTs.
The Lamb waves concept is introduced in chapter 3. The existence of multiple
modes is explained such as the dispersion curves. This chapter also refers to their
used in damage detection.
Chapter 4 starts with the general properties of the piezoelectric materials and
how are they used as sensors. Then it talks about the piezoelectric wafer active sen-
sor (PWAS) and how can they generate Lamb waves. Finally, is presented an ana-
lytical and numerical study to simulate the wave propagation in an elastic half plane
with surface-bonded piezoceramic actuators under high-frequency electric loads.
In chapter 5 is shown the laboratory setup. The instruments used, sensors and
plate. Some excitation signs are evaluate and the Lamb waves dispersion curves are
calculated. The theoretical time of ight (TOF) is calculated and then compared

5
with the experimental one. There are also the results of tests where the frequency
was changed.
In chapter 6 are presented the results of the damage detection.
Numerical simulations using ANSYS are presented in chapter 7. The natural
frequencies and modal vibrations of the plate are calculated. There are results for
the case of the undamaged and damaged plate. The cracks in the simulation were
similar to the ones in the laboratory in order to compare the two results.
Chapter 8 presents the conclusions and recommended further work.

6
Chapter 2

Nondestructive Tests and Evaluation

The eld of Nondestructive Tests (NDT) is a very broad, interdisciplinary eld that
plays a critical role in assuring that structural components and systems perform
their function in a reliable and cost eective fashion. NDT technicians and engineers
dene and implement tests that locate and characterize material conditions and aws
that might otherwise cause planes to crash, reactors to fail, trains to derail, pipelines
to burst, and a variety of less visible, but equally troubling events. These tests are
performed in a manner that does not aect the future usefulness of the object or
material. In other words, NDT allows parts and materials to be inspected and
measured without damaging them. Because it allows inspection without interfering
with a product's nal use, NDT provides an excellent balance between quality control
and cost-eectiveness. Generally speaking, NDT applies to industrial inspections.
While technologies are used in NDT that are similar to those used in the medical
industry, typically nonliving objects are the subjects of the inspections.
Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is a term that is often used interchangeably
with NDT. However, technically, NDE is used to describe measurements that are
more quantitative in nature. For example, a NDE method would not only locate a
defect, but it would also be used to measure something about that defect such as
its size, shape, and orientation. NDE may be used to determine material properties
such as fracture toughness, formability, and other physical characteristics.

2.1 Historical Perspective

Nondestructive testing has been practiced for many decades. One of the earliest
applications was the detection of surface cracks in railcar wheels and axles. The
parts were dipped in oil, then cleaned and dusted with a powder. When a crack
was present, the oil would seep from the defect and wet the powder providing visual
indicating that the component was awed. This eventually led to oils that were

7
specically formulated for performing these and other inspections and this inspection
technique is now called penetrant testing.
X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen(1845-1923) who
was a Professor at Wuerzburg University in Germany. Soon after his discovery,
Roentgen produced the rst industrial radiography when he imaged a set of weights
in a box to show his colleagues. Other electronic inspection techniques such as ul-
trasonic and eddy current testing started with the initial rapid developments in in-
strumentation spurred by technological advances, and subsequent defense and space
eorts following World War II. In the early days, the primary purpose was the de-
tection of defects. Critical parts were produced with a "safe life" design, and were
intended to be defect free during their useful life. The detection of a defects was
automatically a cause for removal of the component from service.
In the early 1970's, two events occurred which caused a major change in the way
inspections were viewed. The continued improvement of inspection technology, in
particular the ability to detect smaller and smaller aws, led to more and more parts
being rejected (even though the probability of part failure had not changed). At
this time the discipline of fracture mechanics emerged, which enabled one to predict
whether a crack of a given size would fail under a particular load if a particular
material property or fracture toughness were known. Other laws were developed to
predict the rate of growth of cracks under cyclic loading (fatigue). With the advent
of these tools, it became possible to accept structures containing defects if the sizes
of those defects were known. This formed the basis for a new design philosophy
called "damage tolerant designs." Components having known defects could continue
to be used as long as it could be established that those defects would not grow to a
critical size that would result in catastrophic failure.
A new challenge was thus presented to the nondestructive testing community.
Mere detection of aws was not enough. One needed to also obtain quantitative
information about aw size to serve as an input to fracture mechanics calculations
to predict the remaining life of a component. These needs, which were particularly
strong in the defense and nuclear power industries, led to the creation of a number of
research programs around the world and the emergence of nondestructive evaluation
(NDE) as a new discipline.

2.2 NDT/NDE Methods

The number of NDT methods that can be used to inspect components and make
measurements is large and continues to grow. Researchers continue to nd new ways
of applying physics and other scientic disciplines to develop better NDT methods.
However, there are six NDT methods that are used most often. These methods are:

8
 • Visual and Optical Testing (VT)

• Penetrant Testing (PT)

• Magnetic Particle Testing (MT)

• Electromagnetic Testing (ET) or Eddy Current Testing

• Radiography (RT)

• Ultrasonic Testing (UT)

2.2.1 Visual and Optical Testing (VT)

Visual inspection involves using an inspector's eyes to look for defects. The inspector
may also use special tools such as magnifying glasses, mirrors, or borescopes to gain
access and more closely inspect the subject area.

2.2.2 Liquid Penetrant Inspection (LPI)

Liquid penetrant inspection is a method that is used to reveal surface breaking aws
by bleedout of a colored or uorescent dye from the aw. The technique is based on
the ability of a liquid to be drawn into a "clean" surface breaking aw by capillary
action. After a period of time called the "dwell," excess surface penetrant is removed
and a developer applied. This acts as a blotter. It draws the penetrant from the aw
to reveal its presence. Colored (contrast) penetrants require good white light while
uorescent penetrants need to be used in darkened conditions with an ultraviolet
"black light".
The advantage that a liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) oers over an unaided
visual inspection is that it makes defects easier to see for the inspector. It produces
a aw indication that is much larger and easier for the eye to detect than the aw
itself and with a high level of contrast between the indication and the background
also helping to make the indication more easily seen. When a uorescent penetrant
inspection is performed, the penetrant materials are formulated to glow brightly and
to give o light at a wavelength that the eye is most sensitive to under dim lighting
conditions.
Liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) is one of the most widely used nondestruc-
tive evaluation (NDE) due to its relative ease of use and its exibility. LPI can
be used to inspect almost any material provided that its surface is not extremely
rough or porous. Materials that are commonly inspected using LPI include metals
(aluminum, copper, steel, titanium, etc.), glass, many ceramic materials, rubber and
plastics.

9
 Figure 2.1: Liquid applied to the sur- Figure 2.2: Removal of the excess liq-
face of the part [17] uid from the surface [17]

Liquid penetrant inspection is used to inspect for aws that break the surface
of the sample. For example fatigue cracks, quench cracks, grinding cracks, overload
and impact fractures, porosity, laps, seams, pin holes in welds and lack of fusion or
braising along the edge of the bond line.

Figure 2.3: Penetrant out of the de- Figure 2.4: Visual inspection under
fect on the surface where it can be UV light[17]
seen [17]

One of LPI primary advantages is its high sensitivity to small surface discon-
tinuities. It has few material limitations, i.e. metallic and nonmetallic, magnetic
and nonmagnetic, and conductive and nonconductive materials may be inspected.
Large areas and large volumes of parts/materials can be inspected rapidly and at
low cost as also parts with complex geometric shapes. Indications are produced
directly on the surface of the part and constitute a visual representation of the aw
and aerosol spray cans make penetrant materials very portable. Penetrant materials
and associated equipment are relatively inexpensive.
LPI primary disadvantages are that only surface breaking defects can be detected
and only materials with a relatively nonporous surface can be inspected. Surface
nish and roughness can aect inspection sensitivity. If the part is not very clean,
the contaminants can mask the defects. Also the metal smearing from machining,

10
grinding, and grit or vapor blasting must be removed prior to LPI. Post cleaning
of acceptable parts or materials is required. The inspector must have direct access
to the surface being inspected. Multiple process operations must be performed and
controlled. Chemical handling and proper disposal is required.

2.2.3 Magnetic Particle Testing (MT)

Magnetic particle inspection (MPI) is a nondestructive testing method used for de-
fect detection. MPI is fast and relatively easy to apply, and part surface preparation
is not as critical as it is for some other NDT methods. These characteristics make
MPI one of the most widely utilized nondestructive testing methods.
MPI uses magnetic elds and small magnetic particles (i.e.iron lings) to detect
aws in components. The only requirement from an inspectability standpoint is that
the component being inspected must be made of a ferromagnetic material such as
iron, nickel, cobalt, or some of their alloys. Ferromagnetic materials are materials
that can be magnetized to a level that will allow the inspection to be eective.
In theory, magnetic particle inspection (MPI) is a relatively simple concept. It
can be considered as a combination of two nondestructive testing methods: magnetic
ux leakage testing and visual testing. Consider the case of a bar magnet. It has a
magnetic eld in and around the magnet. Any place that a magnetic line of force
exits or enters the magnet is called a pole. A pole where a magnetic line of force
exits the magnet is called a north pole and a pole where a line of force enters the
magnet is called a south pole.
When a bar magnet is broken in the center of its length, two complete bar
magnets with magnetic poles on each end of each piece will result. If the magnet
is just cracked but not broken completely in two, a north and south pole will form
at each edge of the crack. The magnetic eld exits the north pole and reenters at
the south pole. The magnetic eld spreads out when it encounters the small air gap
created by the crack because the air cannot support as much magnetic eld per unit
volume as the magnet can. When the eld spreads out, it appears to leak out of the
material and, thus is called a ux leakage eld.
If iron particles are sprinkled on a cracked magnet, the particles will be attracted
to and cluster not only at the poles at the ends of the magnet, but also at the poles
at the edges of the crack. This cluster of particles is much easier to see than the
actual crack and this is the basis for magnetic particle inspection.
To properly inspect a component for cracks or other defects, it is important to
understand that the orientation between the magnetic lines of force and the aw
is very important. There are two general types of magnetic elds that can be
established within a component: longitudinal magnetic eld and circular magnetic

11
 Figure 2.5: A bar magnet with 2 poles Figure 2.6: Flux leakage eld [17]
[17]

eld (gures 2.7 and 2.8).

Figure 2.7: Longitudinal magnetic Figure 2.8: Circular magnetic eld

eld [17] [17]

The type of magnetic eld established is determined by the method used to

magnetize the specimen. Being able to magnetize the part in two directions is
important because the best detection of defects occurs when the lines of magnetic
force are established at right angles to the longest dimension of the defect. This
orientation creates the largest disruption of the magnetic eld within the part and
the greatest ux leakage at the surface of the part. As one can see in the gure 2.9,
if the magnetic eld is parallel to the defect, the eld will see little disruption and
no ux leakage eld will be produced.
An orientation of 45 to 90 degrees between the magnetic eld and the defect is
necessary to form an indication. Since defects may occur in various and unknown
directions, each part is normally magnetized in two directions at right angles to each
other. If the component below is considered, it is known that passing current through
the part from end to end will establish a circular magnetic eld that will be 90 degrees
to the direction of the current. Therefore, defects that have a signicant dimension in
the direction of the current (longitudinal defects) should be detectable. Alternately,
transverse-type defects will not be detectable with circular magnetization.
To properly inspect a part for cracks or other defects, it is important to be-
come familiar with the dierent types of magnetic elds and the equipment used to
generate them.
For proper inspection of a component, it is important to be able to establish a
magnetic eld in at least two directions. A variety of equipment exists to establish

12
 Figure 2.9: The importance of mag- Figure 2.10: Detectability of aws ac-
netic eld orientation [17] cording to direction of magnetic eld
[17]

the magnetic eld for MPI. One way to classify equipment is based on its portability.
Some equipment is designed to be portable so that inspections can be made in the
eld and some is designed to be stationary for ease of inspection in the laboratory
or manufacturing facility. As portable equipment there are permanent magnets,
electromagnets, prods, portable coils and conductive cables and portable power
supplies. There are also stationary equipment for magnetic particle inspection.
Magnetic particle inspection can be performed using particles that are highly vis-
ible under white light conditions or particles that are highly visible under ultraviolet
light conditions.

Figure 2.11: Lights for magnetic par- Figure 2.12: Lights for magnetic par-
ticle inspection [17] ticle inspection [17]

2.2.4 Electromagnetic Testing (ET) or Eddy Current Testing

Electrical currents are generated in a conductive material by an induced alternating
magnetic eld. Interruptions in the ow of eddy currents, caused by imperfections,
dimensional changes, or changes in the material's conductive and permeability prop-
erties, can be detected with the proper equipment.
Eddy currents are created through a process called electromagnetic induction.
When alternating current is applied to the conductor, such as copper wire, a mag-
netic eld develops in and around the conductor. This magnetic eld expands as

13
 Figure 2.13: Eddy current principle [17]

the alternating current rises to maximum and collapses as the current is reduced
to zero. If another electrical conductor is brought into the close proximity to this
changing magnetic eld, current will be induced in this second conductor. Eddy
currents are induced electrical currents that ow in a circular path. They get their
name from “eddies” that are formed when a liquid or gas ows in a circular path
around obstacles when conditions are right.

Figure 2.14: Here a small surface probe is scanned over the part surface in an
attempt to detect a crack [17]

One of the major advantages of eddy current as an NDT tool is the variety of
inspections and measurements that can be performed. In the proper circumstances,
eddy currents can be used for crack detection, material thickness measurements,
coating thickness measurements and conductivity measurements. The conductivity
measurements can be used to material identication, heat damage detection, case
depth determination and heat treatment monitoring.
Some of the advantages of eddy current inspection include its sensitive to small
cracks and other defects. The ability to detect surface and near surface defects. The
inspection gives immediate results and uses a very portable equipment. This method

14
can be used for much more than aw detection and a minimum part preparation
is required. Test probe does not need to contact the part and it inspects complex
shapes and sizes of conductive materials.
Some of the disadvantages of eddy current inspection include the limitation to
conductive materials and the accessibility of the surface. Skill and training required
is more extensive than other techniques. Surface nish and and roughness may
interfere. The depth of penetration is limited and aws such as delaminations that
lie parallel to the probe coil winding and probe scan direction are undetectable

2.2.5 Radiography
Radiography involves the use of penetrating gamma or X-radiation to examine parts
and products for imperfections. An X-ray generator or radioactive isotope is used
as a source of radiation. Radiation is directed through a part and onto lm or other
imaging media. The resulting shadowgraph shows the dimensional features of the
part. Possible imperfections are indicated as density changes on the lm in the same
manner as a medical X-ray shows broken bones.

Figure 2.15: The electromagnetic Figure 2.16: Radiation source [17]

spectrum [17]

When x-rays or gamma rays are directed into an object, some of the photons
interact with the particles of the matter and their energy can be absorbed or scat-
tered. This absorption and scattering is called attenuation. Other photons travel
completely through the object without interacting with any of the material's parti-
cles. The number of photons transmitted through a material depends on the thick-
ness, density and atomic number of the material, and the energy of the individual
photons.
Even when they have the same energy, photons travel dierent distances within
a material simply based on the probability of their encounter with one or more of the
particles of the matter and the type of encounter that occurs. Since the probability
of an encounter increases with the distance traveled, the number of photons reaching

15
a specic point within the matter decreases exponentially with distance traveled. If
1000 photons are aimed at ten 1 cm layers of a material and there is a 10% chance of
a photon being attenuated in this layer, then there will be 100 photons attenuated.
This leave 900 photos to travel into the next layer where 10% of these photos will
be attenuated. By continuing this progression, the exponential shape of the curve
becomes apparent.
The formula that describes this curve is:

I = I0 e−µx (2.1)

Where,
I is the intensity of photons transmitted across some distance x
I0 is the initial intensity of photons
s is a proportionality constant that reects the total probability of a photon being
scattered or absorbed
m is the linear attenuation coecient
x is the distance traveled

The factor that indicates how much attenuation will take place per cm (10%
in this example) is known as the linear attenuation coecient, m. It describes the
fraction of a beam of x-rays or gamma rays that is absorbed or scattered per unit
thickness of the absorber. This value basically accounts for the number of atoms in
a cubic cm volume of material and the probability of a photon being scattered or
absorbed from the nucleus or an electron of one of these atoms.
When the incident x-ray photon is deected from its original path by an inter-
action with an electron compton scattering occurs. The electron is ejected from
its orbital position and the x-ray photon loses energy because of the interaction
but continues to travel through the material along an altered path. Energy and
momentum are conserved in this process. The energy shift depends on the angle
of scattering and not on the nature of the scattering medium. Since the scattered
x-ray photon has less energy, it has a longer wavelength and less penetrating than
the incident photon.
The change in wavelength of the scattered photon is given by:

h
λ0 − λ = (1 − cosθ) (2.2)
me c
Where,
λ is the wavelength of incident x-ray photon
λ0 is the wavelength of scattered x-ray photon

16
h is the Planck's Constant (the fundamental constant equal to the ratio of the en-
ergy E of a quantum of energy to its frequency υ : E = hυ )
me is the mass of an electron at rest
c is the speed of light
q is the scattering angle of the scattered photon

Figure 2.17: Radiographic images [17]

Figure 2.18: Radiographic images [17]

Radiographic lm interpretation is an acquired skill combining visual acuity with

knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes, and their associated discontinu-
ities. If the component is inspected while in service, an understanding of applied
loads and history of the component is helpful. A process for viewing radiographs
(e.g. left to right, top to bottom, etc.) is helpful and will prevent overlooking an
area on the radiograph. This process is often developed over time and individual-
ized. One part of the interpretation process, sometimes overlooked, is rest. The
mind as well as the eyes need to occasionally rest when interpreting radiographs.
When viewing a particular region of interest, techniques such as using a small
light source and moving the radiograph over the small light source, or changing the
intensity of the light source will help the radiographer identify relevant indications.
Magnifying tools should also be used when appropriate to help identify and evaluate
indications. Viewing the actual component being inspected is very often helpful in
developing an understanding of the details seen in a radiograph.
Interpretation of radiographs is an acquired skill that is perfected over time.
By using the proper equipment and developing consistent evaluation processes, the

17
interpreter will increase his or her probability of detecting defects.

2.2.6 Ultrasonic Testing (UT)

Ultrasonics use transmission of high-frequency sound waves into a material to detect
imperfections or to locate changes in material properties. The most commonly used
ultrasonic testing technique is pulse echo, where in sound is introduced into a test
object and reections (echoes) are returned to a receiver from internal imperfections
or from the part's geometrical surfaces. To illustrate the general inspection principle,
a typical pulse/echo inspection conguration is illustrated in gure 2.19.

Figure 2.19: Typical ultrasonic system [17]

A typical UT inspection system consists of several functional units, such as the

pulser/receiver, transducer, and display devices. A pulser/receiver is an electronic
device that can produce high voltage electrical pulses. Driven by the pulser, the
transducer generates high frequency ultrasonic energy. The sound energy is intro-
duced and propagates through the materials in the form of waves. When there is a
discontinuity (such as a crack) in the wave path, part of the energy will be reected
back from the aw surface. The reected wave signal is transformed into an elec-
trical signal by the transducer and is displayed on a screen. In the gure 2.19, the
reected signal strength is displayed versus the time from signal generation to when
a echo was received. Signal travel time can be directly related to the distance that
the signal traveled. From the signal, information about the reector location, size,
orientation and other features can sometimes be gained.
In solids, sound waves can propagate in four principle modes that are based on
the way the particles oscillate. Sound can propagate as longitudinal waves, shear
waves, surface waves, and in thin materials as plate waves. Longitudinal and shear

18
waves are the two modes of propagation most widely used in ultrasonic testing. The
particle movement responsible for the propagation of longitudinal and shear waves
is illustrated in gure 2.20.

Figure 2.20: Longitudinal and shear waves [17]

In ultrasonic testing, the inspector must make a decision about the frequency of
the transducer that will be used. As we learned on the previous page, changing the
frequency when the sound velocity is xed will result in a change in the wavelength
of the sound. The wavelength of the ultrasound used has a signicant eect on
the probability of detecting a discontinuity. A general rule of thumb is that a
discontinuity must be larger than one-half the wavelength to stand a reasonable
chance of being detected.
When sound travels through a medium, its intensity diminishes with distance.
When sound waves pass through an interface between materials having dierent
acoustic velocities, refraction takes place at the interface. The larger the dierence
in acoustic velocities between the two materials, the more the sound is refracted.
Notice that the shear wave is not refracted as much as the longitudinal wave. This
occurs because shear waves travel slower than longitudinal waves. Therefore, the
velocity dierence between the incident longitudinal wave and the shear wave is not
as great as it is between the incident and refracted longitudinal waves. Also note
that when a longitudinal wave is reected inside the material, the reected shear
wave is reected at a smaller angle than the reected longitudinal wave. This is also
due to the fact that the shear velocity is less than the longitudinal velocity within
a given material.

sinθ1 sinθ2 sinθ3 sinθ4

= = = (2.3)
VL1 VL2 VS 1 VS 2
where,
VL1 is the longitudinal wave velocity in material 1

19
 Figure 2.21: Snell's Law [17]

VL2 is the longitudinal wave velocity in material 2

VS 1 is the shear wave velocity in material 1
VS 2 is the shear wave velocity in material 2

When a wave moves from a slower to a faster material, there is an incident angle
which makes the angle of refraction for the longitudinal wave 90 degrees.
this is know as the rst critical angle and all of the energy from the refracted
longitudinal wave is now converted to a surface following longitudinal wave. This
surface following wave is sometime referred to as a creep wave and it is not very
useful in NDT because it dampens out very rapidly.
Beyond the rst critical angle, only the shear wave propagates into the material.
For this reason, most angle beam transducers use a shear wave so that the signal is
not complicated by having two waves present. In may cases there is also an incident
angle that makes the angle of refraction for the shear wave 90 degrees. This is know
as the second critical angle and at this point, all of the wave energy is reected or
refracted into a surface following shear wave or shear creep wave. Slightly beyond
the second critical angle, surface waves will be generated.
Ultrasonic Inspection is a very useful and versatile NDT method. Some of the
advantages of ultrasonic inspection include its sensitive to both surface and subsur-
face discontinuities and the depth of penetration for aw detection or measurement
that is superior to other NDT methods. Only single-sided access is needed when the
pulse-echo technique is used. It is highly accurate in determining reector position
and estimating size and shape. Minimal part preparation is required. Electronic
equipment provides instantaneous results. Detailed images can be produced with
automated systems. In addition to aw detection it has other uses, such as thickness
measurement.
As with all NDT methods, ultrasonic inspection also has its limitations, which
include skill and training more extensive than with some other methods. The surface

20
must be accessible to transmit ultrasound. It normally requires a coupling medium
to promote the transfer of sound energy into the test specimen. Materials that are
rough, irregular in shape, very small, exceptionally thin or not homogeneous are
dicult to inspect. Cast iron and other coarse grained materials are dicult to
inspect due to low sound transmission and high signal noise. Linear defects oriented
parallel to the sound beam may go undetected. Reference standards are required
for both equipment calibration and the characterization of aws.

21
Chapter 3

Lamb Waves

Discovered by Horace Lamb in 1910 [34], Lamb waves are elastic waves that prop-
agate across thickness of thin wall structures with free boundaries parallel to the
mid-surface. They are guided waves and can also travel inside curved walls with the
shallow curvature. Lamb waves can travel at large distances with very little ampli-
tude loss even in materials with a high attenuation ratio and thus a broad area can
be quickly examined. With a high susceptibility to interference on a propagation
path like damage or boundaries Lamb waves are able to provide fast in-service in-
spections without time consuming scanning. The entire thickness of the plate can
also be interrogated by various Lamb modes, aording the possibility of detecting
internal damage as well as that on surface.
Lamb waves techniques are emerging as one of the most eective methods for
damage detection in aeronautic structures.
Across the material thickness, Lamb waves present stationary wave patterns.
Lamb waves can be either symmetric or anti-symmetric across the material thickness
(Sn and An , respectively, where n represents the number of inection points across
the material thickness).

Figure 3.1: Symmetric mode, S0 [8] Figure 3.2: Anti-symmetric mode, A0

[8]

Symmetrical Lamb waves move in a symmetrical fashion about the median plane
of the plate. This is sometimes called the extensional mode because the wave is

22
“stretching and compressing” the plate in the wave motion direction. Wave motion
in the symmetrical mode is most eciently produced when the exciting force is
parallel to the plate. The asymmetrical Lamb wave mode is often called the “exural
mode” because a large portion of the motion moves in a normal direction to the
plate, and a little motion occurs in the direction parallel to the plate. In this mode,
the body of the plate bends as the two surfaces move in the same direction.

Figure 3.3: Lamb waves movement [17]

3.1 Dispersion Curves

The Lamb wave phase velocity, cL , depends on the product between frequency and
the material thickness, h. Since the wave speed varies with frequency, the propaga-
tion of Lamb waves is essentially dispersive. For a given frequency multiple modes
can exist and therefore the received signals are a complex mixture from dierent
modes and dicult to evaluate.
The analytical dispersion curves give an idea of the various existing modes and
its velocities for each frequency of excitation. Therefore, it becomes necessary to
plot the dispersion curves for this case to choose the optimal frequency excitation.
ξ , ζ and d¯ are dened as
r r
c2S c2S
ξ= c2P
ζ= c2L
d¯ = 2π·f ·d
cS (3.1)
where f is the frequency and d is the half-thickness of the plate, d = h/2.
To calculate S Waves Velocity (cS ) and P Waves Velocity (cP ) one use the Lame
Constants:

and
q q
(3.2)
E νE E
cS = 2ρ(1+ν)
cP = (1+ν)(1−2ν)ρ
+ ρ(1+ν)

The dispersion curves can now be obtained by solving the Rayleigh-Lamb fre-
quency equation. For symmetrical motion the equation becomes:

23
 √ √ √
tan 1 − ζ 2 d¯ 4ζ 2 1 − ζ 2 ξ 2 − ζ 2
√ + =0 (3.3)
tan ξ 2 − ζ 2 (2ζ 2 − 1)2
Hence, the two components of the displacement can be expressed as:

cosh(qz) 2qs cosh(sz) i(kL x−ωt π

U (x, y, t) = Re[AkL ( − 2 )e 2] (3.4)
sinh(qd) kL + s2 sinh(sd)

sinh(qz) 2k 2 cosh(sz) i(kL x−ωt

W (x, y, t) = Re[Aq( − 2 L 2 )e ] (3.5)
sinh(qd) kL + s sinh(sd)
And for anti-symmetrical motion:

√ 2
tan 1 − ζ 2 d¯ (2ζ 2 − 1)
√ + 2√ √ =0 (3.6)
tan ξ 2 − ζ 2 4ζ 1 − ζ 2 ξ 2 − ζ 2
and the two components of the displacement can be expressed as

cosh(qz) 2qs cosh(sz) i(kL x−ωt π

U (x, y, t) = Re[AkL ( − 2 )e 2] (3.7)
cosh(qd) kL + s2 cosh(sd)

sinh(qz) 2k 2 cosh(sz) i(kL x−ωt

W (x, y, t) = Re[Aq( − 2 L 2 )e ] (3.8)
cosh(qd) kL + s cosh(sd)
The Lamb waves group velocity represents the speed with which Lamb-wave
packs are sent and received along the thin-wall plate.

dc −1
cg = c2 [c − (f d) ] (3.9)
d(f d)
where cg is the Lamb wave group velocity, and c is the Lamb wave phase velocity.
Equation 3.3 e equation 3.6 admits several roots, corresponding to several
symmetrical Lamb wave modes, called S0 , S1 , etc. A plot of the S0 Lamb wave
speed versus frequency is given in gure 3.4. The calculation was made for an
aluminum plate with a thickness value 2d = 1.6mm. The roots of the equation were
found numerically using mathematical software. The gures 3.4 and 3.5 show the
dispersion curves for Lamb waves in a 1.6mm aluminum alloy plate
Examination of gure 3.4 indicates that at low frequencies (f < 500kHz ) the
speed of the symmetrical Lamb wave approaches the speed of axial waves, cP . At
high frequencies (2500kHz ), the dispersion curves for the S0 and A0 modes coalesce.

24
 Figure 3.4: Wave speed vs frequency [4]

Figure 3.5: Group velocity vs frequency [4]

25
 An analytical model of the Lamb dispersion curves was develop using the varia-
tion of the Rayleigh-Lamb frequency equations made by Rose (1999). When plotting
the dispersion curves, one is only interesting in the real solutions of the equations,
which present the (undamped) propagating modes of the structure. By collecting
the terms α and β , the equations take only real values for real or imaginary ξ . The
two equations become:

tan(βd) 4ξ 2 αtan(αd)
+ =0 (3.10)
β (ξ 2 − β 2 )2

(ξ 2 − β 2 )2 tan()αd
βtan(βd) + =0 (3.11)
4ξ 2 α
The roots of the Rayleigh-Lamb equation are commonly plotted on f d vs. c/cS
coordinates. The f d is the product of frequency and half thickness can use same
dispersion curves.
The procedure used to obtain the plot of the dispersion curves is the following
[27]:

1. Dene the desire range of the f d and c/cS , such that the f d vs. c/cS plane is
dened.
2. Partition the f d and c/cS axes into small steps to create a mesh. Each node
on the mesh has a pair of values (f d,c/cS )
3. For each of the nodes, calculate the corresponding c; plug into equation 3.10
to obtain α and β . Then evaluate 3.10
4. For each f d value, sweep to vertical line f d = constant and nd sign-change
points. These points are close to the roots of the equations. Record the
(f d,c/cS ) values of these points.
5. Eliminate the singular points of 3.10 i.e. the points where a jump from +/-
innity to -/+ innity is observed.
6. Use the sign-change points as guess value to nd the approximated roots of
3.10. For this step, various iterative root nding algorithms can be used.
For example, bisection, Newton-Raphson, etc. Bisection algorithm is used
here, because it guaranties convergence. A tolerance is required to dene the
precision to be achieved.
7. After ning the roots, t the points with a spline and plot the dispersion
curves.

26
 A ne f d vs. c/cS grid is used to increase numerical resolution.
Another important property of the Lamb waves is the group velocity dispersion
curves. By using the relation

∂c
cg = c − λ (3.12)
∂λ
the group velocity, cg , can be derived from the phase velocity c. To reduce the
programming eorts, some manipulation to 3.12 are useful. Following Rose (1999),
and using the denition wavelength as being

c
λ= (3.13)
f
one can write

∂c ∂c ∂c f 2 ∂c
= = 1 = (3.14)
∂λ ∂(c/f ) f
∂c − fc ∂f (f ∂c − c∂f )

Hence,

c f 2 ∂c f ∂c
cg = c − f (f ∂c−c∂f )
= c(1 − f ∂c−c∂f
) =
(3.15)
c(− f ∂c−c∂f
f ∂c
)−1 = c2 (c − f d ∂f
∂c −1
d
)

The derivative ∂c/∂f d is calculated from the phase velocity dispersion curve.
The numerical derivation is done in a simple way by the nite dierence formula:

∂c ∼ ∆c
= (3.16)
∂(f d) ∆(f d)

3.2 Selective excitation of Lamb wave modes

When plotting the received signal as a function of frequency is visible that the rst
pulse is due to the S0 emitted mode which is received at a time that is almost
independent of the frequency. The second pulse is from the A0 mode. It shows more
dispersion and exhibits a frequency-dependent group velocity [3].
From simulations of Lamb wave excitation [3] we clearly see that the highest
group velocity belongs to the S0 mode and this mode shows particle displacement
mostly in the x direction (i.e. along the direction of propagation). Due to the
Poisson eect there is a small dilation and expansion in the y direction. The A0 is

27
the slower wave mode (propagation velocity depends signicantly on frequency) and
shows particle displacement mostly in the y direction. (symmetric about the center
of the plate).
Selective mode excitation can be achieved by bonding two piezoceramic on op-
posite sides of a thin aluminum plate [6]. At frequencies below 1MHz (aluminum)
two Lamb modes are present, A0 and S0 (rst anti-symmetric mode and rst sym-
metric mode). When the second actuator is excited in phase with the rst one,
the symmetric mode (S0 ) is reinforced whereas the anti-symmetric mode (A0 ) is
partially canceled [3,6]. When the two actuators are excited out of phase, is the
anti-symmetric mode that remained unaltered whereas the symmetric mode is can-
celed. In this way, ltering the appropriated Lamb modes, defects identication can
be easily achieved.
There are many types of Lamb wave transducers, but the majority of them are
built based on using angled incident wave or applying force on the surface [27]. The
rst one often uses a wedge to make an incident pressure wave go into the target in an
angle that is calculated by using Snell's law with the incident wave velocity and the
desired Lamb wave mode velocity. The Lamb wave mode can be selected by changing
this angle. The second method directly uses the surface stress/strain distribution of
Lamb wave modes, and generates a surface load similar to this distribution, hence
selectively generates a desired Lamb wave mode. Comb transducer and interdigital
transducer are examples of this method.

3.3 Damage Detection

Structural aws represent changes in eective thickness and local material proper-
ties, and therefore measurements of variations in Lamb wave propagation can be
employed to assess the integrity of these structures.
During occurrence of a damage Lamb waves are generated, which can be received
by PZT transducers (passive method). Lamb waves can also be generated and
received at distinct positions (active method).
The interaction of Lamb waves with bolted joint boundary conditions is shown
to be sensitive to the torque loading of the mounting bolts [5]. A case was shown
where the reection of a Lamb wave from a bolted joint boundary changed when a
bolt was loosened. When a single sensor was used, the change in the reection from
the bolted joint was not apparent. However a sensor array was able to distinguish
between waves arriving from dierent directions and isolate components arriving
from each boundary separately. The reection from the boundary corresponding to
the loosened bolt was shown to change, using the directionally ltered response.
The principle to locate a damage is then very simple. If multiple sensors, in

28
dierent locations, are utilized to detect the original generated Lamb waves and their
reections by the damage, knowing their velocity of propagation and the dierence
in time of detection from those dierent sensors, by triangulation is possible to
detect their source location, i.e., the damage. This method is presently referred as
TOFD (time of ight diraction, or dierence, or delay). After obtaining the sensors
signals, their analysis consist of an inverse problem that may be solved by a series
of dierent proposed methods, as an example Fourier transforms and numerical
methods, expanding potentials (logarithmic, etc), etc.

Figure 3.6: Example of application of TOFD method for damage location [1]

The two dierent rst modes of Lamb waves, S0 and A0, are prone to detect
dierent types of damages. Cuts imitating cracks are detectable using symmetri-
cal Lamb modes while surface damages (ex: xed masses) aect mainly the anti-
symmetrical mode of Lamb wave propagation [22]. Besides, the amplitude of re-
ected waves is proportional to damage dimension and dependent on damage ori-
entation. Damages oriented perpendicular to the local propagation direction of the
Lamb waves (parallel to wave front, perpendicular to a radius centered in the origin
of Lamb waves) are better detected than those angled, being the extreme and more
dicult case to detect when the damage is oriented along the propagation direction
of the Lamb waves.
The Lamb wave mode utilized in SHM methods is also highly dependent on
the structural conguration to inspect. For instance, if the structure possesses a
stiener, this component will attenuate the propagation of Lamb waves, decreasing
their energy and amplitude, while generating strong reections. At the same time,
it is known that reections are, at least, one magnitude lower than original incident
Lamb waves, already of very low energy and amplitude.
This fact makes the task of detecting a reection very dicult. Together with the

29
existence of a stiener with the implications referred before, one may conclude that
it will be very hard to detect a failure beyond the stiener. On this particular case,
knowing that A0 Lamb waves have a higher energy than S0 Lamb waves, they would
be the better choice, although they present the disadvantage of their propagation
velocity being strongly dependent on the frequency.
The characteristics of the reected waves described before, namely low elastic
deformation energy and high frequency (as a consequence of the low energy of inci-
dent waves), make them very prone to noise interference and also noise interference
in sensor readings. PZT sensors are very sensitive and since the waves that they are
intended to detect have very low energy, obvious conclusion is that noise will play
an important role in measurements. One attenuating factor is that the frequencies
of the Lamb waves applied in the inspection method are pre-determined and so the
sensor signal can be ltered. One other important aspect to consider is that when
the reections from boundaries are sensed (summed to all Lamb waves and reec-
tions travelling in the host medium) the sensor signal is useless. This, together with
the high propagation velocities of Lamb waves and the fact that on certain SHM
methods it is desirable to use an actuator also as a sensor, explains the need to
use high frequency actuation. This way the actuation signal will be over and will
not interfere with reections. As mentioned earlier, methods for damage location
depend on wave time of ight calculations, that depend on propagation velocity of
the waves in the host structure, that is calculated with base in the dispersion curves.
Time of ight is very small and propagation velocities are very high, so any disconti-
nuity of the material, Young’s Modulus and/or density variation is a problem when
determining damage position.

30
Chapter 4

Piezoelectrics Sensors and Actuators

4.1 Piezoelectric eect

The piezoelectric eect describes the relation between a mechanical stress and an
electrical voltage in solids. When a mechanical stress is applied it will generate a
voltage and an applied voltage will generate a mechanical stress that will produce
a mechanical displacement (it will change the shape of the solid up to a 4% change
in volume)[23].
The piezoelectric eect was discovered in 1880 by the Jacques and Pierre Curie
brothers. They found out that when a mechanical stress was applied on some crystals
electrical charges appeared, and this voltage was proportional to the stress. It
remained a mere curiosity until the 1940s. The property of certain crystals to exhibit
electrical charges under mechanical loading was of no practical use until very high
input impedance ampliers enabled engineers to amplify their signals. In the 1950s,
electrometer tubes of sucient quality became available and the piezoelectric eect
was commercialized.
The piezoelectric eect occurs only in non conductive materials. Piezoelectric
materials can be divided in 2 main groups: crystals and ceramics. The most well-
known piezoelectric material is quartz (SiO2).

4.2 PZT structure

The atoms are arranged in a cubical structure. At temperatures below the Curie
temperature (depending on the material between 150°C and 200°C) the titanium
atom moves from its central position and the electrically neutral lattice becomes
a dipole. This dipole lattice presents now piezoelectric characteristics and is con-
sidered as one of the most economical piezoelectric material. By doping the PZT
material, its piezoelectric characteristics can be modied: especially the hardness or

31
softness of the material [23].

Figure 4.1: Internal Structure of an electret [23]

Electrets are solids which have a permanent electrical polarization. Figure ??

shows a diagram of the internal structure of a electret. In general, the alignment
of the internal electric dipoles would result in a charge which would be observable
on the surface of the solid. In practice, this small charge is quickly dissipated by
free charges from the surrounding atmosphere which are attracted by the surface
charges. Electrets are commonly used in microphones.
Permanent polarization as in the case of the electrets is also observed in crystals.
In these structures, each cell of the crystal has an electric dipole, and the cells are
oriented such that the electric dipoles are aligned. Again, this results in excess
surface charge which attracts free charges from the surrounding atmosphere making
the crystal electrically neutral. If a sucient force is applied to the piezoelectric
crystal, a deformation will take place. This deformation disrupts the orientation of
the electrical dipoles and creates a situation in which the charge is not completely
canceled. This results in a temporary excess of surface charge, which subsequently
is manifested as a voltage which is developed across the crystal.

4.3 Piezoelectric as a sensor

In order to utilize this physical principle to make a sensor to measure force, we must
be able to measure the surface charge on the crystal.
Figure 4.2 shows a common method of using a piezoelectric crystal to make a
force sensor. Two metal plates are used to sandwich the crystal making a capacitor.
As mentioned previously, an external force cause a deformation of the crystal results
in a charge which is a function of the applied force. In its operating region, a greater
force will result in more surface charge. This charge results in a voltage V = Qf /C
, where Qf is the charge resulting from a force f, and C is the capacitance of the
device.

32
 Figure 4.2: A sensor based on the piezoelectric eect [23]

In the manner described above, piezoelectric crystals act as transducers which

turn force, or mechanical stress into electrical charge which in turn can be converted
into a voltage. Alternatively, if one was to apply a voltage to the plates of the
system described above, the resultant electric eld would cause the internal electric
dipoles to re-align which would cause a deformation of the material.
When piezoelectric ceramics were introduced, they soon became the dominant
material for transducers due to their good piezoelectric properties and their ease of
manufacture into a variety of shapes and sizes. They also operate at low voltage
and are usable up to about 300ºC. The rst piezoceramic in general use was barium
titanate, and that was followed during the 1960's by lead zirconate titanate composi-
tions, which are now the most commonly employed ceramic for making transducers.
New materials such as piezo-polymers and composites are also being used in some
applications.
The thickness of the active element is determined by the desired frequency of
the transducer. A thin wafer element vibrates with a wavelength that is twice
its thickness. Therefore, piezoelectric crystals are cut to a thickness that is 1/2 the
desired radiated wavelength. The higher the frequency of the transducer, the thinner
the active element. The primary reason that high frequency contact transducers are
not produced is because the element is very thin and too fragile.

4.4 Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors

Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors (PWAS) are small, inexpensive, unobtrusive and
non-invasive permanently attached piezoelectric wafers that can conceivably be de-
ployed in health monitoring arrays without producing prohibitive weight and cost
penalties [4]. Commonly they are manufactured from thin wafers of the piezoce-
ramic P b(Zr − T i)O3 (a.k.a. PZT). The general constitutive equations of linear
piezoelectric material behavior describe a tensorial relation between mechanical and
electrical variables (mechanical strain Sij , mechanical stress Tkl , electrical eld Ek ,
and electrical displacement Dj ) in the form

33
 Sij = sE
ijkl Tkl + dkij Ek (4.1)

where sEijkl is the mechanical compliance of the material measured at zero electric
eld (E=0) and dkij . This equation refers to the converse piezoelectric eect. The
direct piezoelectric eect is

Dj = djkl Tkl + E
jk Ek (4.2)

where Ejk is the dielectric permitivity measured at zero mechanical stress (T=0).

Figure 4.3: Piezoelectric wafer transducer axed to the host structure [4]

Figure 4.3 shows an active sensor consisting of a lead zirconate titanate (PZT)
piezoceramic wafer axed to the structural surface. The PWAS is directly connected
to the source of electrical excitation through the connecting wires. The piezoelectric
wafer is also intimately bonded to the structure, such that the strain/displacement
compatibility and stress/force equilibrium principles apply. As the PZT material
is electrically activated, strain is induced in the piezoelectric wafer, and interaction
forces and moments appear at the interface between the sensor and the structure.

Figure 4.4: Interaction forces and moments [4]

In the pin-force model, the interaction force, FP ZT , is assumed to act at the

sensor boundary only. Induced by FP ZT are activation forces and moments (Na and

34
Ma ), which apply a pinching action to the structural surface and generate structural
waves ( 4.4):

h
FP ZT = FPˆZT eiωt , Na = FP ZT , Ma = FP ZT (4.3)
2
Conversely, when an elastic wave travels through the structure, the sensor be-
comes activated through the strain/displacement compatibility condition. The strain
induced in the sensor generates an electric eld that is captured as voltage at the
sensor terminals. In the pin-force model, the sensor strain is proportional with the
dierence in displacement between its extremes. This observation underpins the
concept of 'sensor tuning', i.e., optimal coupling between sensor and structure is
achieved when the sensor eective length equals the half wavelength of the elastic
wave in the structure (a = λ/2).

Figure 4.5: PWAS on a 1D structure [4]

For a PWAS axed to a one-dimensional (1D) structure, e.g., a beam (as shown
in gure 4.5), the wave propagation is mainly 1D. In this case, the dominant
electromechanical coupling constant is d13 . If the active sensor is placed on a two-
dimensional (2D) structure, the wave propagation is, in principle 2D. Since the
electromechanical coupling constants d31 and d32 have essentially same value, radial
simmetry can be applied and the analysis can be reduced to a 1D case in the radial
coordinate, r.

Figure 4.6: PWAS on a 2D structure [4]

35
4.4.1 PWAS Generation of Lamb waves
PWAS (piezoelectric-wafer active sensors) are small wafers of piezoelectric material
that are permanently bonded to the material surface, and can simultaneously act
as elastic-waves transmitters and receptors [8]. PWAS are strain transducers that
couple directly with the surface strains of the thin-wall structure. Due to the in-
plane surface coupling, PWAS are ideally suited for the generation of guided plate
waves (Lamb waves). A surface mounted PWAS can simultaneously excite both
axial (S0 ) and exural (A0 ) Lamb waves. For ecient Lamb wave excitation, the
PWAS length, la , must be an integer multiple of the Lamb wave half-length, λ/2,
i.e.

λ
la = k k = 1, 2, ... (4.4)
2
When a time-varying voltage, V (t), is applied to the PWAS electrodes, the PWAS
expands and contracts in accordance with the laws of piezoelectricity. Thus, the
PWAS acts as a Lamb wave generator. Conversely, when a Lamb wave is present in
the material under a PWAS, the surface expansions and contractions are felt by the
PWAS and transformed in time varying electric signals. In this case, the PWAS acts
as a wave sensor. Of particular importance is the fact that PWAS are coupled with
the material strains parallel to the material surface. Thus, the transmission and
reception of Lamb waves in thin-wall structures is greatly facilitated. This type of
coupling, which is parallel to the material surface, is signicantly more ecient for
the excitation and reception of Lamb waves than that of the conventional ultrasonic
transducers, which can only impinge normal to the material surface (or at an angle,
when using wedge couplers). This observation, in additional to the much lower
cost of PWAS transducers, highlights their advantage over conventional ultrasonic
transducers in the transmission and reception of Lamb waves.

4.5 Wave Propagation in Electromechanical Struc-

tures
In this section is presented an analytical and numerical study to simulate the wave
propagation in an elastic half plane with surface-bonded piezoceramic actuators
under high-frequency electric loads. The study presented has been obtained from
research papers published by Wang and Huang (2001) [10]. Based on a one dimen-
sional actuator model, the wave propagation induced by a single actuator is studied
by using integral transform method and solving the resulting integral equations.

36
 Because of their advantages of quick response, low power consumption and high
linearity, piezoelectric actuators may also be used to induce high frequency elastic
wave propagation in dierent engineering structures for their health monitoring. The
induced wave propagation will carry the information on the properties of existing
damage and, therefore, can be used to identify the location and nature of the damage
by using properly arranged networks of sensors. The most fundamental issue sur-
rounding the eective use of piezoelectric actuators in this type of applications is the
evaluation of the generated wave propagation for dierent actuator designs and ar-
rangements. The possible mechanical failure of surface-bonded actuators is another
concern, which degrades the mechanical integrity of the structure. For example, the
stress concentration near the ends of an actuator may result in undesired peeling-o
of the actuator from the host structure. An accurate assessment of the coupled
electromechanical behavior of piezoelectric structure would, therefore, necessitate
the detailed understanding of the local mechanical eld around actuators.
In comparison with embedded ones, surface-bonded actuators have the advan-
tages that they can be attached to existing structures to form an online monitoring
system. They can also minimize the adverse eects on structures by avoiding inter-
nal weak points induced by embedded actuators for cases where the eects of these
inclusions are signicant.

4.5.1 Statement of the Problem

Consider the plane strain problem of M thin piezoceramic actuators surface-bonded
to a homogeneous and isotropic elastic insulator, as illustrated in Figure 4.5.1. The
half length and the thickness of actuator n are denoted as an and hn , respectively.
The position of the centre of actuator n is described by its coordinate in the global
coordinate system, (yn0 ,0). A local coordinate system (yn ,zn ) will be used to describe
actuator n with its origin at the centre of the actuator. It is assumed that the poling
direction of the actuators is along the z-axis.

Figure 4.7: Actuators surface-bonded to an elastic medium [10]

A voltage between the upper and the lower electrodes of actuator n is applied,
which results in an electric eld Ezn of frequency ω along the poling direction of

37
the actuator, Ezn = (Vn− − Vn+ )/hn . To study the resulting wave propagation,
only the steady state response of the system will be considered. In this case, the
displacement,strain, stress and electric elds of the system will generally involve a
time factor exp(−iωt). For the sake of convenience, this factor will be suppressed
and only the amplitude of the eld variables will be considered.

4.5.2 Wave Propagation Due to a Single Actuator

Let us rst consider the case where only one actuator is attached to the host medium.
The actuator will extend (contract) when an electric eld is applied and consequently
result in the deformation of the host elastic medium. Detailed description of this
process involves the analysis of complicated local stress distribution around the
actuator. Because the thickness of the actuator used is very small in comparison
with its length, the applied electric eld will mainly result in a deformation along the
axial direction. Accordingly, the actuator can be modelled as an electroelastic line
subjected to the applied electric eld and a distributed axial force, τ , as shown in
Figure 4.5.1, where τ is the interfacial shear stress transferred between the actuator
and the host structure.
The attention will be focused on cases where high frequency electric eld is
applied, which results in a wave propagation with the typical wavelength comparable
to the length of the actuator. In this case, the inertia eect of the actuator must be
considered. According to the actuator model, the equation of motion of the actuator
can be expressed as

dσya
+ τ (y)/h + ρa ω 2 uay = 0 (4.5)
dy
where ρa is the mass density of the actuator. The axial stress in the actuator
can be expressed in terms of the axial displacement (uay ) and the electric eld (Ez )
as

∂uay
σya = Ea − ea Ez (4.6)
∂y
where Ea and ea are eective material constants. The two ends of the surface-
bonded actuator can be assumed to be traction free, i.e.

σya = 0, |y| = a. (4.7)

Using this boundary condition, the axial strain obtained by solving equation 4.5
as

38
 sin(ka (a + y) Z a Z y
τ (ξ)
ay (y) = E (y) + coska (ξ − a)τ (ξ)dξ − coska (ξ − y) dξ(4.8)
hEa sin2ka a −a −a hEa
where

coska y
E (y) = 0 (4.9)
coska a
is the axial strain of a free actuator caused by Ez and

s
Ez ea ω Ea
0 = , ka = , ca = (4.10)
Ea ca ρa

with ka and ca being the wave number and the axial wave speed of the actuator,
respectively. The dynamic deformation of the actuator will be transformed to the
host medium trough interfacial shear stress. The boundary condition along the
surface (interface) of the host medium (z=0) can be expressed as


 −τ (y) |y| < a
τyz =  (4.11)
0 otherwise
The resulting dynamic strain along the surface can be determined by solving the
plane strain elastodynamic problem (Achenbach, 1973) as

λ0 Z a τ (ξ) Z a
y (y, 0)host = [ dxi − τ (ξ)m1 (y − ξ)dxi] (4.12)
2πµ −a y − ξ −a

where µ is the shear modulus of the matrix, λ0 = 2(1 − υ) with υ being the
Poisson's ratio, and

Z ∞ 2k 2 sβ
m1 (y − ξ) = ( + 1) × sins(y − ξ)ds (4.13)
0 λ0 [(2s2 − k 2 )2 − 4s2 αβ]

The kernel of the integration in equation 4.13 becomes singular when (2s2 −
k 2 )2 − 4s2 αβ approaches zero, which corresponds to the well-known Rayleigh wave
speed. This singular property will be used in the following discussion to determine
the behaviour of Rayleigh wave propagation. In general cases, an actuator will be
subjected to an incident mechanical wave induced by applied load or other actuators.
The continuity of deformation between the actuator and the host structure indicates
that

39
 ay (y) = y (y) + Iy (y) |y| < a, z = 0 (4.14)

where y is the outgoing wave and the superscript 'a' and 'I' represent the actu-
ator and the incident wave, respectively. By substituting equations 4.8 and 4.12
into equation 4.14, the following integral equation can be obtained

−qv sink a (a+y)

Ra Ry
sin2ka a −a coska (ξ − a)τ (ξ)dξ + qv −a coska (ξ − a)τ (ξ)dξ+
(4.15)
Ra τ (ξ) Ra
−a y−ξ dξ − −a τ (ξ)m1 (y − ξ)dξ = E (y) − Iy , |y| <a

where

π Ē E a
q= , Ē = 2
,υ = (4.16)
2Ea 1−υ h

with E being the Young's modulus of the matrix. Iy is the strain of the incident
eld and E is the electric load given by 4.9 . Equation 4.15 is a rst kind of
singular integral equation, which involves a square-root singularity of τ at the ends
of the actuator. The general solution of τ can be expressed in terms of Chebyshev
polynomial, such that

q
∞
(4.17)
X
τ (y) = j=0 cj Tj (y/a)/ 1 − y 2 /a2

If the expansions in equation 4.17 are truncated to the N th term and 4.15 is
satised at the following collocation points along the actuator

l−1
y l = acos[ π], l = 1, 2, ..., N (4.18)
N −1
N linear algebraic equations in terms of {c} = {c1 , c2 , ..., cN }T an be obtained as

[A]{c} = {F } (4.19)

where [A] is a known matrix and {F } is the applied load. From these equations,
the unknown coecients in {c}, which represent the interfacial shear stress τ , can
be determined.
Based on the solution of interfacial in the host medium induced by the actuator
can be obtained, using the general solution as

40
 (−1)n 0∞ H1 (s, z)Jj (sa)cos(sy)ds
 R




 j = 2n + 1

N
(4.20)
X
σyy (y, z) = c
j=1 j (n+1) ∞
R



(−1) 0 H1 (s, z)Jj (sa)sin(sy)ds


j = 2n

n ∞
 R


 (−1) 0 H2 (s, z)Jj (sa)cos(sy)ds

 j = 2n + 1

N
(4.21)
X
σzz (y, z) = c
j=1 j (n+1) ∞
R



(−1) 0 H2 (s, z)Jj (sa)sin(sy)ds


j = 2n

(−1)n 0∞ H3 (s, z)Jj (sa)cos(sy)ds

 R




 j = 2n + 1

N
(4.22)
X
σyz (y, z) = j=1 cj 
(−1)(n+1) 0∞ H3 (s, z)Jj (sa)sin(sy)ds
R





j = 2n

where H1 (s, z), H2 (s, z), H3 (s, z) are given by

2sβ[(k 2 + 2α2 )eαz − (2s2 − k 2 )eβz ]

H1 (s, z) = (4.23)
(2s2 − β 2 )2 − 4s2 αβ

2sβ(2s2 − k 2 )(eβz − eαz )

H2 (s, z) = (4.24)
(2s2 − β 2 )2 − 4s2 αβ

4s2 αβeαz − (2s2 − k 2 )2 eβz

H3 (s, z) = (4.25)
(2s2 − β 2 )2 − 4s2 αβ

The stress eld is singular near the tips of the actuator. This singular behavior
can be characterized by a shear stress singularity factor (SSSF), S , dened by

q
Sr = limy→a [ 2π(a − y)τ (y)] (4.26)

q
Sl = limy→−a [ 2π(a + y)τ (y)] (4.27)

with the subscript 0 r0 and 0 l0 representing right and left tips, respectively.
According to this denition, the SSSF can be expressed in terms of cj as

41
 √ √
N j N
(4.28)
X X
Sl = aπ j=1 (−1) cj , Sr = aπ j=1 cj

The singular stress eld distribution near the right tip of the actuator can be
obtained by concluding an asymptotic analysis as:

Sr θ 3θ
σrr = − √ (5cos + 3cos ) (4.29)
a 2πr 2 2

3Sr θ 3θ
σθθ = − √ (cos − cos ) (4.30)
a 2πr 2 2

Sr θ 3θ
σrθ = − √ (sin − 3sin ) (4.31)
a 2πr 2 2

42
Chapter 5

Experimental Setup

To perform the experimental work it was used the following setup:

Figure 5.1: Experimental setup used in the laboratory

This setup is composed by an aluminum plate, 3 piezoelectrics wafers, a function

generator, an oscilloscope and a GPIB board to connect the computer to the function
generator and the oscilloscope.
The experimental work was performed in the laboratory of robotics in IST, which
is a very large laboratory that has a lot of people working there in dierent projects.
All the experiments were performed without a controlled environment to simulate an
environment as close as the reality as possible. There were no worries with sounds
from machines, people talking, or every other noise, even knowing that all that
sounds can be felt by the piezoelectric sensors. This method of detecting damages
with Lamb waves with an integrated system of sensors and actuators in a controlled
environment is already validated so the next step is to validate the method in a
non-controlled environment.
The aluminum plate is a square of 1.5mx1.5m and 2mm thickness.

43
 Figure 5.2: Aluminum plate used in the experiments

The function generator used is a Philips PM5138. To connect the function gener-
ator and the oscilloscope to the computer is was used a GPIB board. In the computer
the "`Fluke AnyWave"' program was used to send the signal to the generator and
to receive the response signals from the oscilloscope.

Figure 5.3: Function generator, oscilloscope and board

The oscilloscope is a Philips PM3335.

This experimental setup was a preliminary one using the available material in
the laboratory. The objective was to do some tests and experiments in order to
achieve the ideal characteristics of the new equipment to be bought.

5.1 Lamb Waves Generation

The piezoelectric wafers are used to transmit and received the Lamb waves. In each
test, one of them is used as actuator and the other two as sensors. They are all
connected by wires to the function generator or to the oscilloscope depending on
their function in the test.

44
5.1.1 Limitations of the equipment
Function Generator
This equipment only allows to create a discrete actuation wave with 1000 points
equally spaced. That wave is sent continually and the function generator doesn't
allow to sent only a unique wave or to create a sequence of a actuation wave followed
by a zero signal. Due to this fact the only results that one can use to analyze is
the results that arrive to the sensor before the second actuation wave arrives. The
window of the actuation signal has to be as long as possible so the waves have time
to arrive to the sensors and the rsts reections. The problem of this is that the time
interval between the points that dene the wave is increased and the wave becomes
poor dened. One have to nd a commitment between the number of points that
the wave need to be well dened and the maximum time of window that is possible.
Another limitation of the function generator is the amplitude of the actuation signal.
The maximum amplitude that is allowed is 10V i.e. 20V peak to peak.

Oscilloscope
The ANYWAVE software saves the results for a time interval that is double of the
interval that is show in the oscilloscope window. The results are saved in a le
with 'comma separated value' (csv) format. That is a microsoft Excel format which
simplies the analysis of the results. The other option is to create a routine in
MATLAB to read the le and plot the results. The results are save in a discrete
way with 4096 points. Since the number of points is constant, if one saves a short
period of time the results will be well dened. As explained before the window of
time that is interesting to analyse is until 0.1ms. Due to all this the x-scale chosen
to work with in the oscilloscope was 50µs. That results in a window of time showed
in the oscilloscope of 0.05ms and a window saved in the le of 0.1ms. The next
x-scale available in the oscilloscope is 20µs, which will result in a 0.04ms window of
the saved le. That time is not enough to all the reection arrive.

5.1.2 Actuation Signal

Due to the dispersive nature of Lamb waves it is important that the actuation signal
excites only one frequency. If more than one frequency is excited there would be
Lamb waves with various velocities that would turn the results obtained very dicult
to interpret. To choose the appropriate signal to excite the Lamb waves in the plate
one have study several types of signals calculating the spectrum power of which one.
The wave used to excite the Lamb waves was:

45
Figure 5.4: Square wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

Figure 5.5: Ramp signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

Figure 5.6: Sine signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

46
 Figure 5.7: Cosine signal (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

f
F = Asen(2πf t) ∗ sen(2π t) (5.1)
10
where, A is the amplitude, f is the frequency and t is the time.

Figure 5.8: Actuation wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

The power spectrum of the hanning windowed tone burst (excitation signal used)
shows a wider main frequency peak, and there is almost no side band peak. In this
case, the frequency component is concentrated around the main peak, hence reduce
the frequency spread range.

47
 The actuation wave sent by the function generator is not exactly the wave felt
by the sensor and saved by the oscilloscope. For that reason it was also calculated
the power spectrum of the actuation wave felt by the sensor.

Figure 5.9: Actuation wave (left) and respective power spectrum (right)

5.2 Dispersion Curves

As explained before, the Lamb waves have a dispersive nature, i.e., their velocity
depends on the frequency. To know their velocity in this case one have to obtain
the dispersion curves for this plate. The dispersion curves will give the informa-
tion about how the Lamb waves velocity varies with the frequency. The dispersion
curves depends on the Young modulus, density, Poisson ratio and thickness of the
propagation medium, which in this case is the aluminum plate.

Property Value
ρ(Kg/m ) 3
2700
E (GPa) 70
ν 0.35
Thickness h(m) 0.002
With the plate properties one can calculate the velocity of the P-waves and the
S-waves in this plate.

s
E
vs = = 3098.74m/s (5.2)
2ρ(1 + ν)

s
Eν E
vs = + = 6450.54m/s (5.3)
(1 − 2ν)(1 + ν)ρ ρ(1 + ν)

48
Knowing the vs ,vp and the thickness of the plate the only two incognits in the
Rayleigh-Lamb equations are now the frequency and the Lamb waves velocity. Using
Matlab one obtains the dispersion curves for this plate.

Figure 5.10: Dispersion curves for an aluminum plate of 2 mm thickness (Frequency

vs Phase velocity)

Figure 5.11: Dispersion curves for an aluminum plate of 2 mm thickness (Frequency

vs Group Velocity

The group velocity represents the speed with which Lamb-wave packs are sent
and received along the thin-wall plate.
As one can sees in gure 5.10 for frequencies higher than 1.5MHz there are
multiple modes of Lamb waves. Below that frequency only exist the rst symmetrical

49
mode (S0) and the rst anti-symmetrical mode (A0). For frequencies higher than
1MHz the velocity of the rst mode of the anti-symmetric wave is approaching the
rst symmetric mode velocity. The goal in this experience is to have only the two
rst modes (A0 and S0) and that that modes have a velocity as dierent as possible.
If the velocity of the two modes is to close the waves will arrive at the same time
and it will be dicult to distinguish the two. The arrival time of the waves is a very
important parameter of these method if not the most important. So one decides to
have excitation frequencies below 1MHz.

Figure 5.12: Variation of S and A wavelength with frequency

5.3 Time of Flight (TOF)

With the dispersion curves presented in the previous section one can know the
velocity of the waves for the actuation signal in question i.e. 100kHz. The values
taken from 5.11 are presented in the next table.

Group velocity of S0 (100kHz) 5440 m/s

Group velocity of A0 (100kHz) 2300 m/s

Calculating the path of the waves from the actuator to the sensor, one can know
the distance. With the distance and the velocity the theoretical time of ight of the
waves can be calculated.
Figure 5.13 show the position in the plate of the 3 piezoelectrics actuators/sensors
bonded. It also shows the numbering used to refer to each one of them and the co-
ordinate system.

50
 Figure 5.13: Coordinates of the piezoeletric actuatiors/sensors in the plate

5.3.1 Direct Waves

The sensor will receive the direct wave from the actuator and then the it will re-
ceive the reections from the boundaries or from damages. In the rst part of the
experimental work the plate was undamage so the only reections that the sensors
received were the reections from the boundaries.

Figure 5.14: Distances between the piezoelectrics actuators/sensors

In the next table one had the results for the case of a 100kHz actuation wave.

51
 S0 waves
Actuator/Sensor distance (m) time (s)
2 to 1 0.533 9.80e-5
2 to 3 0.839 1.54e-4

A0 waves
Actuator/Sensor distance (m) time (s)
2 to 1 0.533 2.31e-4
2 to 3 0.839 3.65e-4

5.3.2 Reections
The calculation of the distance of the reections it's not so linear. Mathematically
Lamb waves are a circle with center in the actuator growing with time. When a
part of that circle arrives to a boundary it is reected symmetrically in the opposite
direction. The next scheme shows that phenomenon and the cardinal directions
used to refer to the boundary. For example to refer to the reection arriving from
the west (W) boundary one will say the 'W reection'. The waves that are reected
one time from the boundaries will be called primary reections, if it is already a
reection that hit the boundary it will be called secondary reection.

Figure 5.15: Reections of the waves in the boundaries

In the above picture one can see in green the instant where the actuation wave
(from actuator 2) arrives to the sensor 1. It can be seen in the south boundary
already a reection going up. In orange it is represented the instant where the same
wave arrives to the sensor 3, there can now be seen reections from boundaries
south, east and west.

52
 Figure 5.16: Lamb Wave in the case Figure 5.17: Reections arriving at
of a innite plate sensor 1

Figure 5.16 shows the diameter of the Lamb wave in the case of a innite plate.
However, the plate is nite and the wave is reected in the boundaries. Picture 5.17
now shows the instant where the reections from south and east arrive to sensor 1.
To calculate that distance one have to sum the distance from the actuator to the
boundary with the distance back to the sensor. This distance is not the distance
between the boundary and the sensor but the distance showed in the picture as 'dE '.
That is the radius of the circle. An easy way to calculate that radius is making a
reection of the sensor instead of reecting the wave. Having the sensor at the same
distance from the boundary but on the other side of it as showed in the following
picture, one only have to calculate the distance between the actuator and that point.
To calculate all the combinations actuator/sensors it was done a little routine
in matlab. The input of that routine is the coordinates of the three piezoelectrics
and the velocity of the waves for the frequency used. It creates a vector with the
coordinates of the 3 possible actuators and a matrix with the coordinates of the 2
possible sensors for which actuator. For all that combinations it rst calculate the
direct distance between the actuator and the sensor as

(5.4)
q
di,j = (xai − xsi,j )2 + (yai − ysi,j )2

where (xa , ya ) are the coordinates of the actuator and (xs , ys ) are the coordinates
of the sensor.
To calculate the primary reections the routine calculates the coordinates of the
point symmetric to the boundary in question. And then is calculates the distance
between the actuator and that point with the same formula showed above. In the
case of south boundary:

53
 x = xsi,j
(5.5)
y = ysi,j − 2ysi,j

North:

x = xsi,j
(5.6)
y = ysi,j + 2(1.5 − ysi,j )

East:

x = xsi,j + 2(1.5 − xsi,j )

(5.7)
y = ysi,j

West:

x = xsi,j − 2xsi,j
(5.8)
y = ysi,j

Knowing the coordinates of this points one then calculates dN ,dS ,dE and dW as
being respectively the distances of the North, South, East and West reections.
Actuator 2 to Sensor 1
Distance (m) S0 time (ms) A0 time (ms)
dS = 1.1859 0.218 0.515
dN = 1.9121 0.351 0.831
dE = 1.1859 0.218 0.515
dW = 1.9121 0.351 0.831

Actuator 2 to Sensor 3
Distance (m) S0 time (ms) A0 time (ms)
dS = 2.0194 0.371 0.878
dN = 1.3521 0.248 0.588
dE = 1.5462 0.284 0.672
dW = 1.5462 0.284 0.672

5.4 Results
In this section are presented the plots of the received waves by the sensors.
In gure 5.18 there is a typical result obtain with the laboratory equipment. The
amplitude of the actuation wave was divided by 100 to t the scale of the received

54
Figure 5.18: Actuation wave (blue) and received wave (orange) from 1 to sensor 2

wave. The actuation wave starts before the zero seconds in the negative part. This
is due to the trigger level of the oscilloscope. The oscilloscope only does the trigger
after a while of the start of the actuation wave. The time of ight of the received
waves is the dierence between the time of arrival of the wave and the time when
the actuation wave start. If the actuation wave doesn't start at zero the time of
arrival of the waves cannot be read directly from the x-axis. In order to simplify
that point all the signals were shift along the positive direction of the x-axis until
the start of the actuation wave is on origin of the x-axis. This is shown in 5.19.

Figure 5.19: Actuation wave (blue) and received wave (orange) from 1 to sensor 2
with time shift

The actuation wave that is received is similar for all the cases. Its primary
importance is to quantify the shift of time that should be applied to each wave.
That will be done for all the cases mas only the received waves will be plot with the
respective shift.
With the Time of Flight (TOF) previous calculated one can identify the packs
of waves that appear in the results. That is shown in gure 5.20.
where,
S0 - S0 wave
S0(R) - Primary reection of the S0 wave
S0(r) - Secondary reection of the S0 wave

55
Figure 5.20: Wave generated by actuator 1 and received by sensor 2 (blue) and
sensor 3 (orange)

A0 - A0 wave
A0(R) - Primary reection of the A0 wave

As dened before, primary reection is when the wave reects in one boundary.
Secondary reection is when the wave reects in two boundaries before it arrives to
the sensor.
With the previously calculated time of ight one can identify each pack that
arrives at the sensor.
In gure 5.20 one can see that between the packs (sensor 2) it is visible some
noise, but between the second and the third pack the noise is higher that between
the other ones. The time of the occurrence is consistent with the position of the
sensor 3.
Actuator/Sensor Distance Time of arrival Group Velocity Error
(m) (s) (m/s)
1-2 0.530 0.95e-4 5353 1.6%
1-3 0.839 1.55e-4 5412 0.51%
The results show a good accuracy between the theoretical group velocity (5440m/s)
and the experimental values. The group velocity is very high when compare with
the distances which will give time of ights in the order of 10−4 seconds. Any little
change in the times readings will change signicantly the value of the calculated

56
velocity. So the calculation of the error is also dependent on the accuracy of that
reading which in this case were direct from the plots.

5.4.1 Variation with the frequency

In this section one will analyze the variation of the Lamb waves with the frequencies.

Frequency (kHz) A0 group velocity (m/s) 2-1 time (ms) 2-3 time (ms)
100 2300 0.231 0.364
125 2450 0.216 0.342
150 2600 0.204 0.323
175 2700 0.196 0.310
200 2800 0.189 0.299

Frequency (kHz) S0 group velocity (m/s) 2-1 time (ms) 2-3 time (ms)
100 5440 0.097 0.154
125 5410 0.098 0.155
150 5400 0.098 0.155
175 5400 0.098 0.155
200 5400 0.098 0.155

Figure 5.21: Inuence of the frequency in the received waves (actuator 2 to sensor
1)
The S0 mode is received at a time that is almost independent of frequency which
is consistent with the calculated dispersion curves for this plate. The amplitude is

57
Figure 5.22: Inuence of the frequency in the received waves (actuator 2 to sensor
3)

also dependent on frequency. Although, for more than one test done at the same
frequency the sensors used showed variations in the amplitude of the results. Due
to this, one cannot say for sure that the variation in the amplitude is a result of
frequency variation or a defect of the sensors. As the frequency increases the waves
show less dispersion.
They were also performed tests with higher frequencies than 200kHz. But the
amplitude of the results is in the order of the noise amplitude and it is impossible
to distinguish anything. An example is shown in gure 5.23.

Figure 5.23: Received wave for an actuation of 250kHz

58
5.4.2 2D Visualization of the Results
Lamb waves propagates as a circle, across thickness. In the results saved by the
sensor with the oscilloscope one can only see a 1D plot of the waves arriving at that
sensor. To give some visibility to the results, that 1D results felt by the sensor were
rotated 360º around the actuator. A little C program was developed to take the
results saved by the Fluke Anywave software and create an input le to TECPLOT.
The le saved by the FlukeAnywave software has two columns, the rst one with
the time and the second one with the amplitude. The rst thing that the program
does is multiply the time by the wave velocity in order to achieve the distance. In
this way one gets the points in the form of a matrix with two columns with the
distance in the rst and the amplitude in the second one. The next step is to create
a regular square grid in the plate. Then one calculates the distance between every
points in the grid and the actuator. When that distance is equal to a distance value
present in the matrix, the correspondent amplitude value is attributed to that point.
After the grid is completely swept all the point have an amplitude attributed and is
created an output le. That le has three columns (x, y, amp) and is written in a
way that could be read by TECPLOT.

Figure 5.24: Actuation wave passing through sensor 1

59
Figure 5.25: Actuation wave passing through sensor 3

60
Chapter 6

Damage Detection

One of the objectives of this work is to detect damages in the plate using Lamb
waves. With the plate undamage a lot of results were obtained and that results will
be the reference to those with the damaged plate. One will compare the two and
try to nd the dierences in the waves obtained by the sensors. As explained before
a cut or a mass in the plate will reect the Lamb waves. That reection will be
received by the sensors such as the reection from the boundaries are.

6.1 First Cut

It was made a cut through all the thickness of the plate with 20mm by 1mm. The
cut was made with a saw to be as clean as possible. This cut was made parallel to
the north and south boundaries. The location of the cut can be seen in gure 6.1.

Figure 6.1: Location of the rst cut in the plate

Comparing the case damaged with the case undamaged one can see by gures
6.4 and 6.5 that at visible eye there cannot be seen any dierence. These can be
due to the orientation of the cut. Generated Lamb waves arrive at the cut and
are reected but that reections have some directionality. In some directions the

61
 Figure 6.2: Location of the rst cut Figure 6.3: Zoom of the rst cut

Figure 6.4: Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 with the rst damage(orange) and without (blue)
any damage

Figure 6.5: Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 with (orange) and without (blue) damage

62
amplitude of the reections is higher than in other directions. The reections that
arrive the sensors are too small to be distinguish from noise.

6.2 Second cut

The second cut was made perpendicular to the direction sensor 1 to sensor 2, i.e.,
with an angle of 45º with the horizontal. This was done in order to be sure that the
reections from the damage will be received by these two sensors.

Figure 6.6: Location of the second cut in the plate

Figure 6.7: Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 with the second cut

Here it is visible the reection from the damage. It is also visible the reection
from the third sensor as mentioned in the previous chapter. Each sensor is acting
like a strange presence that is felt by the other sensors. In the case of using the 1-2
ou 2-1 combination for actuator/sensor that reection occurs at a time where there
is nothing in the signal but noise which make it visible.
In the case of gure 6.8 the reection from the damage is also visible mas with
a minor amplitude. This could be due again to the orientation of the cut.

63
 Figure 6.8: Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 with the second cut

6.3 Increase of the damage

To analyse the inuence of the increase of the damage, the cut in the plate was
increased slowly to verify if the reections of the cut also increase or not. All the
results presented in this section refer to actuator 1 and the sensor 2.

Figure 6.9: Plate without damage Figure 6.10: Plate with a 20mm cut

Figure 6.11: Plate with a 25 mm cut Figure 6.12: Plate with a 30mm cut

The results in the gure 6.9 refer to the undamaged case. In the gure 6.10
the plate has a 20mm cut and there is visible the reection from that cut. It was
drawn a reference pink line in the plots to be easier to compare them. In gure
6.10 the reection from the damage is below that pink line. As the cut is increased

64
 Figure 6.13: Plate with a 35mm cut Figure 6.14: Plate with a 40mm cut

the reection from the damage is also slowly increasing until the case in gure 6.14
(40mm) where the reection from the damage pass the pink line.
One can conclude that the reection from the damage increases with the increase
of the damage.

65
Chapter 7

Numerical Simulations

In order to validate the experimental results were developed some numerical models
of the experiments. Numerical simulations of the wave propagation process were
performed using the commercially available nite-element code ANSYS.

7.1 Element
The element chosen to use in the numerical simulations was SHELL63. This element
has both bending and membrane capabilities. Both in-plane and normal loads are
permitted. The element has six degrees of freedom at each node: translations in the
nodal x, y, and z directions and rotations about the nodal x, y, and z-axes. Stress
stiening and large deection capabilities are included.

Figure 7.1: SHELL63 geometry

The geometry, node locations, and the coordinate system for this element are
shown in gure 7.1. The element is dened by four nodes, four thicknesses, an
elastic foundation stiness, and the orthotropic material properties. Orthotropic
material directions correspond to the element coordinate directions.

66
7.2 Natural Frequencies
The rst thing calculated in ANSYS was the natural frequencies of the plate and
the vibration modes.

Figure 7.2: First mode Figure 7.3: Second mode

Figure 7.4: Third mode Figure 7.5: Fourth mode

Figure 7.6: Fifth mode Figure 7.7: Sixth mode

Natural Frequencies:

Mode Freq (Hz)

1 7.9875
2 16.290
3 16.290
4 24.017
5 29.205
6 29.343

67
 Figure 7.8: Convergence of the natural frequency

Figure 7.9: Convergence of the maximum displacement

Maximum Displacement:
Mode Displacement (m)
1 0.706248
2 0.697349
3 0.697332
4 0.640984
5 0.693357
6 0.86885

7.3 Lamb Wave Propagation

To simulate the generation of the Lamb waves by the piezoelectric actuators a dis-
placement was applied to the correspondent nodes. The function applied to the
nodes was similar to the one applied in the laboratory experiments. The only dif-
ference is the amplitude. In the experimental part the amplitude was 10V and in
the ANSYS simulations the amplitude was 10e-6 m.

f
F = Asen(2πf t) ∗ sen(2π t) (7.1)
10
where, A is the amplitude, f is the frequency and t is the time.

68
 The grid chosen was an agreement between the computational eort and good
results. The grid used has 100x100 elements.

Figure 7.10: Grid and boundary conditions

The results obtained from ANSYS were saved in a txt le that has the value of
displacement on each node. A little routine was made in Matlab to receive the
results from ANSYS and make the plots.

Figure 7.11: Actuator 1 to Sensor 2

There is a good agreement between the time of arrival of the rst pack of waves
and the arrival of the rst boundary reection. In the laboratory the reection from
the south and east boundaries arrive at the same time. However, in the numerical
simulations the wave that is created is not exactly circular and so, the reections
from the two boundaries don't arrive at the same time. It is visible in gure ?? the
two reections arriving one after the other.
In the case of the sensor 3 the times of ight of the rst pack and the rst
reection also agree with the theoretical calculated times.

69
 Figure 7.12: Actuator 1 to Sensor 3

7.4 Damage Detection

To experiment the options to how simulate a damage in ANSYS simpler tests were
performed rst. With simpler tests being tests not to heavy to the computer. In
this case simpler tests cannot mean larger grid. The grid has to be small enough to
the wave to propagate and one be able to see it. So the solution was to perform 1D
tests rst where the actuator only actuates the y direction and the sensor and the
damage are in the same x coordinate of the actuator. The three are in the same
vertical line.

7.4.1 1D Simulations
In the rst test only one node was clamped, then three and nally ve nodes were
clamped to simulate a damage. The results obtained were the following:

Figure 7.13: Results for the three cases (1 nodes, 3 nodes and 5 nodes)

It can be seen that the amplitude of the rst pack to arrive is constant in all

70
the three cases but the amplitude of the second pack in slowly increasing as the
number of clamped nodes increases. That is a sign that the clamped nodes are
doing anything.
As the crack length increases, the amplitude of the reection increases.
To conrm that the increase of amplitude is due to the damage another case was
tested. In this case the cut was placed in a way that will arrive at the sensor sooner
in order not to interfere with another waves or reections.

Figure 7.14: Case damaged vs undamaged

It is visible in gure 7.14 near 0.2ms the reection from the damage.

7.4.2 2D Simulations

Figure 7.15: Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 (rst cut))

Figure 7.16: Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 (rst cut)

71
 The amplitude of the cut reection is in the order of the signal noise of the
laboratory. In the simulations there is no noise and one can see the reections, but
it the experimental results it's very dicult to distinguish the reection from the
noise.

Figure 7.17: Actuator 1 to Sensor 2 (second cut)

Figure 7.18: Actuator 1 to Sensor 3 (second cut)

In the case of the second cut the amplitudes from the reections are bigger than
in the case of the rst one. As observed in the experimental results.

72
Chapter 8

Conclusions and Further Research

8.1 Conclusion
From the performed experiments it can be concluded that the piezoelectric sen-
sors/actuators are ecient in the generation and detection of Lamb waves. The
omnidirectionality of the waves was also proved because the sensor has received the
direct wave and reections from all the four boundaries.
There is a good agreement between the theoretical time of ight and the results
obtain in the lab (in the order of 99%).
Even with the material available good results were obtained and a damage was
detected. The rst cut was more dicult to detect but with the right positioning of
the sensors in order to eliminate that "dead zones" it could be more eective.
The pulse dispersion of the Lamb waves in combination with the presence of
multiple modes can make the results dicult to interpret but it can be passed over
with the right excitation signal.
With the increase of frequency the Lamb waves show less dispersion.
The results from the numerical simulations had a good agreement with the ex-
perimental ones in the rst waves arriving the sensors. The other ones were aected
by simulation errors.

8.2 Recommended Future Work

The benets of Structure Health Monitoring (SHM) could result in cost savings and
safer aircrafts. It is a research area that deserves to be worked and studied.
For future works are recommended tests with more sensors and with various
congurations. Tests with higher frequencies should already be done because they
will be more eective in the damage detection. That cannot be done with the actual
equipment.

73
 The use of phased arrays (an array of sensors) can be a good solution to the
"dead zones" problem. Using phased arrays one can determine the direction of the
incoming waves. This is very useful because when a reection is received one can
tell from which direction it came. With single actuators/sensors one can only tell
that the source is at a specied distance mas the direction is unknown.
Fiber Grating Sensor (FBG) is also a possibility. They are known to show
high directivity, therefore signal amplitude will also depend on the direction of the
incoming wave.

74
Bibliography

[1] Purekar, A.; Pines, D. J.;" Interrogation of Beam and Plate Structures Using
Phased Array Concepts" ICAST 2001
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