A new acoustic emission source location technique based on wavelet transform and mode analysis

For wave propagation in dispersive media, the arrival time of the acoustic emission signal to the sensor is dependent on the setting of the threshold voltage, which results in the inaccuracy of the acoustic emission location. Based on the wavelet transform and the theory of modal acoustic emission, a new method is proposed to improve the accuracy of acoustic emission source location. It is believed that the acoustic emission signal propagation in the structure has the characteristics of multi-mode and dispersion, and the acoustic emission source location should use the arrival time to sensors obtained from the output signals not only at the same mode but also at the same frequency. The wavelet transform is used to resolve the problem. By utilizing the time-frequency data of the wavelet, the frequency-dependent arrival time traveling is easily obtained; by numerical computation of the wave’s propagation in structure, the group velocity of the guided mode is also obtained, therefore the accuracy source location is realized. The acoustic emission source location experiments were conducted in a thin steel plate and results show that the technique is an effective tool for acoustic emission source location. __________ Translated from Chinese Journal of Scientific Instrument, 2005, 26(3) (in Chinese)