• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 2004

In order to inspect the piping effectively, one of the important components in the facility of power plants, the ultrasonic guided wave was generated by a tomb transducer and was received in a non-contact fashion by using an air-coupled transducer. The guided wave modes that ran be generated by the comb transducer in piping are predicted from the theoretical dispersion curves and the element spacing of a comb transducer. Moreover, to receive the specific modes, the receiving angle of the air-coupled transducer is calculated from Snell's law between the phase velocities of guided waves and the sound velocity of air. The guided wave modes obtained in experiments are identified from the result of time-frequency analysis such as wavelet transform and two-dimensional fast Fourier transform.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.851-856
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• 2003

This paper proposes a single-mode Lamb-wave generation and detection system using a pulsed laser as a generator and an air-coupled transducer combined with the wavelet transform analysis, as the detector. The laser source with arrayed linear slits was used to generate Lamb-wave which is able to control the wavelength of Lamb-wave to be generated by changing the slits separation. An ari-coupled transducer was used to receive Lamb-wave, which can selectably receive a single mode of leaky Lamb wave by changing the oblique angle of transducer, since the leaky Lamb-wave has unique leaky-angle according to the mode. Also, the received signal was processed by wavelet transform for the analysis in domain of time-frequency. The theoretical dipersion curve and the experimetal result was compared to show good agreement.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.446-450
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• 2005

We have built a spherically focused, not using acoustic mirrors, capacitive micromachined air-coupled ultrasonic transducer. A flexible backplate of a copper/polyimide backplate is used, permitting it to conform to a spherically shaped substrate. The backplate is patterned with $40-{\mu}m$ depressions having $80-{\mu}m$ center-to-center spacing. A $6-{\mu}m$ thick aluminized Mylar film completing the transducer is deformed to allow it to conform to the spherical backplate. The device's frequency spectrum is centered at 805kHz with -6dB points at 440 and 1210kHz.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.41-45
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• 2006

The fabrication process of fiber placement system of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) requires real time process control and reliable inspection to ensure quality by preventing defects such as delamination and void. Therefore, novel non-contact inspection technique is required during the non-destructive evaluation in a fiber placement system. For the inspection of delamination in CFRP, various methods to receive laser-generated ultrasound were applied by using piezoelectric transducer, air-coupled transducer, wavelet transform and scanning laser ultrasonic technique. Laser-generated ultrasound was received with a conventional piezoelectric sensor in contacting manner. Then signal characteristics due to defects were analyzed to find a factor for detecting defects. Air-coupled transducer was used for reception of laser-generated guided wave using linear slit array in order to generate high frequency guided wave. And line scan technique was used to confirm the capability of on-line application. The high frequency component of laser-generated guided wave received with piezoelectric sensor disappeared after propagating through delamination region. Nevertheless, it was failed to receive high frequency guided wave in using air-coupled transducer. The first peak of the frequency spectrum under 100kHz in the delamination region is higher than in the sound region. By using this feature, the line scanned frequency data were acquired in fully non-contact generation and reception of ultrasound. This method was proved as useful technique for detecting delamination in CFRP.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2016

Ultrasonic tomography is a powerful tool for identifying defects within an object or structure. But practical application of ultrasonic tomography to solids is often limited by time consuming transducer coupling. Air-coupled ultrasonic measurements may eliminate the coupling problem and allow for more rapid data collection and tomographic image construction. This research aims to integrate recent developments in air-coupled ultrasonic measurements with current tomography reconstruction routines to improve testing capability. The goal is to identify low velocity inclusions (air-filled voids and notches) within solids using constructed velocity images. Finite element analysis is used to simulate the experiment in order to determine efficient data collection schemes. Comparable air-coupled ultrasonic signals are then collected through homogeneous and isotropic solid (PVC polymer) samples. Volumetric (void) and planar (notch) inclusions within the samples are identified in the constructed velocity tomograms for a variety of transducer configurations. Although there is some distortion of the inclusions, the experimentally obtained tomograms accurately indicate their size and location. Reconstruction error values, defined as misidentification of the inclusion size and position, were in the range of 1.5-1.7%. Part 2 of this paper set will describe the application of this imaging technique to concrete that contains inclusions.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.307-309
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• 2006

For efficient NDE of pipes, essential components of power plant facilities, ultrasonic guided waves were generated and received applying an air-coupled transducer and comb one as non-contact technology, Mode generation and selection were predicted based on theoretical dispersive curve and the element spaceof a comb transducer. In addition, a receiving angle of the air-coupled transducer was determined to acquire the predicted modes by theoretical phase velocity of each mode. Theoretical dispersive curve was compared with the results of the time-frequency spectroscopes based on the wavelet transform and 2D-FFT to identify the characteristics of the received mode. The received modes show a good agreement with the predicted ones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.268-271
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• 2004

Non-contact technique should be developed for receiving ultrasonic wave for on-line monitoring of processing defects of fiber reinforced composites, since couplant must be applied on composite materials when conventional ultrasonic testing technique was used. Restriction of conventional ultrasonic testing technique was proven by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic wave on CFRP in various direction of wave propagation with various incident angle of ultrasonic beam. Air-coupled transducer and laser interferometer were applied for non-contacting reception of ultrasonic wave in fiber reinforced composite materials. Air-coupled transducer has optimal sensitivity and frequency band of 300kHz has homogeneous characteristics on direction of wave propagation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2001

Due to aging, adhesively bonded and riveted aircraft lap joints can contain distends, cracks around rivet holes, fatigue induced flaws, and corrosion. It is required for the safety of aircraft to inspect these defects through the whole region of mint in rapid speed. Bond quality or adhesively bonded and riveted aluminum lap splice joints is investigated using non-contact remote ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE). Non-contact ultrasonic tests are performed using laser generation and air-coupled transducer detection. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and a periodic transmission mask are used to generate a selected Lamb mode. The Lamb wave is generated on one side of the lap splice joint, propagates along the plate, interacts with the joint and is detected on the other side by a micromachined air-coupled capacitance transducer. Analysis of recorded signals allows to evaluate the condition of the bond.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.597-602
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• 2004

In practical applications of guided wave techniques, it is very important but also difficult to identify the propagating modes, and it is preferred to generate and detect a single or less dispersive mode. Also the noncontact method is required in the automated field application. So this paper considers a non-contact guided wave technique with enhanced mode-selectivity, where a laser beam illuminated through arrayed line slits is used as the transmitter and the air-coupled transducer is used as the receiver. The line arrayed laser illumination is a wavelength matching technique that ran generate only a few modes. The air-coupled transducer detects the leaky wave of the propagated guided wave, and by tuning its detection angle we ran detect the selected single mode. Experimental results for a 1mm thick aluminum plate proved the usefulness of the proposed method, and especially it was shown that this method was powerful in the generation and detection of the $a_0$ mode.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.211-218
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• 1999

This paper describes the application of a coupled finite element-boundary element method (FE-BEM) to obtain the steady-state response of a piezoelectric transducer. The particular structure considered is a PZT4 disc-typed projector. The projector is three-dimensionally simulated to transduce applied electric charge on axial surfaces of the piezoelectric disc to acoustic pressure in air or in water. The directivity pattern of the acoustic field formed from the projected sound pressure is also simulated. And the displacement of the disc caused by the externally applied electric charge is shown in temporal motion. The coupled FE-BE method is described in detail.