• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1116-1122
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• 2005

A finite element method was used to simulate the wave propagation of laser-generated ultrasound and its interaction with surface breaking cracks in an elastic material. Thermoelastic laser line source on the material surface was approximated as a shear dipole and loaded as nodal forces in the plane-strain finite element (FE) model. The shear dipole- FE model was tested for the generation of ultrasound on the surface with no defect. The model was found to generate the Rayleigh surface wave. The model was then extended to examine the interaction of laser generated ultrasound with surface-breaking cracks of various depths. The crack-scattered waves were monitored to size the crack depth. The proposed model clearly reproduced the experimentally observed features that can be used to characterize the presence of surface-breaking cracks.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.745-753
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• 2002

It is required to evaluate nondestructively the crack depth of surface-breaking cracks for the assurance of safety of structure. Optical generation of ultrasound produces well defined pulses with a repeatable frequency content, that are free of any mechanical resonances; they are broad band and are ideal for the measurement of attenuation and scattering over a wide frequency range. Self-calibrating surface signal transmission measurement is very sensitive and practical tool for surface-breaking crack depth. In this paper, the self-calibrating technique by laser-based ultrasound is used to evaluate the depth of surface-breaking crack of material. It is suggested that the relationship between the signal transmission and crack depth can be used as a practical model for predicting the surface-breaking crack depths from the signal transmission measured in structure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2005

It is required to evaluate nondestructively depth of surface-breaking cracks in structures. In this paper, the self-compensated technique by laser-based ultrasound is used to measure the depth of surface-breaking defect. Optical generation of ultrasound produces a well defined pulse with reliable frequency content. It is broad banded and suitable for measurement of attenuation and scattering over a wide frequency range. The self-calibrated signal transmission data of surface wave shows good sensitivity as a practical tool far assessment of surface-breaking defect depth. It is suggested that the relationship between the signal transmission and crack depth can be used to predict the surface-breaking crack depths in structures.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.373-388
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• 2022

A USW based diagnostic procedure is presented for estimating the depth of surface-breaking cracks. The diagnosis is demonstrated on seven lab-scale SFRC beam specimens, which are subjected to the CMOD controlled three-point bending test to create real bending cracks. Then, the recorded multiple ultrasonic signals are examined with the signal processing techniques, including wavelet transform and two-dimensional Fourier transform, to investigate the relationships between the crack depth and two diagnostic indices, namely the attenuation coefficient and dispersion index (DI). Finally, the reliabilities of these indices for depth estimation are verified with the visually measured crack depths as well as the crack features obtained with a digital image processing algorithm. It is found that the DI outperforms the attenuation coefficient in depth estimation, where this index displays good agreement with the visual inspection for 86% of the inspected specimens.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.307-321
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• 2015

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of an innovative surface-mount sensor, made of a piezoelectric disc (PZT sensor), as a consistent source for surface wave velocity and transmission measurements in concrete structures. To this end, one concrete slab with lateral dimensions of 1500 by 1500 mm and a thickness of 200 mm was prepared in the laboratory. The concrete slab had a notch-type, surface-breaking crack at its center, with depths increasing from 0 to 100 mm at stepwise intervals of 10 mm. A PZT sensor was attached to the concrete surface and used to generate incident surface waves for surface wave measurements. Two accelerometers were used to measure the surface waves. Signals generated by the PZT sensors show a broad bandwidth with a center frequency around 40 kHz, and very good signal consistency in the frequency range from 0 to 100 kHz. Furthermore, repeatability of the surface wave velocity and transmission measurements is significantly improved compared to that obtained using manual impact sources. In addition, the PZT sensors are demonstrated to be effective for monitoring an actual surface-breaking crack in a concrete beam specimen subjected to various external loadings (compressive and flexural loading with stepwise increases). The findings in this study demonstrate that the surface mount sensor has great potential as a consistent source for surface wave velocity and transmission measurements for automated health monitoring of concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.152-162
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• 2001

Laser-generated ultrasonic technique which is one of the reliable nondestructive evaluation techniques has been applied to evaluate the integrity of structures by analyzing the characteristics of signal obtained from surface crack. Therefore, the signal analysis of the laser-generated ultrasonics is absolutely necessary for the accurate and quantitative estimation of the surface defects. In this study, one-sided measurement by laser-generated ultrasonic has been applied to evaluate the depth of the surface-breaking crack in the materials. However, since the ultrasonic waveform excited by pulse laser is very difficult to distinguish the defect signals, it is necessary to consider the signal analyses of the transient waveform. Wavelet Transform(WT) is a powerful tool for processing transient signals with temporally varying spectra that helps to resolve high and low frequency transient components effectively. In this paper, the analyses of the surface-breaking crack of the ultrasonic signal excited by pulse laser are presented by employing the WT analyses.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.104-112
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• 2015

Non-contact surface wave transmission (SWT) measurements are used to evaluate the depth of a surface-breaking crack in concrete slabs. The author propose a measurement model that includes an appropriate configuration of the source and receivers, and a transmission function for the given configuration. A series of numerical simulations using a 3D finite element model is used to obtain the transmission function. Then, validity of a proposed model is verified through experimental studies. Two air-coupled sensors are used to measured surface waves across surface-breaking cracks with varying depths from 0mm to 100mm with intervals of 10mm in a concrete slab ($1500{\times}1500{\times}180mm^3$) in laboratory. As a result, the proposed method is demonstrated as to be effective for charactering the depth of a surface-breaking crack in concrete bridge deck with an average error of 10%. A discussion on practical applications of the proposed method is also included in this article.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.84-89
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• 2006

A laser ultrasonic inspection system is a non-contact inspection device which generates and measures ultrasounds by using laser beams. A laser ultrasonic inspection system provides a high measurement resolution because the ultrasonic signal generated by a pulse laser beam has a wide-band spectrum and the ultrasonic signal is measured from a small focused spot of a measuring laser beam. In this paper, we have investigated the detection techniques of a surface-breaking crack by using the laser ultrasonic surface waves. A crack acts as a low pass filter whose cut-off frequency is lowered in proportion to the depth of a crack. And, the center frequency value of a spectrum is decreased in proportion to the depth of a crack. In this paper, we extracted the crack information by using the frequency attenuation from the normalized transfer function spectrum of a surface-breaking crack. Also, we effectively measured the crack depth by using the decreasing value of the center frequency from a crack passed ultrasonic signal. The proposed measuring techniques of crack depths provided more precise information than the amplitude measuring technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.259-267
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• 2004

A finite element method is used to simulate interaction of laser-based ultrasounds with surface breaking tracks in elastic media. The laser line source focused on the surface of semi-infinite medium is modeled as a shear dipole in 2-D plane strain finite elements. The shear dipole-finite clement model is found to give correct directivity patterns for generated longitudinal and shear waves. The interaction of surface waves with surface breaking cracks (2-D machined slot) is considered in two ways. Both the source and receiver are fixed with respect to the cracks in the first case, while the source is moving in another case. It is shown that the crack depth tested in the range of 0.3-5.0mm $({\lambda}_R/d=0.21{\sim}3.45)$ can be measured using the corner reflected waves produced by the fixed laser source. The moving laser source is found to cause a large amplitude change of reflected waves near crack, and the crack whose depth is one order lower than the wavelength ran be detected from this change.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.627-636
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• 2002

Identification and sizing of surface breaking vertical cracks using angle beam ultrasonic testing in practical situation quite often become very difficult tasks due to the presence of non-relevant signals caused by geometric reflectors. The present work introduces effective and systematic approaches to take care of such a difficulty by use oi angle beam ultrasonic testing models that can predict the expected signals from various targets very accurately. Specifically, the model-based TIFD (Technique for Identification of Flaw signals using Deconvolution) is Proposed for the identification of the crack tip signals from the non-relevant geometric reflection signals. In addition, the model-based Size-Amplitude Curve is introduced for the reliable sizing of surface breaking vertical cracks.