Ultrasonic guided wave inspection is expanding rapidly to many different areas of manufacturing and in-service inspection. The purpose of this paper is to provide a vision of ultrasonic guided wave inspection potential aswe move forward into the new millennium. An increased understanding of the basic physics and wave mechanics associated with guided wave inspection has led to an increase in practical nondestructive evaluation and inspection problems. Some fundamental concepts and a number of different applications that are currently being considered will be presented in the paper along with a brief description of the sensor and software technology that will make ultrasonic guided wave inspection commonplace in the next century.

A Baseline and Vision of Ultrasonic Guided Wave Inspection Potential

An EMAT technique has been developed to detect corrosion defects on the outer surfaces of steel pipelines. A periodic-permanent-magnet (PPM) EMAT is placed inside the pipe, which generates and receives the SH guided waves traveling in the circumferential direction with the axial polarization. Wheels installed on the PPM-EMAT facilitate the linear movement in the axial direction and are useful for a quick inspection. At each point in scanning, the amplitude and phase shift of the round-trip signals in the SH0 and SH1 modes are measured using a superheterodyne phase-sensitive detector. They respond uniquely to surface defects and provide relevant information for locating axial positions of defects and evaluating the depth. The amplitude and phase shift of the SH1 mode are more sensitive to the presence of the defects than those of the SH0 mode. This technique is useful even if the protective resin coating is tightly glued on the pipes and lowered the signal intensity.

An SH-wave EMAT technique for gas pipeline inspection

Acoustic modes propagating in cylindrical solid rods are considered. A review of the properties of several mode groups is given, and computed results are shown for a wide range of material properties. The lower mode of each group is relevant for an all-fiber-optic frequency shifter recently demonstrated. For these modes, dispersion relations, mode patterns, power relations, and acoustooptic coupling strength are calculated. Some experimental results are compared with the calculations, and alterations to improve the frequency shifter are proposed. >

Propagation and optical interaction of guided acoustic waves in two-mode optical fibers

A two-dimensional circular annulus is considered in this paper as a waveguide. The guided steady-state time-harmonic waves propagating in the circumferential direction are studied. It is found that the guided circumferential waves are dispersive. The dispersion equation is derived analytically and numerical examples are presented for the frequency dispersion curves. The displacement profiles across the wall thickness of the annulus are also obtained for the first five propagating modes. In addition, the analogy between a flat plate and an annulus in the asymptotic limit of infinite radius of curvature is discussed to reveal some interesting wave phenomena intrinsic to curved waveguides.

Guided circumferential waves in a circular annulus

The natural vibrational modes of axially symmetric piezoelectric ceramic disks have been calculated by the finite-element method. The disks are of the type used as active elements in compressional wave ultrasonic transducers, and are electrically polarized in thickness with full electrodes on the disk's major faces. To optimize disk geometry for ultrasonic transducer application, the dependence of the vibrational modes on the disk diameter-to-thickness ratio for ratios from 0.2 (a tall cylinder) to 10.0 (a thin disk) has been studied. Series and parallel resonance frequencies for each of the modes are determined through an eigenfrequency analysis, and effective electromechanical coupling coefficients are calculated. The modal displacement fields in the disk are calculated to determine the physical nature of each mode. An analysis of the complete spectrum of piezoelectrically active modes as a function of diameter-thickness ratio is presented for the ceramic PZT-5H, including and identification of radial, edge, length expander, thickness shear, and thickness extensional vibrations. From this analysis, optimal diameter-to-thickness ratios for good transducer performance are discussed. >

T.R. Meeker

Papers

2 – Guided Wave Propagation in Elongated Cylinders and Plates