• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.148-151
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• 2009

In these days it is important to secure the life and stability of the structure such as aircrafts, automobiles and building. So the structural health monitoring is needed. In conventional lamb wave techniques, damage is identified by comparing the measured data (baseline signals) and the current data. But this method can lead to high false signal in the intact condition of the structure due to environmental conditions of the structure. As a solution to resolve it, the structural health monitoring method which doesn't use baseline signals is necessary. Damaged structure has unusual elastic wave. This paper proposed a PC(pitch-catch) method which doesn't use baseline signal. New baseline signals can get from detection signal. Damage signals based on new baseline signals. This paper made an image includes damage information by applying damage-signals to beamformming.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2011

It is well known that stiffness of composites depends on layup sequence of CFRP(carbon fiber reinforced plastics) laminates because the layup of composite laminates influences their properties. Ultrasonic NDE of composite laminates is often based on the backwall echoes of the sample. A pair of such transducers was mounted in a holder in a nose-to-nose fashion to be used as a scanning probe on composites. Miniature potted angle beam transducers were used (Rayleigh waves in steel) on solid laminates of composites. Experiments were performed to understand the behavior of the transducers and the nature of the waves generated in the composite (mode, wave speed, angle of refraction). C-scan images of flaws and impact damage were then produced by combining the pitch-catch probe with a portable manual scanner known as the Generic Scanner ("GenScan"). The pitch-catch signal was found to be more sensitive than normal incidence backwall echo of longitudinal wave to fiber orientation of the CFRP composites, including low level porosity, ply waviness, and cracks. Therefore, it is found that the experimentally Rayleigh wave variation of pitch-catch ultrasonic signal was consistent with numerical results and one-side ultrasonic measurement might be very useful to detect the defects.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.5A
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• pp.421-431
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• 2009

This paper is the study on the verification of structural health monitoring (SHM) algorithm based on the ultrasonic guided wave. An active inspection system using Lamb wave (LW) for SHM was considered. The basic study about the application of this algorithm was performed for detecting the circular notch defect in steel plate. LW testing technique, pitch-catch method, was used for interpretation of circular notch defect with depth of 50% of plate thickness and 7 mm width. Damage characterization takes place by comparing $S_0$ mode sensor signals collected before and after the damage event. By subtracting the signals of both conditions from each other, a scatter signal is produced which can be used for damage localization. The continuous Gabor wavelet transform is used to attain the time between the arrivals of the scatter and sensor signals. A new practical damage monitoring algorithm, based on damage monitoring polygon and pitch-catch method, has been proposed and verified with good accuracy. The possible damage location can be estimated by the average on calculated location points and the damage extent by the standard deviation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2008

Ultrasonic C-scan technique is one of very popular techniques being used for detection of flaws in polymer matrix composite(PMC). However, the application of this technique is very limited for evaluation of defects in PMC fabricated by the automated fiber placement process. The purpose of this study is to develop a novel ultrasonic hybrid system based on nondestructive and non-contact ultrasonic techniques for evaluation of delamination in carbon/epoxy and carbon/PPS composite laminates. It was shown that the newly developed ultrasonic hybrid system based on dual air-coupled pitch-catch technique with ultrasonic scattering reflection concept could provide excellent image with higher resolution of delamination in PMC compared with the conventional pitch-catch method. It is expected that this ultrasonic hybrid technique can be applied for on-line inspection of flaws in PMC during the fabrication process.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.381-396
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• 2017

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a necessity for reliable and efficient functioning of engineering systems. Damage detection (DD) is a crucial component of any SHM system. Lamb waves are a popular means to DD owing to their sensitivity to small damages over a substantial length. This typically involves an active sensing paradigm in a pitch-catch setting, that involves two piezo-sensors, a transmitter and a receiver. In this paper, we propose a data-intensive DD approach for beam structures using high frequency signals acquired from beams in a pitch-catch setting. The key idea is to develop a statistical learning-based approach, that harnesses the inherent sparsity in the problem. The proposed approach performs damage detection, localization in beams. In addition, quantification is possible too with prior calibration. We demonstrate numerically that the proposed approach achieves 100% accuracy in detection and localization even with a signal to noise ratio of 25 dB.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.264-269
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• 2013

Since MFC(macro-fiber composite) transducer has been developed, many researchers have tried to apply this transducer on SHM(structural health monitoring), because it is so flexible and durable that it can be easily embedded to various kinds of structures. The objective of this paper is to figure out the benefits and feasibility of applying MFC transducers to guided wave technique. For this, we have experimentally tested the performance of MFC patches as transmitter and sensors for excitation and reception of guided waves on the thin aluminum alloy plate. In order to enhance the signal accuracy, we applied the FIR filter for noise reduction as well as used STFT(short-time Fourier transform) algorithm to image the guided wave characteristics clearly. From the results, the guided wave generated based on MFC showed good agreement with its theoretical dispersion curves. Moreover, the ultrasonic Lamb wave techniques based on MFC patches in pitch-catch manner was tested for detection of surface notch defects of which depths are 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the aluminum plate thickness. Results showed that the notch was detectable well when the notch depth was 10% of the thickness or greater.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.458-465
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• 2009

In general, ultrasonic guided wave techniques that used for an evaluation of the internal defect have been applied without considering energy loss. It can be found out that the significant attenuation is observed in the signal of structure with defect by the scattering and absorption. Even in the signal acquired from defect-free structure, this attenuation can be also significant. Therefore, it is very essential to determine the Lamb wave propagation characteristics depending on modes because the dispersibility of Lamb wave can be easily influenced by the attenuation effect with frequency and thickness. For this reason, changing the propagation distance, attenuation coefficient of each Lamb wave mode needs to be investigated by the contact pitch-catch method with PZT(piezoelectric) sensors. In this paper, the experimental attenuation coefficient is measured by choosing the following three different variables; mode, thickness and plate materials. As a result, experimental attenuation coefficient is obtained as the function of variables.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.97-119
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• 2013

This paper presents numerical and experimental results on the use of guided waves for structural health monitoring (SHM) of crack growth during a fatigue test in a thick steel plate used for civil engineering application. Numerical simulation, analytical modeling, and experimental tests are used to prove that piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) can perform active SHM using guided wave pitch-catch method and passive SHM using acoustic emission (AE). AE simulation was performed with the multi-physic FEM (MP-FEM) approach. The MP-FEM approach permits that the output variables to be expressed directly in electric terms while the two-ways electromechanical conversion is done internally in the MP-FEM formulation. The AE event was simulated as a pulse of defined duration and amplitude. The electrical signal measured at a PWAS receiver was simulated. Experimental tests were performed with PWAS transducers acting as passive receivers of AE signals. An AE source was simulated using 0.5-mm pencil lead breaks. The PWAS transducers were able to pick up AE signal with good strength. Subsequently, PWAS transducers and traditional AE transducer were applied to a 12.7-mm CT specimen subjected to accelerated fatigue testing. Active sensing in pitch catch mode on the CT specimen was applied between the PWAS transducers pairs. Damage indexes were calculated and correlated with actual crack growth. The paper finishes with conclusions and suggestions for further work.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.565-582
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• 2008

This paper presents a feasibility study of flexible piezoelectric paint for use in wide-band low-profile surface-mount or embeddable ultrasonic sensor for in situ structural health monitoring. Piezoelectric paint is a piezoelectric composite with 0-3 connectivity. Because of its ease of application, piezoelectric paint can be readily fabricated into sensing element with complex pattern. This study examines the characteristics of piezoelectric paint in acoustic emission signal and ultrasonic guided wave sensing. A series of ultrasonic tests including pitch catch and pencil break tests were performed to validate the ultrasonic wave sensing capability of piezoelectric paint. The results of finite element simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation, and acoustic emission generated by a pencil lead break on an aluminum plate are also presented in this paper along with corresponding experimental data. Based on the preliminary experimental results, the piezoelectric paint appears to offer a promising sensing material for use in real-time monitoring of crack initiation and propagation in both metallic and composite structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.459-466
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• 2005

The scanning laser source (SLS) technique has been proposed recently as an effective way to investigate small surface-breaking defects, By monitoring the amplitude and frequency changes of the ultrasound generated as the SLS scans over a defect, the SLS technique has provided enhanced signal-to-noise performance compared to the traditional pitch-catch or pulse-echo ultrasonic methods, An extension of the SLS approach to map defects in microdevices is proposed by bringing both the generator and the receiver to the near-field scattering region of the defects, To facilitate near-field ultrasound measurement, silicon microcantilever probes are fabricated using microfabrication technique and their acoustical characteristics are investigated, Then, both the laser-generated ultrasonic source and the microcantilever probe are used to monitor near-field scattering by a surface-breaking defect.