IEEETRAiSSACTIONSONULTRASONICS,FERROELECTRICS,

AND FREQUENCYCONTROL, VOL. 39. NO. 3, MAY 1992

381

The Interaction of Lamb Waves with Defects

David N. Alleyne and Peter Cawley Abstruct-The interaction of individual Lamb waves with a variety of defects simulated by notches has been investigated using finite-element analysis, the results being checked experimentally. Excellent agreement has been obtained between the numerical and experimental results andithas beenshown that a twodimensional (2-D) Fouriertransform method thattheauthors have developed may be used to quantify Lamb wave interactions with defects in both experimental and numerical investigations. The results have shown that the sensitivity of individual Lamb waves toparticular notches is dependent on the frequencythickness product, the mode type (symmetric or antisymmetric), the mode order, and the geometry of the notch. The sensitivity of the Lamb modes a],UO, and SO to simulated defects in different frequency-thickness regions has been predicted as a function of the defect depth to plate thickness ratio (hj2d)and the results have indicated that Lamb wavesmaybeused to findnotches when the wavelength to notch depthratio is of theorder of 40. It has alsobeenshown that provided the notch width is small compared to the wavelength, the transmissionand reflection amplitudes are insensitive to changes in width, so the ratio of the depth of the notch to the plate thickness is the controlling parameter. Both the numerical and experimentalresults have shown that the transmission ratios of Lamb waves across defects are highly frequency dependent, particularly at higher frequencythicknesses. The positions of the maxima and minima in the transmission curves are a function of notch depth that suggests that monitoring the change in transmission ratio with frequency may provide a means of defect sizing. In practice, it is difficult togenerate a single, pure mode, particularly above the cut off frequency-thickness of the a1 mode. Therefore, the received signal generally contains more than onemode, andthe proportions of thedifferent modes present is modified by mode conversion at defects and other impedance changes. The modes are also generally dispersive, which means that the shape of apropagating wave changes with distance along the propagation path. This makes interpretation of the signals difficult and also leads to signal-to-noise problemssince the peak amplitude in the signal envelope decreases rapidlywith distance if thedispersion is strong. These difficulties have tended to reduce the attractiveness of Lambwave testing. Viktorov has published extensively on the use of Rayleigh and Lambwaves in nondestructivetesting andmonitoring applications,andhis book [l] hasbecome a standard text in thefield.However, it was probably Worlton [2], [3] who first recognized the advantages of using Lamb waves to nondestructively test plates. Since then there has been a great deal of interestintheseand other guided waves in NDT applications. A large number of workers have recognized the advantages of using Lamb waves for fast inspection, where somereduction insensitivity and resolution compared with thatobtainedin standard,high-frequency ultrasonic inspection can be tolerI. INTRODUCTION ated. For example, Lamb waves have been used to carry out ONVENTIONAL ultrasonicinspection of large struc- coarse, quickinspection on avariety of different strips and tures is very time-consuming because the transducer plates by Mansfield [4] and Ball and Shewring [ 5 ] . Silk and of guided wavesto locate needs to be scanned over each point of the structure that must Bainton [6] investigatedtheuse defects in boiler and heat exchanger piping and Rokhlin [7] be tested. The use of Lamb waves is potentially a very attrachas reported several studies on the sensitivity of Lamb waves tive solution to this problem since they can be excited at one to elongated delaminations. Rokhlin and Bendec [8] have also point on the structure and can be propagated over considerable studied the interaction of Lamb waves with spot welds and distances. If a receiving transducer is positioned at a remote have shown that the transmission of the first symmetric mode point on the structure, the received signal contains information througha spot weld may be linearlyrelated to the cube of abouttheintegrity of thelinebetweenthetransmittingand the diameter of the spot weld. Rose et al. [9] have reported receiving transducers. The test therefore monitors a line rather investigations using Lamb waves to globally inspect K-joints than apointandconsiderable savings intestingtimemay in off-shore structures and the Welding Institute in the United potentially be obtained. Since Lamb waves produce stresses Kingdom (see, for example, Bartle [lo]) have been developing throughout the plate thickness (though with some stress nodes an acoustic pulsing technique to monitor crack growth in large that must be carefully considered) the entire thickness of the plate-like structures. plate is interrogated, which means that it is possible to find It is also possible to use Lamb waves in localized defects initiating at either surface, and also to detect internal nondestructive testing applications as an alternative to defects. conventional ultrasonic testing using bulk waves. Here, the Unfortunately, however, Lamb wave testing is complicated by the existence of at least two modes at any given frequency. dispersive nature of Lambwavesis not so problematic, as the propagation distances are relatively small and reasonable signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) may be maintained in most Manuscriptreceived July 18, 1991;revisedNovember 4, 1991;accepted December 19, 1991. frequency-thicknessregions. The authoriswith the Department of MechanicalEngineering,Imperial Lamb waves can also be used to determine the elastic College, London SW7 2BX UK. IEEE Log Number 9107533. properties of materials. Forexample,Nayfeh and Chimenti

0885-3010/92$03.00 0 1992 IEEE

zt

G .

I
0

B
Region 1
0.0

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

3 .O

Fig. 2. Lambwavegroup velocitydispersioncurvesfor steel showing the frequency-thickness regions in which the finite-element modeling was carried out.

(b)
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of thenotchgeometryused models. in the finite-element

[l11 and Mal and Bar-Cohen [l21 have carriedout work to determine the elastic constants of composites and Okada [l31 has used Lamb wave techniques to measure anisotropy of cold rolledmetals. The key problem in Lamb wave testing is the measurement of the amplitudes of the individual modes present in a multimode, dispersivesignal. If thiscouldbe achieved, the relative amplitudes of the different modes generated by mode conversion at adefectcouldbe measured,leading to possibilitiesnotonly of defect detection, but also of defect sizing. The authors have recently developed a two-dimensional (2-D) Fourier transform technique [l41 that uses time records from a series of equally spaced points alonga plate to produce a three-dimensional (3-D) plot of amplitude versus frequency and wavenumber, so enabling the required information to be obtained. Before implementing a Lamb wave testing technique, it is necessary to decide which mode(s)andfrequency-thickness region(s) to use. A studyof the interaction of Lamb waveswith defects has been carried out in order to assess the sensitivity of different modes in different frequency-thickness regions, and so to enable the best testing regime for a particular type of defect to be determined. Since analytical solutions can only be found for a very limited class of Lamb wave transmission and reflectionproblems,anumericalstudy of the reflection and transmission of Lamb waves in plates with and without defects using the finite-element method has been carried out, the amplitudes of the different modes being monitored by the 2-D Fourier transform technique. This study is presented here, together with the results of a set of experiments designed to check thenumericalpredictions.
11. THEFINITE-ELEMENT MODEL

In real structures or components,defects arearbitrary

in

geometry, size, orientation and position within the plate. However, in the finite-element studies reported here, straight sidednotchesinsteelplateswereinvestigated as they are a reasonable idealization of a type of defect (cracks) commonly found in engineering structures. Schematicdiagrams of the finite-element model used and details of the notch geometry are shown in Fig. 1. The model allows variation of notch depth, width, positionand angle withrespect to thenormal to the plate surface. However, in a large number of applications very thin cracks such as fatigue cracks, which are initiated at free surfaces and grow in a direction normal to the surface, are of primary importance. Therefore, surfacebreaking, straight sided notches of a constant width running normal to the plate surface were used in most of the finite-element predictions reported here. However, some predictions showing the effect of varying the width and orientation of the notch are also presented. All themodeling was carriedout assuming planestrain in the 2 2 plane shown in Fig. 1. Finel, a finite-element package developedatImperial College [15], was used with auniform square mesh of four-noded quadrilateral elements with more than 10 nodes per wavelength, which proved to be adequate. An explicit central difference scheme was employed to produce the timemarchingsolution, thetime stepbeing chosen to be less than the time taken for the fastest wave (in this case the longitudinal wave) to travel between two adjacent nodes. The bulk wave velocities, cl and c2 used in the finiteelement models were 5960 and 3260 mis respectively and the density, p was 8000 kg/m3. The sensitivity of individual Lamb modes to different defects was studied separately, by launching individual modes from the edge of the plate. Datta et al. [16], [l71haveemployed a hybrid approach to the numerical solution of the problem of Lamb wave interaction with defects. They modeled the region containing the defect by finite-element analysis and calculated the motion in the rest of the plate by a modal expansion method, the solutions beingmatched at the boundariesbetween the regions. The amplitudes of the different propagating modes may then readily beobtainedfromthe modal expansion. This method is probably more computationally efficient than the finiteelement procedure and 2-D Fourier analysis employed here, but the solutions obtained should be identical. The pure finite-elementmethod,ratherthanhybrid, was used in this

ALLEYNE AND CAWLEY:

THE INTERACTION OF LAMB WAVES WITH DEFECTS

383

1.1

1.1

- 1 . 1 ~ " " " " " " " ' 0 Time [pS]
(b)

50

Fig. 3. Predicted time history at .I' = l50 mm in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the center frequency was 0.45 MHz showing the first passage of the no mode and the reflection from (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch and (b) a 2.0-mm-deep notch.

investigation because the code was readily available and had been tested [14]. Extraction of the amplitudes of the differentpropagating modes viathe 2-D Fouriertechnique is advantageous because the same method can be applied to experimental data. In order to excite a pure Lamb wave, two conditions have to besimultaneouslysatisfied.Firstly, the frequency of the excitation must be appropriate for the desired mode and secondly, the variation of the excitation with z at the excitation position ( x = 0 in thetestsreported here) mustcorrespond to theexactmode shape of the Lambwave being excited. Assuming a single frequency input, the required excitation f ( 2 . t ) is of the form
f(z.

Fig. 4 . Normalized 3-D plot of the 2-D FFT results of the casegiven in (a)-Fig. 3(a)whenthesignal reflected from the notch was gatedout. (b) Fig. 3(b) when the incident wave was gated out.

t)= q z .

(1)

where (a( z . W ) describes the displacement of the plate in the .E and z directions in the mode of interest at the desired frequency as a function of z . However, in almostallmodelingapplications, single frequency excitation is not desirable or possible. For example, in explicittimemarchingfinite-element methods the duration of the input signal has to be finite. It is therefore very advantageous to be ableto excite singlemodesover asignificantfrequency bandwidth. This can be achieved by ensuring that the distribution of the imposed displacement through the thickness of the plateattheexcitationposition exactly matches the mode shape of the desired Lamb mode. In earlier work [14], the waveform applied to the plate, g(t), was a toneburst enclosed in a Hanning window and the

variation of the imposeddisplacementthroughthethickness was calculated from the mode shape of the desiredmode at the center frequency of the toneburst. However, the frequency dependence of the mode shapes meant that the excitation signal was only appropriate at the center frequency, so other modes could be excited at the other frequencies present in the toneburst, and careful examination of the results revealed the presence of thesemodes. The problem can be solved by summing the required inputs over a range of frequencies. For a single frequency component, W , the required input is given by (l),so if all the significant energy components in theexcitationsignalare over arange of frequencies from LU', to W 6 then the required input is given by the integral of (1) over this range:
f(z.

t)=

J'

Wb

@(W.

z)A(iu)ei"t

dW

(2)

d a

3x4

IEEE TRANSACTIONSONULTRASONICS,FERROELECTRICS.AND

FREQUENCY CONTROL.VOL. 39, NO. 3, MAY 1992

*Frequency-thickness 0.0 1.1

[MHzmm]

1 . 6

1.1

Frequency-thickness [MHzmm]
(c)

1.6

1.1

Frqucncy-thickness [MHzmm]
(4

1.6

Fig. 5. Predicted reflection ratios as a function of frequency-thickness in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the ((0 mode is incident after interaction with (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch, (h) a 1.0-mm-deep notch, (c) a 1.5-mm-deep notch and (d) a 2.0-mm-deep notch.

1.1

4 x
E ."
Y

v.v

1.1

Frequency-thickness [MHmm]

1.6
5@).

Fig. 6 . PredictednormalizedreflectionratioscorrespondingtoFig.

Hence, A ( & ) is the complex amplitude of the Fourier transform of the waveform applied to the plate, g@), at frequency W . The requiredforcingfunction at each nodethroughthe thickness of theplate may thereforebecalculated from the form of the excitation, g ( t ) , and the mode shape of the mode to be excited, @(x). This mode shape may readily be obtained analytically as discussed by, for example, Viktorov [l].In the tests reported here, g ( t ) was a 10 cycle toneburst modified by aHanning window. This producedexcitation over anarrow range of frequencies 0.Sjo 5 f 5 1.20fo (40 dB downpoints), where fo is the center frequency of the toneburst. The majority of the tests discussed here were carried out to investigate the sensitivity of the antisymmetric and symmetric modes 01, no, and S O to notches of varying depths.The principal reason for using the a 0 and SO modes was that they can be readilyexcited and receivedexperimentally at lowfrequency-thicknessproducts where, providedverylow frequency-thicknesses are avoided, the group velocity of a, is less than half that of S , and both modes areonly slightly dispersive. The a 1 mode was chosen in order to obtain

predictions for a nonzero order mode in a dispersive region. The finite-element studies were conducted in two frequencythicknessregions, which arelabeled on the group velocity dispersion curves forsteel shown in Fig. 2, from which it may beseen that the modelingwas carriedout away from the cut-off frequency-thickness value of a1 where dispersion is a maximum.The finite-elementpredictionsarepresented in terms of the Lamb wave amplitudes asafunction of the frequency-thickness product and the Lamb wave amplitudes as a function of notch depth at particular frequency-thicknesses. The time histories of the response of the finite-element models in the z direction on the plate surface are recorded, as this is the component of displacement measured when immersion or greasecoupling is used.
111. NUMERICAL RESULTS

A . a0 and

SO

at 1.35 MHz-mm

The first set of tests was carried out to determine the sensitivity of the first symmetric and antisymmetric modes, 00 and S O , respectively, to notches of varying depths in region 1 of the dispersion curves shown in Fig. 2. In this frequencythickness region, the mode shapes of a0 and S O are essentially those of flexural and extensional waves respectively. The majority of the finite-element models were 395 mm long and 3.0 mm thick, the spatial sampling interval was 1 mm and the sampling frequency was 3.125 MHz, the center frequency of the excitation toneburst being 0.45 MHz. In the reflection tests the notch was located at , x = 250 mm and in the transmission tests the notch was located at z = 150 mm, the location being chosen to minimizethelength of the model, and hence the run time, while ensuring that the waves of interest could be captured without interference from reflections from the ends of the plate. The notch width was 0.5 mm in all these tests.

ALLEYNE AND THE CAWLEY:

INTERACTION OF LAMB WAVES WITH DEFECTS

385

1 1

1.1

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

1.6

0.0 -I 1.1

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

1.6

Fig. 8. Predicted transmission ratios as a function of frequency-thickness in a 6.0-mm-thick plate when the S O mode was incident after interactionwith (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch and (b) a 7.5-mm-deep notch. o\p

(b)

Fig. 7. (a) Predicted time history in a 3.0-mm-thick plate 65 mm after was designed interactionwith a 2.0-mm-deepnotch,whentheinputsignal to excite only n o . (h) Normalized 3-D plot of the 2-D FFI results for the casegiven in (a).

of theresponse is at0.45 MHz. However,ateachdiscrete frequency in Fig.4(b)thereare two distinct wavenumbers, relating to a0 and S O , at which the amplitude is a maximum. The vertical scaleonthe 3-D plots is linear and hasbeen omitted toimprovethe clarity of theplots. Each 3-D plot has been normalized to a maximum amplitude of unity so the 1024 point Fourier transforms were used in both the time and amplitudes of the a0 mode in Figs. 4(a) and4(b) cannot be thespatial domains, thelength of thespatialrecordsbeing compared directly; quantitative data was obtained from other increased from the 64 measured points by zero padding. plots and is presented in the following. Reflection Tests with a0 Incident: Figs. 5(a) to 5(d) show the reflectionratios of a 0 and S O Fig. 3(a) shows the time history of the response of the top and were surface of the plate in the z direction at x = 150 mm when for h = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mm respectively, the notch depth was 0.5 mm, the signal applied at z = 0 was obtainedby dividing the 2-D FFT results from the reflected appropriate to excite only a g , and the duration of the test was response signals by the input 2-D FIT shown in Fig. 4(a). Fig. long enough to include the response of the plate after reflection 5 therefore shows theratio of theamplitude of thesurface from the notch, but not from either end of the plate. Fig. 3(b) motion in the z direction in the twomodes in the signal shows the corresponding plot for a notch depth of 2 mm. Fig. reflected from the defect to the amplitude of the z direction 4(a) was obtained by carrying out a 2-D Fourier transform on surface motion in the a0 mode in the incident signal. It should the time histories of 64 equally spaced positions from J: = 120 be noted that the vertical scaleson Figs. 5(a) and(b)are to x = 183 mm, when the reflected signal (t 2 80 ks, see Figs. different from those used in Figs. 5(c) and (d). It may be 3(a) and (b)) was gated out. At each frequency of Fig. 4(a), seen from Fig. 5(a) that with the 0.5-mm-deep notch,there the amplitude reaches a maximum at a single wavenumberthat is little variation of the modal amplitude with frequency, but Figs. S(b)-(d) show that significant variation with frequency is corresponds to that of the a 0 mode, thus confirming that the incident wave is apure a0 mode. The maximum amplitude obtained with the deeper defects, indicating that by measuring of the response is at 0.45 MHz, the center frequency of the overa wide frequencyrange, it may be possible to size the defects. However, this has not yet been investigated. inputsignal. The plots of Fig. 5 show the amplitudes of the surface Fig.4(b) shows theresult of carrying outa 2-D Fourier transform on the time histories of the same positions when the motion in the z direction in the different modes after reflection defect depth, h, was 2.0 mm, and the incident signal (t 5 80 from thenotch comparedwith that ofthe incidentmode. PS, see Fig. 3(b) was gatedout. Again the maximum amplitude Greater weight is thereforegiven to modes that have large

386

TRANSACTIONS IEEE

ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS,

AND FREQUENCY CONTROL, VOL.

39, NO. 3, MAY 1992

-1.11

1
150

Time [p]
(a)

1.1

) -

1.25 MHzmm 1 35 MHrmm

1.45MHzm

04 0.0

hJ2d
(b)

0.8

Fig. 9. Predicted transmission ratios as a function of h / 2 d at 1.25, 1.35, and 1.45 MHz-mm when ,S() is incident (a) for the .m mode; (b) for (10 produced by mode conversion at thenotch.

Fig. 10. Predicted time history in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the center MHz and was designed to excite frequency of the input toneburst was 0.75 only ( 1 0 , (a) 105 mm before a 1.5-mm-deep notch and (b) 65 mm after the notch.

amplitudes of surface motion in the z direction. A more accurate picture of the true proportions of the different modes present may be obtained by normalizing the reflection ratios. Fig. 6 shows normalized reflection ratios corresponding to the case of the l-mm-deep notch shown in Fig. 5(b). The normalized reflection ratio, Qn, was defined by

TABLE I
PREDICTED REFLECTION (R) ANDTRANSMISSION
"0 AS A

(T) RATIOS OF FUNCTION OF THE RATIO OF NOTCHDEPTHTO PLATE THICKNESS, h / 2 d IN REGION 1 OF Flc; 2
h/2d
116

Frequency-thickness (MHz-mm) 1.25 1.35 1.45 1.25 1.35 1.45 (R) (R) (R)

113

112 0.51 0.63 0.74 0.66 0.54 0.33

213
0.81 0.8 1 0.76 0.18 0.22 0.35

Q Qn = -ui
11 n

(4)

where Q is the unnormalized reflection ratio and U,, and u i are the z direction displacement components on the plate surface in the mode being normalized and the incident mode respectively. Hence, for the incident mode QTL and Q are equal. Comparing Fig. 6 with Fig. 5(b), it may be seen that the normalization increases the apparent amplitude of S O because in this frequency-thicknessregion, the surfacemotion in the z direction in this mode is only around 37% of the maximum motion (which occurs in the IC direction at the middle of the plate), whereas in ao, the motionin the z directionat the surface is close to the maximum motion in this mode. Transmission Tests with a0 Incident: Fig. 7(a)shows the finite-elementprediction of thetime history of theresponse of a 3-mm-thick plate at .7: = 215 mm, when the input at x = 0 was appropriate to excite only ao, the defect depth, h, was 2.0 mm and the defect was located at z = 150 mm; the duration of the test was not long enough toinclude reflections from either endof the plate. After interactionwith the notch,more than one propagatingmode is present (a0 is modeconverted), but in the timedomain themodes aresuperimposed and their amplitudes may not

(T) (T) (T)

0.11 0.11 0.10 0.98 0.98 0.97

0.11 0.11 0.14 0.90 0.89 0.88

be determined fromthe ti.me histories of the responses of the plate. Fig. 7(b) shows theresult of carrying out a 2-D Fourier transform on 64 equally spaced signals from .G = 152 to IC = 215 mm (i.e., from 2 to 65 mm beyond the notch), from which the two propagating modes a0 and SO (so is caused by mode conversion at the 2.0-mm-deep notch), may be identified andmeasured. Transmission Tests with SO Incident: In order to verify that the interaction of individual Lamb modes with defects is frequency-thickness dependent, tests were carried out with SO incident on a 3-mm-thick platewith an excitationtoneburst center frequency of 0.45 MHz, and on a 6-mm-thick plate with an excitation toneburst center frequency of 0.225 MHz. Notch depths of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm were investigated in the 3-mm-thick plate, and depths of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 5.0 mm were considered in the 6-mm-thick plate. It was foundthat the transmissionratios as afunction of frequency-thickness

ALLEYNE AND CAWLEY: THE INTERACTION OF LAMB WAVES WITH DEFECTS

387

TABLE I1
PREDICTED REFLECTION ( R )AND TRANSMISSION (T) RATIOS OF (10 AS A FUNCTION OF THE RATIO OF NOTCH DEPTHTO PLATETHICKNESS, hjZd I N REGIOV 2 OF FIG 2 Frequency-thickness (MHz-mm) 2.25 2.55 2.25

hj2d
213 116112 0.06 0.08 0.93 0.92 113 0.41 0.66 0.59 0.23

(R) (R)
0 )

2.55

(T)

0.52 0.74 0.29 0.20

0.52 0.76 0.25 0.24

(b)
Fig. 11. Normalized 3-D plot of the 2-D FFI results of the case given in (a) Fig. lO(a) when the signal reflected from the notch was gated out. (b) Results of the casegiven in Fig. lO(b).

calculated for the l-mm-deep notch in the 6-mm-thick plate were identical to thosefor theOS-mm-deep notchinthe 3 mm plate, confirming that it is the ratio of notch depth to plate thickness and the frequency-thickness product, rather than the absolute notchdepthandfrequency that are the controlling parameters in Lamb wave testing. The amplitudes of the transmission ratios as a function of thefrequency-thicknessproductatnotch depths of 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm in the 6-mm-thick plate are shown in Figs. 8(a) and (b) respectively. The wavelength of the SO mode in this frequency-thicknessregion is about 24 mm and from Fig. 8(b),a1.5-mm-deepnotch produces areduction of around 5% in its transmissionratio,indicating that it is possible to detectdefects of dimensions greaterthanabout 6% of the wavelength if changes in amplitude of this order can reliably bemeasured.However, fromFig. 8(a), for a0.5-mm-deep notch the amplitude of the a 0 modeproduced at the notch is about 10% of that of the incident SO mode. This indicates that in this case it is possible to detect defects of dimensions less than 2.5% of the wavelength of the incident wave if the amplitude of the wave produced by modeconversionatthe notch is measured. The large amplitude of the mode converted a0 mode is partly due to therelative amplitudes of the z and z components of displacement in the mode shapes at the surface. If the z

direction displacement had been monitored rather than the z displacement, the reduction in amplitude of the SO mode would probably have been larger than the measured amplitude of the a0 mode. This shows theimportance of monitoring modes that have a large proportion of their deflections at the surface in the z direction, as in most NDT applications it is the z direction surface displacement that is measured. Dependence OfRefrection and Transmission on Notch Depth: Table I shows the relationship between the reflection and transmission ratios of the a0 mode when this is the incident mode at different frequencies and notch depths obtained from plots of the form of Fig. 5. It can be seen that with a 0 incident, the relationship between reflection amplitude and notch depth iscomplicated, and is a strong function of frequency. For example, at a notch depth of 1.5 mm(h/2d = 1/2)the transmissionratio is0.66 at1.25 MHz-mm,butchanges to 0.33 at 1.45 MHz-mm. Fig. 9 shows the transmission amplitude ratios as a function of h / 2 d at three frequencies over the bandwidth of the input signal when the SO modeisincident. As the defect depth increases,thetransmission of the SO modedecreases monotonically, while that of the uo mode, which is produced by mode conversion at the notch, initially rises as the notch depth increases, but thenreducestoward zeroas thenotch depth approaches the plate thickness. This is as expected since there can be no transmission of either mode when the notch has completely severedtheplate. In thiscase,there is only modest frequency dependence of the transmission ratios. The results indicate that the wavelength of the Lamb waves is not the only factor that affects the sensitivity. For example, at 1.35MHz-mm the wavelengths of SO and a0 arearound 12 mm and 5.7 mm respectively, but the amplitudes of their transmission ratios across a 0.5-mm-deep notch were almost identical.

B. a0 and

a1

at 2.25 MHz-mm

The second set of tests was carried out to determine the sensitivity of antisymmetric modes in region2 of Fig. 2 to notches of varying depths. In this frequency-thickness region, a 0 is essentiallynondispersive,but a1 is grosslydispersive. The majority of the finite-element models were 410 mm long and 3 mm thick, the notches beinglocated at z = 210 mm in the reflection tests and at z = 180 mm in the transmission tests. The notches were 0.5 mm wide and notch depths of 0.5, 1.0 1.5, and 2.0 mm were tested. In all thetests the spatial sampling interval was 1 mm and the sampling frequency was 4.167 MHz, the center frequency of the excitation toneburst being 0.75 MHz. Again, 1024 point Fourier transforms were

388

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, AND FREQUENCYCONTROL, VOL. 39, NO. 3. MAY 1992

13

Frequency-tbickm ~ H z m r n ]
(c)

2.6

1.9

Frequency-thickness [MHzmrn]
(4

2.6

Fig. 12. Predicted transmission ratios as a function of frequency-thickness in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the a0 mode was incident (b) a 1.0-mm-deep notch, (c) a 1.5-mm-deep notch, and (d) a 2.0-mm-deep notch, after interaction with (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch,

0.5

d -

0.5

z x ]

-0.54

,
(b)

1
150

Time [PS]

Fig. 13. Predicted time history in a3.0-mm-thick plate when the center frequency of the input tone burst was 0.75 MHz and was designed to excite only a l . (a) 2 mm after a 1.0-mm-deep notch. (b) 65 mm after the notch.

used in both the time and the spatial domains, the length of the spatial records being increased by zero padding. a0 Incident: Fig. lO(a) shows the predicted time history of the response of the plate in a reflection test 105 mm beforea1.5-mm-

deep notch and Fig. 10(b)shows thepredictedtimehistory of the response of theplateinatransmissiontest 65 mm after anotch of the same size. In each case theexcitation at z = 0 was appropriate to launchonly Q. The first wave packet seen in Fig.lO(a) is the a0 mode that was launched at z = 0 andits shapehas hardly changedfrom theinput 10 cycle toneburst in a Hanning window, confirming that the wave is essentially nondispersive in this frequency-thickness region. After interaction with the notch, a0 is mode converted and the response shown in Fig. lO(a) for t > 80 PS and in Fig. 10(b) beyond the notch indicate the presence of more than one mode, the increased duration of the signals indicating velocity dispersion. The reference 2-D FFT of the a0 mode shown in Fig. 1l(a) was the result of carrying out a 2-D Fourier transform on the time histories of 64 equally spaced positions from z = l05 to 168 mm, when the signal due to reflection from the slot seen in Fig. lO(a) for t 2 80 PS was gated out. Fig. l l ( b ) shows the amplitude versus wavenumber and frequency-thickness productinformationobtained by carryingouta 2-D Fourier transform of theresponse of 64 spatialpositions from 2 to 65 mm after the notch in the transmission test of Fig. 10(b) when h was 1.5 mm. Three propagating modes, a1 and a. and SO are present,the a1 and SO modesbeingcaused by mode conversion at thenotch. The transmission ratios of each mode as a function of frequency-thickness are shown in Fig. 12 for each of the notch depths and Table I1 gives the reflection and transmission amplituderatios for the incident mode, ao, asafunction of h/2d at at 2.25 and 2.55 MHz-mm. Comparing theresultspresented here withthoseobtained with a0 incident at 1.35 MHz-mm, it may be seen that asexpectedatthishigher frequency-thicknessproduct, the sensitivity of a0 todefectsisimproved. For example, after

ALLEYNE AND CAWLEY: THE INTERACTION OF LAMB WAVES

w m DEFECTS

389

g #
0.0

1.1i
U J

'

P i 1 4 .2
0.0
1

1.1 a

1 2 .l .
I
W

.a
W

t
E

4 0.0

1.9

Frequency-thickness [hpHunml (c)

2 . 6

t
1.9
Frequency-thickncsq [MHzmml

2.6

(4

Fig. 14. Predicted transmission ratios as a function of frequency-thickness in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the a1 mode was incident after interaction with (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch, (b) a 1.0-mm-deep notch, (c) a 1.5-mm-deep notch, and (d) a 2.0-mm-deep notch.

interaction with a 1.0-mm-deep notch in a 3-mm-thick plate, the amplitudes of the reflected and transmitted a0 mode at 1.35 MHz-mm shown in Table I were 0.11 and 0.89 respectively, whereas at 2.25 MHz-mm the corresponding amplitudes shown inTable I1 were 0.41 and 0.59 respectively. However, the wavelength of the Lamb waves does not appear to be the only factor affecting sensitivity. For example, at 1.35 MHz-mm the wavelength of a0 is around 5.7 mm and the amplitude of its transmission ratio across a 2.0-mm-deep notch ( h / 2 d = 2/3) was 0.22, whereas the transmission ratio for a0 at 2.25 MHzmm where its wavelength is 3.7 mm was 0.25. Therefore, the smaller wavelength has not produced a significant shift in the transmission ratio, indicating that appropriate mode selection can sometimes remove the need to go to higher frequencies where the waveform could be more complicated. al Incident: Figs. 13(a)and (b) show thepredictedtime histories of theresponse of the plate at z = 182 and 245 mm respectively, after interaction with a 1.0-mm-deep notch locatedat IC = 180 mm, when theexcitation at z = 0 was appropriate to launchonly the a1 mode. Theshapeof the response is radically different from the input 10 cycle toneburst inaHanning window, indicating that the responsesignal is multimode and/or dispersive. It may be seen that the amplitude at z = 182 mm is smaller than that at IC = 245 mm. This is due to the destructive andconstructive superposition of the individualmodesintheresponse wave packet produced after the incident a1 mode has interacted with the notch. This plot shows clearlywhy it is not reliable touse time domain methods to measure the amplitudes of Lamb waves at frequency-thickness products above the cut-off value of the a1 mode. The amplitudes of the transmission ratios as a function of the frequency-thickness product are presented in Fig. 14 and the transmission ratios are given as a function of h / 2 d at 2.25 and 2.55 MHz-mm in Table 111.

TABLE rrr PREDICTEDTRANSMISSION RATIOS OF a1 AS A FUNCTION OF THE RATIO OF NOTCH DEPTH TO PLATETHICKNESS, h/2d. Frequency-thickness h/2d 213 (MHz-mm) 112 113 116 0.91 0.58 0.35 0.23 2.25 2.55 0.82 0.03 0.61 0.75

Comparing Fig. 1 2 with Fig. 14, it may be seen that the transmission amplitude of all theresponse modes when a1 was incident (Fig. 14) is far more oscillatory with frequencythickness,especially for notches where h / 2 d is biggerthan 0.5, than when the a0 mode was incident (Fig. 12). This effect has not been studied further here but is probably due to thedispersive nature of the a1 mode inthisfrequencythickness region, where its wavelengthandmode shape are changing rapidly. It may also be seen from Tables I1 and I11 that at 2.25 MHz-mm and notch depths of 0.5 and 1.0 mm (h/2cl = 1 / 6 and 1/3), the sensitivity of the a0 and a1 modes are comparable,the higher ordermodebeing slightlymore sensitive. For example, at 2.25MHz-mmthe transmission ratios of the a1 and a0 modes after interaction with a 1.0 mm notch are 0.58 and 0.59 respectively. However, the wavelength of the a1 mode is more than twice that of the a0 mode. The transmission amplitudes of the modes differ markedly at 2.55 MHz-mm and it may be seen from Figs. 12 and 14 that this is due to the pronounced dips and peaks of the transmission curves.

C. Lamb Wave Interaction with Notches of Varying Width

Oneset of tests was carriedout tocheckthe effect of notch width on Lamb wave propagation. The incident wave was the SO mode in a 3.0-mm-thick plate in region 1 of the dispersion curves shown in Fig. 2. The notch was 1.0 mm deep

390

lEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELEmRICS. AND FREQUENCY CONTROL. VOL. 39, NO. 3, MAY 1992

1.25MHmun 1.3JMHmyn 1.45 MHzmm

0.0-1
1.1
Fig. 15. Predictedtransmissionratio of the SO mode as a function of w / 2 d at 1.25, 1.35, and1.45 MHz mm.

1
Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]
1.6

1.2 1

and the tests were carried out using 5 different notch widths, W = 0.25, 0.75, 1.O, 2.0, and 4.0 mm. Again, four-noded quadrilateral elements were used, the spatial sampling interval was 1 mm and the sampling frequency was 3.125 MHz,the center frequency of the excitation toneburst being 0.45 MHz. The plate was 350 mm long, the notch was located at z = 150 mm and time histories of the response of the plate at 64 equally spaced positions from z = 170 to 233 mm were captured in order to perform the 2-D FFT analysis. Fig. 15 shows the transmission ratios as a function of w/2d atthreefrequency-thicknessvalues. The resultsindicate that the amplitude of thetransmitted SO mode is not sensitive to the notch width. The wavelength of S O in this frequencythickness region is about 12 mm and the maximum defect width investigated was 4 mm. Therefore, the lack of sensitivity to notch width is not unexpected. However, the wavelength of uo in thisfrequency-thicknessregion is about 5.7 mm and some frequencydependence of thetransmitted amplitude of the a0 mode was observed at the higher notch widths. These results confirm that when the notch width is small compared to the wavelength, as is usually the case with real cracks, the important parameter is the defect depth.

0.6

4
1.1

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]
(b)

1.6

Fig. 16. Predictedtransmissionratiosasafunction of frequency-thickness in a 3.0-mm-thick plate when the S O mode is incident (a) with an angled (453 totheplatesurface) 1.0-mm-deep notchand (b) with a 1.0-mm-deepnotch normaltothesurface.

GPIB

D. Lamb Wave Interaction with an Inclined Notch

In many practical situations notch like defects are oriented at an arbitrary angle to the surface of the plate as shown in Fig. l(b). One set of tests was carried out to determine the sensitivity of the SO mode in region 1 of the dispersion curve shown in Fig. 2 to a 1.0-mm-deep surface breaking notch lying at an angle of 45' relative to the plate surface (i.e, h = 1.0 mm and 0 = 45" in Fig. l(b). The plate was 3.0-mm-thick and 350 mm long and a four-noded 0.25-mm-square element was used. The center frequency of the 10 cycle excitation toneburst used was 0.45 MHz, the spatial sampling interval was 1 mm and the sampling frequency was 3.125 MHz. Modeling a notch inclined at an angle using finite-elements represents aproblem if wavepropagation is to be modeled accurately, as a propagating wave will be reflected from any boundary across which there is a change in impedance,and anychanges in shapeor size of theelement will cause a change in the effective impedance of the element and result in spurious reflections from the element boundaries. Hence, the 45" inclined notch was modeled by removing pairs of elements

Receiver

Transmitter

Plate
Fig. 17. Schematicdiagram

Propagating wave
of experimentalsetup

in a "staircase" pattern. However, this created an angled notch with stepped edges, the width of the step being 0.25 mm (one element). Fig. 16(a) shows thetransmissionratios of the a0 and SO modes as a function of the frequency-thickness product. The trend of the transmission ratio of the S O mode in Fig. 16(a) is slightly different from that for a l-mm-deep notch normal to the plate surface shown in Fig. 16(b), the amplitude in the case of the inclinednotchincreasingslightly at higherfrequency thickness values. However, the average transmission ratio of

ALLEYNEANDCAWLEY:THEINTERACTION

OF LAMBWAVES WITH DEFECTS

39 1

Transducer Immersion
Fixed transducer holder

Moveable transducer holder

/-------

/ A

'

gauge Dial

/
Fig. 18. The Lamb wave test rig.

0 . 0

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

12

Fig. 19. Lamb wave dispersion curves plotted angle in water.

as a function of incidence

5(

so in region 1 is approximately 0.85 in both cases. The amplitude of the a0 mode produced by mode conversion at the notch in the two cases is significantly different both in absolute value and in the form of its variation with frequency. The reasons for this have not been investigated, though it may be connectedwith the length of plate over whichthenotch runs.This may bethought of as an effective notch width, which in the case of the inclined notch is of the same order as the wavelength of no in this frequency-thickness region.

10.0 (

-40

IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The instrumentation used in the experimental investigation is shown schematicallyinFig.17. A pulsefromthepulse generator was used to simultaneously trigger the oscilloscope and an arbitrary function generator (Le Croy type 9101) that delivered a toneburst modified by a Hanning window function to the power amplifier. The use of a windowed toneburst rather than a simple signal comprising an integer number of cycles enabled the bandwidth of the signal to be limited, so assisting the generation of a pure mode. This is discussedinmore detail in (181. The power amplifier delivered the input signal to the transmitting transducer with a gain of 50 dB. The Lamb waves excited by the transmitting transducer propagated along theplateandwere received by the receivingtransducer,the received signal being amplified and input to the oscilloscope (Le Croy type 9400) for digital capture and display. The signals fromtheoscilloscope were sent to the computer via the GPIB bus to be edited and then transferred to the spectrum analyzer (B&K type 2033). which was used to carry out the

Frequency [MHz]
(b)

1 .o
350 mm from (b) Amplitude

Fig. 20. (a) The time history of the measured response the transmitterwhen the excitation was appropriate for spectrum of the time history shown in (a).

S().

digital Fourier transformation. The resulting transformed data was then transferredback to thecomputer for redisplaying andediting. In order to increase the SNR, 100 successive response signals captured by the digital oscilloscope were averaged. This was achieved by retriggeringthesystem once the response of the plate to the previous input had decayed to zero,the averaging being carried out by dedicated software within the oscilloscope. The steel plates used in the experimental investigations were 3 mm thick and approximately 300 mm wideand 1 m long. Five plates were tested, one having no notch and the others having 0.5-mm-wide notches milled across the full plate width

392

IEEE TRANSACTIONSONULTRASONICS.FERROELECTRICS.

ANI) FREQUENCYCONTROL, VOL. 39, NO. 3. MAY 1992

Q)

C I
Q)

1l

2 .S
e l
E! .r(

-8
U

.r( 4 2

5 .!i -8
d

E
0

Ea

Time [ p ]
(a)

50

Q)

Q)

m
U

v1

2
.e
Y

0
' p

2 .-

."
b .

E"
0

E?

Time [ p ]
(c)

50

Time [PS]
( 4

50 -

Fig. 21. Thetimehistory of themeasuredresponse 350 mmfromthetransmitterwhentheexcitation was appropriatefor ,SI] and a notch was located 250 mm fromthetransmitter. (a) O.5-mrn-deep notch. (b) 1.0-mm-deepnotch. ( c ) 1.5-mm-deepnotch (d) 2.0-mm-deep notch.

normal to the transmission path used. Plates with notches 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm deepwere tested. In all the tests,the propagation distance was restricted to under 500 mm in order tokeep the SNR high. Conventional wideband ultrasonic immersion transducers were used in all the experiments as previous work [l81 had shown that immersion coupling gave the most repeatable results and facilitated the generation of a pure mode. However, if the whole plate is immersed in a fluid, energy from the Lamb waves leaks into the fluid and severely limits the propagation distance. Therefore, local immersion coupling was employed, the test rig being shown in Fig. 18. It comprised a frame that maintainedtwo transducer holders in line with one another. one holder being fixed, and the other moveable. The transducerholderswereessentiallyblocks of aluminum with aholedrilledthrough at achosenangle to the normal. A column of water in the transducer holders allowed acoustic energy transfer between the transducer and the plate, O-rings located in agroove on thebottom of the holdersproviding a seal. The immersion coupling area was therefore localized in thetransducerholders (thecoupling area was less than 10-3m'). Hence, only a small part of the plate was immersed so attenuation of the received signal due to leakage into the coupling fluid was minimized. In order to carry out the 2-D Fourier analysis, time records from a series of equally spaced points along the plate surface wererequired. This was achieved by indexing the moveable transducer along the plate, a dial gauge measuring the travel to obtain an accurate spatial sampling interval. The resolution in positioning the transducer in the experiments was better than

4 . 0 2 mm. In the 2-D FFT tests reported here, the receiver was indexed from 350 to 413 mm from the transmitter, the sampling frequency was 5 MHz and a 1024 by 1024 point 2D FFT was used (the 64 spatial points were padded with 960 zeros). The tests were carried out approximately in the middle of the plate so that any reflections from the edge of the plate were not included in the captured signals. Individual Lamb waves were selectively excited by applying thecoincidenceprinciple (see,forexample, Worlton [2] or Jitsumori et al. [19]). The angle of incidence H required for the excitation of the desiredmodewascalculatedfrom H = s i f l ( c L / c ) where C L is thephase velocity of a compression wave incident on thesurface of theplate and c is thephasevelocity of the Lambwave to be excited. In all the testsreportedhere, the requiredcoincidence anglewas approximately 16" so transducer holders oriented at this angle were employed.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A.
so

at 1.4 MHz-mm

The first set of tests was carried out to measure the sensitivity of the symmetric, SO, Lamb wave in the frequency thickness region around 1.4 MHz-mm to notches of varying depths. A 12-cycle, 0.48-MHz toneburst modified by a Hanning window was employed giving a centerfrequency-thickness of 1.44 MHz-mm in the 3-mm-thick plate. The 16" angle of incidence from water to steel is appropriate for the excitation of S O in this frequency-thickness region as shown in the dispersion curves of Fig. 19.

ALLEYKE AND CAWLEY: THE INTERACTION OF LAMB WAVES WITH DEFECTS

393

c 2
k

.B

L]

8
.M

3
0
Wavenumber [rad/m]

Fig. 23. Normalized plot of measured amplitude versus wavenumber at 1.45 MHz-mm for differentnotchdepthswhenthe .SO mode was excited by the transmitter.

region (see Fig. 19) so it wasinefficientlyreceived by the transducer oriented at 16. The no mode is therefore partially "decoupled" by the orientation of the receiving transducer. Fig. 22(a) shows a 3-D plot of amplitude versus frequencythickness and wavenumber obtained by carrying out a 2D Fourier transform on the response of the plate in the absence of a defect measured with the receiver placed at 64 equally spaced positions between 350 and 413 mm from the transmitter,thetime history with the receiver 350 mm from the transmitter being shown in Fig. 20(a). At each frequencythickness of Fig. 22(a), the amplitude reaches a maximum at a single wavenumber that corresponds to that of the S O mode, thus confirming that apure SO modehasbeensuccessfully launched. Fig. 22(b) shows the result of carrying out a 2-D FFT analysis on the response of the plate over the same propagation distances after interaction with a 1.0-mm-deep notch located 250 mm from the transmitter, the time history 350 mm from (h) the transmitter being shown in Fig. 21(b). As in Fig. 22(a), Fig. 22, (a) The normalized 3-D plot of the 2-D FFT results corresponding the maximum amplitude of the response is at 1.44MHzto Fig. ?O(a). (b) The normalized 3-D plot of the 2-D FFT results correspondmm, which corresponds to the center frequency of the input ing to Fig. 21(b). toneburst. However, at each discrete frequency-thickness in Fig. 22(b) there are two wavenumbers at which the amplitude The response of the plate 350 mm from the transmitter in the is a maximum. These correspond to the so mode and to the no absence of a defect is shown in Fig. 20(a) and the amplitude mode, which was produced by mode conversion at the notch. spectrum,shown in Fig. 20(b), that was obtainedfrom the The wavenumber of a0 is greater than that of the SO mode so it time history shown in Fig. 20(a) demonstrates that the signal is partially hidden in the 3-D plot. Here, as in the time domain is narrow band, the working rangebeing from 0.41 MHz to responses presented in Fig. 21, the magnitude of the mode is 0.55 MHz, (20 dB down points). The wave packet seen in Fig. very small when compared with the finite-element predictions 20(a) was identified as the so mode from a measurement of its due to the decoupling effect discussed previously. The vertical group velocity using the time of flight method. The shape of scale on the 3-D plots is linear and has been omitted to improve the response wave packet indicates that very little dispersion the clarity of the plots. As with the numerical results, each 3-D is present over the frequency-thickness interval of theinput plot has been normalized to a maximum amplitude of unity so signal. the amplitudes of the S O mode in Figs. 22(a) and (b) cannot be Figs. 21(a)-(d) show the response of the plate 350 mm from compared directly; quantitative data was obtained from other the transmitter after interaction with 0 . 5 , l.@, 1 . 5 , and 2.0- plots and is presented in the following. mm-deep notchesrespectively,whichwerelocated 250mm Fig. 23 shows the measured amplitude versus wavenumber from the transmitter, the excitation being the same as in Fig. information at 1.45-MHz-mm for the different notch depths. 20. Thesignals in Figs. 2l(a)-(d) aredominated by the so The reference curve in Fig. 23 was obtained from the 2-D mode, though some evidence of WO is seen, particularly with FFT results obtained in the test without a defect shown in Fig. the deepernotches. The numericalpredictionsindicated that 22(a), the other curves being from the 2-D FFT results obtained significant amplitudes of (L() could be generated by mode con- in the testsin which the SO modepropagatedacrossone of version. However, the observed amplitudes are small because the notches. The variation of the amplitude with wavenumber the coincidence angle for (10 is 36' in this frequency-thickness may clearly be seen in Fig. 23 and it is possible to measure

394

IEEETRANSACTIONSONULTRASO?JlCS.

FERROELEnRICS, ANDFREQUENCYCONTROL,VOL.

39, NO. 3, MAY 1992

TABLE IV
TRANShllSSlON RATIO OF so AT

1.45MHz-mm 0.81 0.82 0.82 112 0.57 0.59 0.58

h/2d

113

FE predictions

Measured in time domain Measured by 2-D FFT

116 0.97 0.98 0.98

213
0.36 0.39 0.37

.m

5
0

Wavenumber [rad/m]

2000

Fig. 25. Normalized plot of the measured transmission amplitude versus ( 1 1 mode wavenumber at 2.5 MHz-mm for different notch depths when the was excited by thetransmitter.

I
0 Time [PS]
50

0.5

Frequency [MHz]
(b)

1.5

Theagreementbetween the predictions using the finiteelement method inconjunctionwiththe2-D FFT technique and the measuredresultsusing the 2-DFFT method isexcellent,thelargestdifference being0.01.The time domain measurements gave very similar results, though with slightly larger differences at the larger notch depths. From Figs. 21(a) to 21(d) it may be seen that the amplitude of the (LO mode, which has partially separated from SO and is seen when t > 25 m , is significant. Therefore, the difference between the finiteelement predictions and the measured results is probably due to the peak value in the time domain being a summation of the amplitude of the SO mode together with a small contribution from the a0 mode that was produced by mode conversion from SO at the notch. The 2-D FFT technique separates the two modes, so giving a true measurement of the amplitude of SO. The results in thetimedomain would bemoreseverely in error if the group velocities of the two modes were more similar, or if the a0 mode was less efficiently decoupled by the coincidence effect.

dj
0

El

Time [IS]

l
50

B.

a1

at 2.5 MHz-mm

Fig. 24. (a) The time history of the measured response 350 mm from thetransmitter when theexcitation was appropriate for a l . (b)Amplitude spectrum of the time history shown in (a). (c) Time history of the measured response 350 mm from the transmitter when a 1.0-mm-deep notch was located 250 mm from the transmitter and the excitation was the same as in (a).

thereduction in theamplitude of the SO mode produced by transmission across the different notch depths, and the growth in amplitude of the a0 mode. However, it must be remembered that the a0 amplitudes should not be compared withthe SO amplitudes as the receiver was "focussed" on the SO mode. In thisparticularcase, the amplitude of the SO mode decreases monotonically with increasing notch depth, as was predicted by thefinite-elementresults. Table IV gives transmissionratiosforthe SO mode that wereobtainedfrom the finite-elementpredictionsbythe 2D FFT method, together with corresponding results from the experimental2-D FFT measurements and time domain measurements obtained by dividing the maximum amplitudes of the signals shown in Fig. 21 by the maximum amplitude of the reference signal shown in Fig. 20(a).

The secondset of tests was designed to check thefiniteelement predictions in a frequency-thickness region where more than two modes can propagate. Thesameset of 3mm-thick steel plates was used, the center frequency of the excitation toneburst being 0.83 MHz, giving a center frequency-thickness of 2.49 MHz-mm. Fig. 19 shows that in this frequency-thickness region, a coincidence angle of 16" is appropriate for excitation and reception of the a1 mode. The length of the excitation toneburst was increased to 25 cycles for this set of tests because the a1 mode is highly dispersive in this frequency-thickness region so it was desirable to limit the excitation bandwidth by employing a larger number of cycles, as well as enclosing the toneburst in a Hanning window. Fig. 24(a) shows the response measured 350 mm from the transmitter in the absence of a defect. The wave packet was identified as the a1 mode by measuring the time of flight of the leadingedge of thesignal. Theamplitude spectrum of thetimerecord of Fig. 24(a)isshown in Fig. 24(b),from which it may be seen that acoustic energy is available in the frequency rangebetween 0.78 MHz and 0.88 MHz, (20 dB down points). Fig. 24(c) shows the response of the plate 350

ALLEYNE AND CAWLEY. THE INTERACl3ON OF LAMB WAVES WITH DEFECTS

395

0.0

J
2.3

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

I
2.6

0.0

1
2.3

Frequency-thickness [MHz-mm]
(b)

2.6

0 . 0

I
2.3 Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm] 2.6

n n. l 2.3

"._

Frequency-thickness[MHz-mm]

1 2.6

(c)

(4

Fig. 26. Transmission ratio of the n l mode as a function of frequency-thickness after interaction with (a) a 0.5-mm-deep notch, (h) a1.0-mm-deepnotch,(c) a 1.5-mm-deepnotch,and (d) a 2.0-mm-deepnotch. 0 indicatesexperimentalresultsandthe solid rule indicates finite-element predictions.

mm from the transmitter after interaction with a 1.0-mm-deep notch, which was located 250 mm from the transmitter, when the excitation was the same as in Fig. 24(a). In this frequencythickness range three propagating modes (al, ao,and so) are possible,though since theincidenceangle of thereceiving transducer was appropriateforthe a1 mode, themeasured amplitudes of the a0 and SO modes are significantly less than their true values. The shape of the response timehistory in Fig. 24(c) indicates the presence of Lamb waves with similar group velocities since the wave packetshave not separated. Therefore, it is not possible to measure the amplitude of the a1 mode in the time domain unless the propagation distance after the notch is considerablyincreased so that the modes can separate. Fig. 25 shows the measured transmission amplitudes of the a l , so, and a 0 modesversuswavenumber at 2.5MHz-mm. These curves were obtained from the 2-D FFT results from tests on plates without a notch (the reference case) and with 0.5-, 1.0-, 1.5, and2.0-mm-deepnotches. The curve having the largest amplitude atthe wavenumber relating to the a1 mode in Fig. 25 was obtained in the reference test in which the transmitted wave was a pure a1 mode. However, the amplitude of the a1 modedoes not decrease monotonically as the notch depth increases. For example, thetransmission amplitude is considerably smaller after interaction with the 1mm-deep notch (h/2d = 1/3, the case shown in Fig. 24(c)) thanafterinteraction with the 1.5 mm ( h / 2 d = 1/2) or 2.0 mm (h/2d = 2/3) deep notches. Figs. 26(a) to (d)show thetransmissionratios of the a1 mode obtained from the 2-D FIT results as a function of the frequency-thickness product after interaction with the 0.5-, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0-mm-deep notchesrespectively. The measured transmission amplitude ratios are represented by squares and

the numerical predictions are shown as continuous lines. It may be seen that the trend of the experimental results follow the finite-elementpredictions very well, but that thepredictions are shifted to higher frequency-thicknesses by about 2% (0.05 MHz-mm). A possible cause of thesedifferences is that the numerical predictions assumed that the plates were isotropic, the assumedlongitudinal and shearwave speeds being very similar to those measurednormal to theplane of theplate. However, the plates used in the experiments were cold rolled mild steel, in which significant anisotropy is often observed, the bulk velocities in theplane of theplate in therolling direction being different from thosenormal to the plane of theplate. Theseerrorswere not seen in the resultsfor the transmission of the SO modeat 1.45MHz-mm, becausein this case the transmission ratios are almost constant for all the notches over the frequency-thickness range tested so the shift would not be seen. It is particularly interesting to note that the minima in the transmission curves predicted in Fig. 26 are reproduced in the experiments, confirming that this effect is readily measurable and so could be used for defect sizing.

VI. CONCLUSION
The interaction of individual Lamb waves with a variety of defects simulated by notches has been investigated using finiteelementanalysis, the resultsbeingcheckedexperimentally. Excellent agreement has been obtained between the numerical and experimental results and it has been shown that the 2-D FFT method may be used to quantify Lamb wave interactions with defects in both experimental and numerical investigations. The results have shown that the sensitivity of individual Lambwaves to particularnotches is dependent on the frequency-thickness product, the mode type (symmetric or

TRANSACTIONS IEEE 396

ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, &VD FREQUENCY CONTROL,

VOL. 39, NO. 3, MAY 1992

antisymmetric), the mode order, and the geometry of the notch. The sensitivity of the Lamb modes a l , a 0 and SO to simulated defects in differentfrequency-thickness regions has been predicted as a function of the defect depth to plate thickness ratio ( h / 2 d )and the results have indicated that Lamb waves may be used to find notches when the wavelength to notch depth ratio is of the order of 40. Preliminarynumerical predictions with an inclinednotch haveindicated that the reflection andtransmission of Lamb waves is largely dependent on the notch depth (i.e., distance of penetration normal to the plate surface) rather than overall notch length. The finite-element results on notches of different widths have indicated that provided the width is small compared to thewavelength, the transmissionandreflection amplitudesare insensitive to changes in width so theratio of notchdepth to platethickness ( h / 2 d ) is the controlling parameter. The experiments reported here were carried out using 32mm-diameter transducersorientedattheappropriatecoincidenceanglefor the excitationandreception of a particular mode. Quantitative comparisons have therefore only been presented for the transmission of this mode since the measurements underestimate the amplitudes of the other propagating modes. However, the results of the numerical predictions indicate that monitoring the amplitude of the modes generated by mode conversion at a defect can be a very sensitive means of detecting the presence of defects. This is partly because if apure waveis launched,these modes areonly seen in the presence of a defect (provided the plate is uniform over the transmissionpath)andalsobecauseif, forexample, the SO mode is launched at low frequency-thicknesses, the a0 mode generated by mode conversion has a much larger amplitude of motion in the z direction (normal to the plate) at the surface and so is more easily detected by practical transducers using immersion or grease coupling that are only sensitive to motion in thisdirection. If the technique is to be applied in industrial NDT, it will not generallybepractical to indexasingletransducer over the plate surface. Instead, linear a array transducer will be employed and the elements of the array will give a good approximation to point measurements of the surface amplitudes. The decoupling due to the coincidence principle seen in the results presented here will therefore not be observed and measurements of the relative amplitudes of the different modes willbepossible. The results of Table IV show that below the cut-off frequency of the a1 mode (1.61 MHz-mm in steel) where only the a0 and SO modes can propagate, satisfactory measurements of thetransmission amplitudes can be obtainedinthetime domain. This is becausethe two modes have verydifferent group velocities so the wave packets corresponding to the two modes separate after a short propagation distance. However, in higher frequency-thickness regions, the different propagating modes frequently have similar group velocities so time domain measurements of their relative amplitudes are muchmore difficult. The experimental results have confirmed the predictions of strong frequency dependence of the Lamb wave transmission

ratios after interaction with notches, particularly in higher frequency-thickness regions. The positions of the maxima and minima in thetransmission curves areafunction of notch depth that suggests that monitoring the change in transmission ratio with frequency may provide a means of defect sizing.

REFERENCES
[l] I. A. Viktorov, Rayleigh andLamb Waves. New York: Plenum,1970. [2] D. C. Worlton, Ultrasonic testing with Lamb waves, Non-Destructive Testing, vol.15,pp.218-222,1957. [3] D.C. Worlton, Experimental confirmation of Lamb waves at megacycle frequencies, J . Appl. Phys., vol. 32, pp. 967-971, 1961. [4] T. L. Mansfield, Lamb wave inspection of aluminum sheet, Materials Evaluation, vol. 33, pp. 9 6 1 0 0 , 1975. [ 5 ] D.F. Ball and D. Shewring, Some problems in the use of Lamb waves for the inspection of cold-rolled steel sheet coil,Nondestructive Testing, vol.6.pp.138-145,1973. (61 M. G. Silkand K. F. Bainton, The propagation in metaltubing of ultrasonic wave modes equivalence to Lamb waves, Ultrason., vol. 17, no. 1,pp.11-19, 1979. withlap-shearadhesivejoints: [7] S. I. Rokhlin,Lambwaveinteraction Theory and experiment,J. Acoust. Soc. Amer.,vol. 89, pp. 2758-2765, 1991. [8] S. I. Rokhlin and F. Bendec, Coupling of Lamb waves with the aperture between two elastic sheets, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 73, pp. 55-60, 1983. 191 J. L. Rose, M. C. Fuller, J. B. Nestleroth and Y. H. Jeong, A n ultrasonic Soc. Petrol. Eng. global inspection technique for an offshore K-Joint, J. , vol.23, pp.358-364, 1983. [lo] P. M . Bartle, Acoustic pulsing for in-service monitoring, NonDestructive Testing (Proc. 12th World Con$), J. BoogardandG.M. vanDijk,Eds.Amsterdam:Elsevier,1989,pp.254-257. [l11 A. H. Nayfeh and D. E. Chimenti, Propagation of guided waves in fluidcoupled plates of fiber-reinforced composites, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 83,pp. 17361743,1988. [l21 A. K. Mal and Y. Bar-Cohen, Characterization of composite laminates using combined LLW and PBS methods, Rev. Progress in Quantitative NDE, vol. 10B, D. 0. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti, Eds. New York: Plenum,1991, pp.1555-1560. in rolledmaterials [l31 K. Okada,Ultrasonicmeasurementofanisotropy usingsurfacewave, Jpn. J. Appl.Phys., vol.25,suppl. 25-1, pp. 197-199, 1986. [l41 D.N.Alleyneand P. Cawley, A two-dimensionalFouriertransform J. method for themeasurement of propagatingmultimodesignals, Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 89, pp.1159-1168, 1991. [l51 D. Hitchings, FE77 user manual, Imperial College int. rep., 1987. (161 S. K. Datta, Y. AI-Nassar, and A. H. Shah. Lamb wave scattering by a surface-breaking crack in a plate, Rev. of Progress in Quantitative York NDE, vol. loa, D. 0. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti, Eds. New Plenum,1991.pp. 97-104. [l71 Y.AI-Nassar, S. K. Datta, and A. H. Shah, Scattering of Lamb waves Ultrasonics, vol. 29, pp. by a normal rectangular strip weldment, 125-132, 1991. and P. Cawley, The optimisation of Lamb wave [l81 D. N. Alleyne inspection techniques, in preparation. [l91 A. Jitsumori, S . Inoue, T. Maekawa, and T. Inari, Generation of Lamb wavesusinglineararrayprobeanditsapplicationtoflawdetection, Jap. J.Appl. Phys. Supp. (Proc. 6th Symp. Ultrason. Electron.), Tokyo, vol.25,pp.200-202,1986.

David Alleyne was born in February 1959. He left school

in 1975 to become an engineering apprentice at a major food manufacturing company. From 1975 he carried on his education on a part-time basis, and in 1986 he received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering from Kingston Polytechnic, Surrey, England. In 1987 he became a full-time student at Imperial College, London, England, and received the Ph.D. degreein 1991. The major achievement of his research was the development of quantitative methods of applying ultrasonic Lamb waves in the nondestructive testing of plates and plate-like structures. His current research interests are in the application of Lamb wavesin fast longrange inspection, signal processing methods and the finite-element modelling of propagating Lamb waves and their interactions with defects.

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Peter Cawley was born in 1953. He received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in 1975 and 1979, respectively, from the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. He then worked in industry for two years before joining Imperial College, London. England, in 1981 where he is now a senior lecturer in the Department of MechanicalEngineering. His mainresearchareaissonicandultrasonic methods of nondestructive testing and he has published more than 60 papers in thisandrelated fields.Hiscurrentprojectsincludethe development of techniques for the inspection of adhesive and diffusion bonded joints and the application of Lamb waves for the inspection of pipework and for the rapid detection of impact damage in composite materials.