Calculation of ultrasonic surface waves from an extended thermoelastic laser source

A method is developed to calculate ultrasonic surface waveforms generated by an extended laser source, operating in the thermoelastic regime of laser-pulse energy density. This approach integrates over a suitably weighted distribution of point surface centers of expansion, for observation to within 1 mm of the edge of the source. Power spectra as well as both horizontal and vertical displacements are presented and discussed for ultrasonic waveforms on an aluminium surface, for incident laser pulses having Gaussian lateral profiles of various sizes. Far from the source, the waveform is dominated by a dipolar Rayleigh (R) wave, whose amplitude and spectral content depend on laser spot size. Weak, monopolar pulses also occur at the intersection of bulk pressure and shear wavefronts with the surface (denoted assP andsS, respectively). Close to the source, thesP wave amplitude approaches that for theR wave, and overlaps theR wave for large source sizes. The fall-off with distance for bothsP andR waves is given. Finally, the changes in pulse shape and amplitude are calculated when anR wave from an extended thermoelastic source is reflected or transmitted by a right-angled corner of an aluminium block.     

Depth measurement for cracks in corners using ultrasonic Rayleigh waves

The scattering of ultrasonic Rayleigh waves incident normally on corners containing cracks is considered by using elastodynamic ray theory. Detailed calculations are presented for vertical and horizontal cracks in right-angle corners in aluminium. It is shown that crack depth can be measured simply from the spacing of interference fringes in the high-frequency spectra of either the back- or forward-scattered Rayleigh waves, given only a knowledge of the Rayleigh wave speed. Use of the back-scattered wave is preferable because its fringes show stronger modulation, and because an experiment requires a single transducer and access to only one face of the specimen. The technique is applicable without modification to the more general case of a crack at any angle in a corner of any angle.     

Body to Rayleigh wave mode-conversion at steps and slots

The efficient excitation of Rayleigh waves at surface discontinuities due to body wave incidence has potential as a method for the detection and sizing of surface breaking defects. In this paper, the mode-conversion phenomenon at several types of surface features is studied in detail, using numerical models which employ finite-difference methods. The emphasis is on examining the spectral content of the Rayleigh wave field in order to arrive at a method for relating the spectral information to the defect dimensions. The numerical results are backed up by experimental observations.     

Rayleigh waves in a thermoelastic solid half space using dual-phase-lag model

The present paper deals with the study of Rayleigh waves in a thermoelastic homogeneous isotropic solid half space in the context of dual-phase-lag model. The medium is subjected to stress free, thermally insulated, boundary conditions. The equation for the phase velocity of Rayleigh waves and the analytical expressions for the amplitudes of the displacements, temperature and thermal stresses have been derived. The expressions are obtained for a wave traveling along the free surface. The results discussed numerically and illustrated graphically to show effect of the coupling parameter and phase-lags.     

扫描激光激发瑞利波探测材料表面微缺陷

提出了一种无损探测材料表面微小缺陷的新方法,利用移动扫描激光线源在材料表面激发的超声瑞利波,结合自行改进的差分式光偏转探测系统接收该超声波信号,并对该探测系统的测试原理进行了讨论;在利用系统进行实验研究时观察到：当激发激光源接近材料表面的人工缺陷时,探测信号的幅度会发生显著变化．通过对信号幅度变化规律的特征分析,可以对材料表面的微小缺陷进行诊断,亦证实了扫描激光线源技术在材料表面微小缺陷无损检测方面具有的应用价值．     

Characterization of localized surface elastic defects by nonspecular reflection at the Rayleigh angle

The relationships between characteristics of elastic defects and nonspecular features of bounded ultrasonic beams reflected at the Rayleigh angle from a liquid-solid interface are investigated. The results can serve as a theoretical basis for interpretation of Rayleigh angle nonspecularly reflected beam profiles as characterization of localized surface elastic defects.     

Modeling and evaluating the scattering of Rayleigh waves by a linear distribution of surface cracks

A numerical evaluation model of the reflection coefficient of Rayleigh waves for a linear distribution of surface cracks is developed using the weight function estimation method. The numerical evaluation of the reflection coefficients varying with respect to the crack depth ratios, frequencies, and the number of the cracks for several commonly used engineering materials is performed. The results show that the model can effectively be used to evaluate the reflection coefficient for a linear distribution of the cracks. The crack depth which can be evaluated has been extended substantially and the evaluation results have been improved.     

Rayleigh waves at the boundary surface of modified couple stress generalized thermoelastic with mass diffusion

In this problem, we have studied propagation of Rayleigh waves in an homogeneous isotropic modified couple stress generalized thermoelastic with mass diffusion solid half space in the context of Lord–Shulman (L-S), Green–Lindsay (G-L) theories of thermoelasticity. Secular equations are derived mathematically by using appropriate boundary conditions. The values of determinant of secular equation, Rayleigh wave velocity and attenuation coefficient with respect to angular velocity for different values of wave number and relaxation times in the absence and presence of mass diffusion, are computed numerically. The numerical simulated results are depicted graphically for copper material.     

Effects of sinusoidal crack-face perturbations on scattering of elastic waves

The scattering of a plane longitudinal wave from a two-dimensional crack, with a sinusoidal surface perturbation whose amplitude and wavelength are much smaller than the length of the crack, is investigated. The amplitude of the cylindrical body waves in the far field are calculated from a Kirchhoff approximation that utilizes the solution to the reflection from the sinusoidal surface profile of a semiinfinite solid. The results are compared to those for a flat crack, and conditions for significant differences of the amplitude as a function of the angle of observation are discussed. Characteristic changes in the scattered field produced by profiles with different amplitudes and periods are explained.     

Behavior of Rayleigh surface waves in an anisotropic media lying over a prestressed orthotropic half-space

The present paper discusses the propagation of Rayleigh waves in an anisotropic layer with finite thickness lying over a prestressed orthotropic half-space. An anisotropic media and orthotropic media are supposed for the upper layer and lower half-space, respectively. Dispersion equation and displacement components are computed in a compact form considering the case that the displacement and stress are continuous at the interface and stress vanishes on a free surface. Graphs are sketched to represent the effect of density, initial stress and height of the layer on wave velocity. The graphs are also configured to exhibit the mode of propagation of Rayleigh waves. This paper is an attempt to explain the nature of Rayleigh waves mathematically.     

功能梯度材料亚表面缺陷的热波多重散射问题

基于热传导波动模型,采用波函数展开法,研究了半无限功能梯度材料亚表面球形缺陷的热波多重散射.给出了热波散射的一般解.温度波由调制光束在材料表面激发,球形缺陷表面的边界条件为绝热,非均匀参数为指数函数变化.分析了结构几何参数和物理参数对温度分布的影响,并给出了温度变化的数值结果.本研究可为功能梯度材料的分析研究、物理反问题和红外热波成像等提供理论基础和参考数据.     

Fatigue lifetime prediction with the aid of SAW NDE

The present studies concentrated on predicting the remaining fatigue life for single fatigue cracks in the Paris regime of macrocrack propagation. Acoustic surface waves were used to interrogate the crack during cyclic fatigue. The inversion of the obtained scattering data provided crack depth and crack length as a function of the number of cycles applied in tension-tension fatigue. Auxiliary experiments were conducted to study the acoustic response of the crack to tensile and compressive loads, thought to open and close the crack. The technique may allow for new insights into the physics of the crack closure effect.     

瑞利波作用下径向非匀质地基中的单桩竖向响应研究

在单桩动力响应简化算法研究的基础上，提出了一个用于计算瑞利波激励下的单桩竖向动力响应的简化解析方法，得到了桩底固支时单桩竖向动力位移分布的闭合解。采用考虑桩周土的非匀质性的Novak薄层法计算地基土动力阻抗的方法，获得桩底固支时单桩竖向动力响应的计算公式。分析结果表明非匀质区刚度与匀质区刚度比、非匀质区大小对单桩竖向动力位移响应有一定影响。     

Numerical modelling of the scattering of elastic waves in plates

This paper describes the application of finite difference methods to the calculation of the scattering of elastic waves. The emphasis is on cracklike defects in plates, and it is shown that a common numerical technique can span a range of wavelengths from Lamb waves to ultrasonic waves with many reflections from the surfaces of the plate. Quantitative results are given for the scattering of Lamb waves and ultrasonic shear waves from surface-breaking cracks.     

Methods for determining the depth of near-surface defects

In previous work by the authors,^(1,6) it was demonstrated that the presence of near-surface defects could be detected reliably, even though the defect echo was contained within the near-surface echo. The algorithm consists of examining the variation in the composite (near-surface plus defect) response after it has been deconvolved from a near-surface response known to be defect-free. This paper presents two algorithms that have been developed subsequent to the work presented in ref. (6) for estimating thedepth of a near-surface defect, given that its presence has already been detected. One algorithm uses complex frequency domain techniques, and the other uses time domain analysis. Both procedures operate on the surface-plus-defect signal, using reference signals containing surface-only and defect-only responses. The defect signal is extracted from the composite signal. Defect depth is then computed from the time difference between the centers of the front-surface and extracted defect responses. A mean absolute depth error of 0.015 in. was obtained by applying the algorithms to experimental data containing depths from 0.020 to 0.130 in. below the near-surface.     

Propagation of elastic waves in honeycomb panels for application to rapid inspection techniques

This paper considers the properties of elastic waves guided by an aluminum plate bonded to a honeycomb core for application to rapid inspection of honeycomb panels. Current acoustic inspection techniques involve the transmission of a signal between a pair of small transducers located on opposite sides of the panel. Scanning the transducers in raster fashion results in a high resolution inspection of the panel, but is very time consuming. An alternative technique would simultaneously inspect all points along a line between two widely spaced transducers located on the same side of the panel. Scanning the pair once over the panel permits rapid inspection, although with decreased resolution. Studies presented here indicate that such a method of inspection is feasible and that the flexural mode is probably the most useful.     

On formulas for the Rayleigh wave velocity in pre-strained elastic materials subject to an isotropic internal constraint

In the present paper, formulas for the velocity of Rayleigh waves propagating along principal directions of prestrain of an elastic half-space subject to a pure homogeneous prestrain, and an isotropic internal constraint have been derived using the theory of cubic equation. They have simple algebraic form, and hold for any strain-energy function and any isotropic constraint. In undeformed state, these formulas recover the exact value of the Rayleigh wave speed in incompressible isotropic elastic materials. Some specific cases of strain-energy function and isotropic constraint are considered, and the corresponding formulas become totally explicit in terms of the parameters characterizing the material and the prestrains. The necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of Rayleigh wave are examined in detail. The use of obtained formulas for nondestructive evaluation of prestrains and prestresses is discussed.     

Fresnel arrays for the study of Lamb waves in laser ultrasonics

An experimental technique is proposed to analyze and control laser-generated Lamb waves propagating in aluminum plates. The technique consists in forming on the surface of the specimen an array of concentric arc sources by passing the laser beam through a Fresnel lens. The spacing between the illuminated arcs produces a forcing wavelength for which only a few specific frequencies (those which satisfy the dispersion relation) can propagate in the sample. Dispersion curves can be obtained by measuring the frequency content of the received signals for a range of wavenumbers. The technique offers a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio because of the narrow-band nature of the method and because of the confocal geometry of the source distribution. Reasonably good agreement is obtained between theoretical and experimental dispersion curves especially for the lower modes, thus showing that the proposed technique may have some potential for some specific applications in laser ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation.     

Measurement of acoustoelastic coefficients of Rayleigh waves in steel alloys

An ultrasonic technique to determine the acoustoelastic coefficients of Rayleigh waves in steel alloys is described. The technique is based on the measurement of the time of flight of Rayleigh waves over a fixed surface distance as a function of applied stress. Measurements on AISI 1080 carbon steel, AISI 4130 alloy steel, and 316L stainless steel specimens are reported. Time of flight resolution and repeatability as well as temperature effects are discussed insofar as they influence the applicability of ultrasonic methods to the measurement of applied and residual biaxial surface stresses in steel.     

Effect of surface stresses on surface waves in elastic solids

This paper deals with the propagation of surface waves in homogeneous, elastic solid media whose free surfaces or interfaces of separation are capable of supporting their own stress fields. The general theory for the propagation of surface waves in a medium which supports surface stresses is first deduced, and then this theory is employed to investigate the particular cases of surface waves, viz. (a) Rayleigh waves, (b) Love waves and (c) Stoneley waves. It is seen that the Rayleigh waves become dispersive in nature; and, in case of low frequency with residual surface tension, a critical wavelength exists, below which the propagation of Rayleigh waves is not possible. This critical wave length is directly proportional to the surface tension. Some numerical calculations have been made in the case of Love waves and conclusions have been drawn.