This thesis studies Lamb waves for long-range pipeline inspection. The property of Lamb waves propagation and the sensitivity of defect detection will be evaluated in this thesis. There are two groups of waves propagation in plate, first group of waves are called symmetrical Lamb waves, and the second group are called anti-symmetrical Lamb waves. Furthermore, there are three different mode types exist in hollow cylinder, such as the longitudinal, torsional, and flexural modes. By solving the characteristic equation of the Lamb wave problem, the dispersion character of the Lamb waves can be found. The phase and group velocity for different Lamb modes obtained from the dispersion curve are also studied in this thesis. In the experimental setup, the longitudinal wave is incident at certain incident angles and velocities to generate Lamb waves propagated on the stainless steel plate and carbon steel hollow cylinder. When the longitudinal waves are in the constructive interference in the medium, only one Lamb wave will propagate. As a result, compare with the measured data and theoretical predictions of the group velocities, it is observed that angle beam longitudinal waves offer an accurate and workable method for Lamb waves generation. To evaluate the sensitivity and resolution of the Lamb waves testing, additional experiments for detecting defects are carried out in this thesis. It is found that a single and pure Lamb wave is very useful for detection defects. Moreover, selected the non-dispersive Lamb modes for detection can keep the propagating wave shape without changing; also, only minimum energy is decayed as wave propagated.

An understanding of the generation of higher harmonics in Lamb waves is of critical importance for applications such as remaining life prediction of plate-like structural components. The objective of this work is to use nonlinear Lamb waves to experimentally investigate inherent material nonlinearities in aluminum plates. These nonlinearities, e.g. lattice anharmonicities, precipitates or vacancies, cause higher harmonics to form in propagating Lamb waves. The amplitudes of the higher harmonics increase with increasing propagation distance due to the accumulation of nonlinearity while the Lamb wave travels along its path. Special focus is laid on the second harmonic, and a relative nonlinearity parameter is defined as a function of the fundamental and second harmonic amplitude. The experimental setup uses an ultrasonic transducer and a wedge for the Lamb wave generation and laser interferometry for detection. The experimentally measured Lamb wave signals are processed with a short-time Fourier transformation (STFT) and a chirplet transformation-based algorithm, which yield the amplitudes of the frequency spectrum as functions of time, allowing the observation of the nonlinear behavior of the material. The increase of the relative nonlinearity parameter with propagation distance as an indicator of cumulative second harmonic generation is shown in the results for two different aluminum alloys. The difference in inherent nonlinearity between both alloys as determined from longitudinal wave measurements can be observed for the Lamb wave measurements, too.

In this thesis, the author proposes and presents a novel simulation technique for the analysis of multilayered Flexural Plate Wave (FPW) devices based on the convergence of the Finite Element method (FEM) with classical Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) analysis techniques and related procedures. Excellent agreement has been obtained between the author's approach and other more conventional modelling techniques. Utilisation of the FEM allows the performance characteristics of a FPW structure to be critically investigated and refined before undertaking the costly task of fabrication. Based on a series of guidelines developed by the author, it is believed the proposed technique can also be applied to other acoustic wave devices. The modelling process developed is quite unique as it is independent of the problem geometry as verified by both two and three dimensional simulations. A critical review of FEM simulation parameters is presented and their effect on the frequency domain response of a FPW transducer given. The technique is also capable of simultaneously modelling various second-order effects, such as triple transit, diffraction and electromagnetic feedthrough, which often requires the application of several different analysis methodologies. To verify the results obtained by the author's novel approach, several commonly used numerical techniques are discussed and their limitations investigated. The author initially considers the Transmission Matrix method, where it is shown that an inherent numerical instability prevents solution convergence when applied to large frequency-thickness products and complex material properties which are characteristic of liquids. In addition the Stiffness Matrix method is investigated, which is shown to be unconditionally stable. Based on this technique, particle displacement profiles and mass sensitivity are presented for multilayered FPW structures and compared against simpler single layer devices commonly quoted in literature. Significant differences are found in mass sensitivity between single layer and multilayered structures. Frequency response characteristics of a FPW device are then explored via a spectral domain Green's function, which serves as a further verification technique of the author's novel analysi s procedure. Modifications to the spectral domain Green's function are discussed and implemented due to the change in solution geometry from SAW to FPW structures. Using the developed techniques, an analysis is undertaken on the applicability of FPW devices for sensing applications in liquid media. Additions are made to both the Stiffness Matrix method and FEM to allow these techniques to accurately incorporate the influence of a liquid layer. The FEM based approach is then applied to obtain the frequency domain characteristics of a liquid loaded FPW structure, where promising results have been obtained. Displacement profiles are considered in liquid media, where it is shown that a tightly coupled Scholte wave exists that is deemed responsible for most reported liquid sensing results. The author concludes the theoretical analysis with an in-depth analysis of a FPW device when applied to density, viscosity and mass sensing applications in liquid media. It is shown that a single FPW device is potentially capable of discriminating between density and viscosity effects, which is typically a task that requires a complex and costly sensor array.

Laser ultrasonics has been used to measure the bending stiffness of paper products by measuring the dispersion of ultrasonic plate waves. In laser ultrasonics, ultrasound can be generated by absorption of pulsed laser spot while detection can be carried out by Laser Doppler Interferometry. The research presented in this paper describes a new method to detect ultrasonic plate waves using a recently developed acoustic transducer, more specifically an optical Micro ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) microphone with broadband capability. The MEMS device operates as a non-contact proximity probe placed less than ¼ a millimeter away from the plate. The signals are detected with a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) in which the back electrode of the capacitive transducer on a transparent substrate is shaped as an optical diffraction grating. The displacement of the transducer membrane is determined using an optical interferometer. By applying voltage to deflect the membrane electrostatically, the detection sensitivity is kept at an optimum level. The main purpose of the research presented herein was to test this MEMSs ability to detect ultrasonic waves propagating through paper, to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and to calibrate the device in order to quantify the limitations on sensitivity in the context of the detection of ultrasound in paper. Similar tests were conducted for comparison with a modified Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, a more traditional method used for laser ultrasonic detection, and its results are presented in this paper.

No description available.

Today’s MEMS technology allows manufacturing of miniaturized, low power sensors that sometimes exceeds the performance of conventional sensors. The pressure sensor market today is dominated by MEMS pressure sensors. In this thesis two different pressure sensor techniques are studied. The first concerns ways to improve the sensitivity in the most commonly occurring pressure sensor, namely such based on the piezoresistive technique. Since the giant piezoresistive effect was observed in silicon nanowires, it was assumed that a similar effect could be expected in nano-thin silicon films. However, it turned out that the conductivity was extremely sensitive to substrate bias and could therefore be controlled by varying the backside potential. Another important parameter was the resistivity time drift. Long time measurements showed a drastic variation in the resistance. Not even after several hours of measurement was steady state reached. The drift is explained by hole injection into the buried oxide as well as existence of mobile charges. The piezoresistive effect was studied and shown to be of the same magnitude as in bulk silicon. Later research has shown the existence of such an effect where the film thickness has to be less than around 20 nm.  The second area that has been studied is the pressure sensitivity of in acoustic resonators. Aluminium nitride thin film plate acoustic resonators (FPAR) operating at the lowest-order symmetric (S0), the first-order asymmetric (A1) as well as the first-order symmetric (S1) Lamb modes have been theoretically and experimentally studied in a comparative manner. The S0 Lamb mode is identified as the most pressure sensitive FPAR mode. The theoretical predictions were found to be in good agreement with the experiments. Additionally, the Lamb modes have been tested for their sensitivities to mass loading and their ability to operate in liquids, where the S0 mode showed good results. Finally, the pressure sensitivity in aluminium nitride thin film bulk wave resonators employing c- and tilted c-axis texture has been studied. The c-axis tilted FBAR demonstrates a substantially higher pressure sensitivity compared to its c-axis oriented counterpart.

Material damage such as dislocations and microcracks are characteristic of early stages of fatigue. Accumulation of these nascent cracks leads to non-linear elastic response of the material. These non-linearities can be detected from harmonic generation for propagating elastic waves. The long term goal of this study is to investigate the non-linear elastic propagation in parts with complex geometry. Cellular Automata is introduced as a new simulation method, in order to develop new analysis on quadratic non-linearities. An existing linear code was progressively modified to take into account a different constitutive law. Also the boundary conditions need to be reviewed to ensure free stress with the non-linear behavior. The propagation of the longitudinal wave is investigated in detail. Numerical accuracy is validated from comparison with a closed, for both linear and non-linear code. The reflection of the non-linear P-wave gives confirmation for the correct treatment of the boundary condition. Finally the capabilities of the Cellular Automata code are underlined for reflection of Lamb waves for various boundary conditions.

Sound can propagate for long distances with a low loss of intensity in objects whose geometry acts as a guide for the sound waves; a phenomenon that can be utilised for long range testing of structures. The guided sound waves can be used to conduct materials evaluation or to detect flaws, which can be done for a relatively large region of coverage from a relatively small region of access. In particular this technology can be used to inspect or monitor large engineering structures whose structural integrity is critical for safety and the environment, such as wind turbine towers, ship hulls, and pipelines. The use of guided waves for structural inspection is complicated by the existence of many wave modes. In this thesis, the Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) is characterised for its frequency, wavelength, wave mode and direction dependent sensitivity. These devices are flexible, light and thin, and, here have been shown to have wave mode sensitivity characteristics that are favourable for some applications. The MFC is a piezoelectric actuator that can be used to excite and sense in-plane vibrations at a structures surface. The surface area of an MFC is significantly large with respect to typical wavelengths used in ultrasonic guided wave applications, which combined with their in-plane extensional nature gives rise to a significantly wave mode, frequency and direction dependent sensitivity. This can limit their application, but can also potentially be exploited for greater wave mode control. A method for simulating the output from hypothesised transducer behaviour is shown and validated for the MFC. This allows their behaviour to be predicted for new structures. It is shown that their frequency response can depend on the waveguide and can vary with direction, which can lead to wave mode transmission and reception characteristics that may be advantageous for some methods of application and detrimental to others. A novel method of adapting a flexible transducer, such as the MFC, has been developed and its characterisation is given. It is shown that through the use of a decoupling membrane, an MFC can be caused to have very different wave mode sensitivity characteristics whilst retaining their light and flexible nature. These altered characteristics are favourable for applications where shear horizontal wave modes are required. Both fully coupled MFC transducers and the adapted MFC transducers are considered for application to pipeline testing. Fully coupled MFC transducers are used for inspection using longitudinal waves, whilst the adapted MFC transducers are used with torsional waves. These arrays are compared to a current commercial tool.

The research presented in this thesis is based on improving current structural health monitoring (SHM) technology. Structural health monitoring is a damage detection technique that involves placing intelligent sensors on a structure, periodically recording data from the sensors, and using statistical methods to analyze the data in order to assess the condition of the structure. This work focuses on improving two areas of SHM; baseline management and energy supplies. Several successful SHM methods have been developed in which prerecorded baseline measurements are compared to current measurements in order to identify damage. The need to compare new data to a prerecorded baseline can present several complications including data management issues and difficulty in controlling the effects of varying environmental conditions on the data. Another potential area for improvement in SHM systems deals with their energy supplies. Many SHM systems currently require wired power supplies or batteries to operate. Practical SHM applications often require inexpensive, stand alone sensors, data acquisition, and processing hardware that does not require maintenance. To address the issue of baseline management, a novel SHM technique is developed. This new method accomplishes instantaneous baseline measurements by deploying an array of piezoelectric sensors/actuators used for Lamb wave propagation-based SHM such that data recorded from equidistant sensor-actuator paths can be used to instantaneously identify several common features of undamaged paths. Once identified, features from these undamaged paths can be used to form a baseline for real-time damage detection. This method utilizes the concept of sensor diagnostics, a recently developed technique that minimizes false damage identification and measurement distortion caused by faulty sensors. Several aspects of the instantaneous baseline damage detection method are explored in this work including the implementation of sensor diagnostics, determination of the features best used to identify damage, development of signal processing algorithms used to analyze data, and the comparison of two sensor/actuator deployment schemes. The ultimate goal in the development of practical SHM systems is to create autonomous damage detection systems. A limiting factor in current SHM technology is the energy supply required to operate the system. Many existing SHM systems utilize wired power supplies or batteries to power sensors, data transmission, data acquisition, and data processing hardware. Although batteries eliminate the need to run wires to SHM hardware, their periodic replacement requires components to be placed in easily accessible locations which is not always practical, especially in embedded applications. Additionally, there is a high cost associated with battery monitoring and replacement. In an effort to eliminate replaceable energy supplies in SHM systems, the concept of energy harvesting is investigated. Energy harvesting devices are designed to capture surrounding ambient energy and convert it into usable electrical energy. Several types of energy harvesting exist, including vibration, thermal, and solar harvesting. A solar energy harvesting system is developed for use in powering SHM hardware. Integrating energy harvesting technology into SHM systems can provide autonomous health monitoring of structures. / Master of Science

Wave propagation analysis in 1-D and 2-D composite structures is performed efficiently and accurately through the formulation of a User-Defined Element (UEL) based on the wavelet spectral finite element (WSFE) method. The WSFE method is based on the first order shear deformation theory which yields accurate results for wave motion at high frequencies. The wave equations are reduced to ordinary differential equations using Daubechies compactly supported, orthonormal, wavelet scaling functions for approximations in time and one spatial dimension. The 1-D and 2-D WSFE models are highly efficient computationally and provide a direct relationship between system input and output in the frequency domain. The UEL is formulated and implemented in Abaqus for wave propagation analysis in composite structures with complexities. Frequency domain formulation of WSFE leads to complex valued parameters, which are decoupled into real and imaginary parts and presented to Abaqus as real values. The final solution is obtained by forming a complex value using the real number solutions given by Abaqus. Several numerical examples are presented here for 1-D and 2-D composite waveguides. Wave motions predicted by the developed UEL correlate very well with Abaqus simulations using shear flexible elements. The results also show that the UEL largely retains computational efficiency of the WSFE method and extends its ability to model complex features. An enhanced cross-correlation method (ECCM) is developed in order to accurately predict damage location in plates. Three major modifications are proposed to the widely used cross-correlation method (CCM) to improve damage localization capabilities, namely actuator-sensor configuration, signal pre-processing method, and signal post-processing method. The ECCM is investigated numerically (FEM simulation) and experimentally. Experimental investigations for damage detection employ a PZT transducer as actuator and laser Doppler vibrometer as sensor. Both numerical and experimental results show that the developed method is capable of damage localization with high precision. Further, ECCM is used to detect and localize debonding in a composite material skin-stiffener joint. The UEL is used to represent the healthy case whereas the damaged case is simulated using Abaqus. It is shown that the ECCM successfully detects the location of the debond in the skin-stiffener joint.