In recent years, many researchers have explored the use of guided ultrasonic waves for nondestructive testing (NDT). When guided waves are transmitted into a structure, any geometric and material discontinuities in the waves’ path modify these waves. Using appropriate signal processing methods for the waves received at a sensor, information about these features can be extracted. However, little research has been conducted to locate the features and automatically generate maps without using a priori knowledge. For NDT of large-scale structures, such as the wings of an airplane, many (automated) measurements need to be conducted, and localization of identified features on a map is crucial for successful damage detection. Hence, in this work, methods to detect edges are investigated in an effort to generate a map of the structure using Lamb waves. Measurements are conducted with contact and air-coupled ultrasound transducers in laboratory experiments. While the used contact transducers do not exhibit any directional sensitivity, air-coupled transducers are only sensitive to incoming waves from one direction. Therefore, different data processing methods have to be applied, depending on the applied actuator or sensor technology. Even though the experiments are conducted for a pristine aluminum plate, an outlook for composite plates is given as well. In addition, it is explored whether guided-wave based methods also allow for the detection of other structural features, such as stiffeners. The accuracy of the applied identification methods is validated against the structures’ true dimensions. Even though substantial assumptions have to be made, the investigated methods show promise for successful application in real scenarios.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.