• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.15 no.1 s.94
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• pp.81-86
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• 2005

In this work, we propose a new ultrasonic damage inspection method in plate structures. The proposed method employs an OPMT(orientation-adjustable patch-type magnetostrictive transducer) in order to make the ultrasonic waves directed to a specific target point. For experiments, virtual grid points were set up at every 50 mm in an aluminum plate and two OPMTs were used for inspection. If there exists a crack in a plate, the reflected Lamb wave from the crack is measured in addition to the direct waves from the transmitting transducer to the receiving transducer.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.587-592
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• 2021

Change in the cortical thickness of long bones occurring with aging and osteoporosis is known to be a risk factor for fracture. The present study aims to investigate the dependencies of phase velocities of ultrasonic guided waves on the cortical thickness in 7 soft tissue-bone mimicking phantoms consisting of acrylic plates covered by a 2 mm-thick silicone rubber layer by using the axial transmission technique with a pair of transducers with a center frequency of 200 kHz and a diameter of 12.7 mm. Two distinct propagating waves with different velocities, the First Arriving Signal (FAS) and the Slow Guided Waved (SGW), were consistently observed for all the soft tissue-bone mimicking phantoms. The FAS velocity decreased slightly with increasing thickness, whereas the SGW velocity increased strongly with increasing thickness. The FAS and the SGW velocities were found to be closely consistent with the S0 and the A0 Lamb mode velocities for a free acrylic plate, respectively, suggesting that the presence of the soft tissue mimicking material (2 mm-thick silicone rubber layer) covering the acrylic plates does not influence significantly the velocity measurements.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2014

An ultrasonic magnetostrictive transducer-based phased-array system for imaging defects in plate structures is newly proposed. In that most ultrasonic phased array systems rely on piezoelectric transducers or electromagnetic acoustic transducers, this system has its own unique feature of employing magnetostrictive transducers. Interest in using a phased array system using magnetostrictive transducers has been recently reported for pipe inspection but no such system has been developed for plate inspection. In this investigation, we aim to propose a phased array system using OL-MPTs (Omnidirectional Lamb wave Magnetostrictive Patch Transducers) for plate inspection. The developed system consists of a multi-channel function generator, power amplifiers, preamplifiers and a data acquisition unit. In the process of its development, each of the units must be checked and in doing so, we suggest types of ultrasonic wave experiments that should be carried out. Finally, the phased system using a transducer array composed of eight OL-MPTs is newly configured and is applied for actual crack detection experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 2005

Ultrasonic guided waves are gaining increasing attention for the inspection of platelike and rodlike structures. At the same time, inspection methods that do not require contact with the test piece are being developed for advanced applications. This paper capitalizes on recent advances in the areas of guided wave ultrasonics and noncontact ultrasonics to demonstrate a superior method for the nondestructive detection of defects thinning simulating hidden corrosion in thin aluminum plates. The proposed approach uses EMAT(electro-magnetic acoustic transducer) for the noncontact generation and detection of guided waves. Interesting features in the dispersive behavior of selected guided modes are used for the detection of plate thinning. It is shown that mode cutoff measurements provide a qualitative detection of defects thinning. Measurement of the mode group velocity can be also used to quantify depth thinning.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2007

As one of the main support systems, rock bolts play a crucial role in the reinforcement of tunnels. Numerical and experimental studies using a transmission method of ultrasonic guided waves are performed to evaluate the integrity of rock bolts encapsulated by grouting paste. Numerical simulations using "DISPERSE" are carried out for the selection of the optimal experimental setup, i.e. non-destructive testing (NDT) system of the rock bolt. Based on results of the numerical simulation, the calculated frequency range for NDT testing is between 20kHz and 70kHz with the first longitudinal L(1) mode. Laboratory transmission tests are performed by attaching the piezo electric sensor at the tip of the rock bolt before embedding. Both of analytical and experimental results show that the amplitude of signals as well as the wave velocity increases with increase in the defect ratio of grouting paste. The defect in grouting paste means that the space around the rock bolt is not fully filled with the grouting paste. Experimental results also show that the increase of the wave velocity is more sensitive to the defect ratio increase than that of the amplitude. This study demonstrates that the transmission technique of ultrasonic guided waves may be a valuable tool in the evaluation of the rock bolt integrity.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.227-239
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• 2020

Despite proven effectiveness and accuracy in laboratories, the existing damage assessment based on guided ultrasonic waves (GUWs) or acoustic emission (AE) confronts challenges when extended to real-world structural health monitoring (SHM) for railway tracks. Central to the concerns are the extremely complex signal appearance due to highly dispersive and multimodal wave features, restriction on transducer installations, and severe contaminations of ambient noise. It remains a critical yet unsolved problem along with recent attempts to implement SHM in bourgeoning high-speed railway (HSR). By leveraging authors' continued endeavours, an SHM framework, based on actively generated diffuse ultrasonic waves (DUWs) and a benchmark-free condition contrast algorithm, has been developed and deployed via an all-in-one SHM system. Miniaturized lead zirconate titanate (PZT) wafers are utilized to generate and acquire DUWs in long-range railway tracks. Fatigue cracks in the tracks show unique contact behaviours under different conditions of external loads and further disturb DUW propagation. By contrast DUW propagation traits, fatigue cracks in railway tracks can be characterised quantitatively and the holistic health status of the tracks can be evaluated in a real-time manner. Compared with GUW- or AE-based methods, the DUW-driven inspection philosophy exhibits immunity to ambient noise and measurement uncertainty, less dependence on baseline signals, use of significantly reduced number of transducers, and high robustness in atrocious engineering conditions. Conformance tests are performed on HSR tracks, in which the evolution of fatigue damage is monitored continuously and quantitatively, demonstrating effectiveness, adaptability, reliability and robustness of DUW-driven SHM towards HSR applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2001

Ultrasonic guided waves were explored to apply them to the long range inspection of polyethylene coated steel gas pipes. The steel pipes have such dimensions as 190.7mm inside diameter and 5.3mm thickness. The outside surface of the pipe is coated by a polyethylene layer of $1.9{\pm}0.5mm$ thickness. Non-axisymmetric guided waves were excited on the outside surface of the polyethylene coated pipe by using a 0.5MHz transducer with a variable angle shoe. Frequency and phase velocity tuning was used to find optimum guided wave modes for the inspection. The dispersive characteristics of the modes were analyzed in time-frequency representation obtained by short time Fourier transforms. Sample results were presented for artificial defects such as wall thinning and hole.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1283-1284
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05d
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• pp.170-175
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• 1996

대형 튜브구조물의 길이방향으로 전파되는 유도형초음파(Ultrasonic Guided Wave)를 이용한 원자력발존소내의 열교환기류에 대한 새로운 건전성 평가법을 제시한다. 이를 위해, 유도형초음파의 물리적 특성을 이론적으로 해석하였고 실험을 통해 열고환기류에 대한 유도형초음파법의 타당성 여부를 검토하였다. 국부적인 평가(Local Inspection)에 근거한 기존의 평가법에 비해 유도형초음파법은 단시간 내에 보다 효율적으로 전체 열교환기에 대한 신뢰성 검사(Global Inspection)가 가능하며 만족할 만한 민감도(Sensitivity)를 갖고 있음을 보였다.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.449-464
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• 2008

An array based, outward monitoring, ultrasonic guided wave based SHM technique using a single transmitter and multiple receivers (STMR), with a small footprint is discussed here. The previous implementation of such SHM arrays used a phase-reconstruction algorithm (that is similar to the beam-steering algorithm) for the imaging of reflectors. These algorithms were found to have a limitation during the imaging of defects/reflectors that are present in the "near-field" of the array. Here, the "near-field" is defined to be approximately 3-4 times the diameter of the compact array. This limitation is caused by approximations in the beam-steering reconstruction algorithm. In this paper, a migration-based reconstruction algorithm, with dispersion correction in the frequency domain, is discussed. Simulation and experimental studies are used to demonstrate that this algorithm improves the reconstruction in the "near-field" without decreasing the ability to reconstruct defects in the "far-field" in both isotropic and anisotropic plates.