• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-103
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• 2009

This study investigates the applicability of the time reversal concept in modem acoustics to the Lamb waves, which have been widely studied for defect detection in plate-like structures. According to conventional time reversal acoustics, an input signal can be reconstructed at an excitation point if an output signal recorded at another point is reversed in the time domain and emitted back to the original source point. However, the application of a time reversal process(TRP) to Lamb wave propagations is complicated due to velocity and amplitude dispersion characteristics of Lamb waves and reflections from the boundaries of a structure. In this study, theoretical investigations are presented to better understand the time reversibility of Lamb waves. In particular, the effects of within-mode dispersion, multimode dispersion, amplitude dispersion, and reflections from boundaries on the TRP are theoretically formulated. Simple numerical case studies are conducted to validate the theoretical findings of this study.