Quantification of defects in an aluminum plate using direction-tunable shear horizontal wave imaging

Abstract

The quantification of damage, in plates, pipes and such like structures, is one of the current research areas. In this study, to estimate the notch size, shape, and orientation was carried out experimentally based on fundamental shear horizontal mode, SH0 mode. Using least number of transmitters, the reconstruction algorithm for the probabilistic inspection of damage (RAPID) has been used to carry out fast and efficient investigation of scattered waves using SH0 wave interaction with notch at various incident angles. An approach of ultrasonic guided waves and (RAPID) algorithm, using a direction-tunable shear-horizontal mode array magnetostrictive patch transducer (DT-SHMA-MPT), the notch in a thin aluminum plate is experimented. Firstly, the RAPID algorithm, based on SH0 mode, is used here to quantitatively study a notch in a thin aluminium plate. Secondly, the imaging application using DT-SHMA-MPT is achieved. Experiments were conducted using an array of eight DT-SHMA-MPTs based on a pitch-catch mode to utilize the scattered waves at the notch. The results obtained through experiments reveal the effect of directionality of the scattered waves and have find out the optimal transducers configuration. The localization, quantification and orientation at the same time are obtained using only two or three transmitters. To improve the accuracy of imaging, a threshold value was selected. The presented approach can be used to detect, locate and image the surface defects in aluminum plate.