Effect of Tensile Force on Magnetostrictive Sensors for Generating and Receiving Longitudinal Mode Guided Waves in Steel Wires

Abstract

When the longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect were employed to inspect the bridge cables, we found that there was a large difference in the signal’s amplitude of the same specification cable under different tensile force. This difference would affect the test results and the identification of defects. It is necessary to study the effect of tensile force on the signal for the reliability of detection. Firstly, the effective field theory is employed to take the force as an additional bias magnetic field. Then, the effect of the tensile force on generating and receiving longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect is obtained by the relationship between the bias magnetic field and the magnetostrictive coupling coefficient. Finally, the experiment of the magnetostrictive sensor is carried out on a Φ5 mm steel wire under different force. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical results. The results show that the existence of the tensile force would change the operation point for generating and receiving the longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect, which associated with the coupling coefficient. In order to obtain the optimal conversion efficiency for the force state wire and cable, the applied bias magnetic field should be set smaller than the bias magnetic field for the force-free state.