• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 2008

Time reversal (TR) of nondispersive body waves has been used in many applications including ultrasonic NDE. However, the study of the TR method for Lamb waves on thin structures is not well established. In this paper, the full reconstruction of the input signal is investigated for dispersive Lamb waves by introducing a time reversal operator based on the Mindlin plate theory. A broadband and a narrowband input waveform are employed to reconstruct the $A_0$ mode of Lamb wave propagations. Due to the frequency dependence of the TR process of Lamb waves, different frequency components of the broadband excitation are scaled differently during the time reversal process and the original input signal cannot be fully restored. This is the primary reason for using a narrowband excitation to enhance the flaw detectability.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.138-149
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• 2000

Various modeling techniques for ultrasonic wave propagation and scattering problems in finite solid media are presented. Elastodynamic boundary value problems in inhomogeneous multi-layered plate-like structures are set up for modal analysis of guided wave propagation and numerically solved to obtain dispersion curves which show propagation characteristics of guided waves. As a powerful modeling tool to overcome such numerical difficulties in wave scattering problems as the geometrical complexity and mode conversion, the Boundary Element Method(BEM) is introduced and is combined with the normal mode expansion technique to develop the hybrid BEM, an efficient technique for modeling multi mode conversion of guided wave scattering problems. Time dependent wave forms are obtained through the inverse Fourier transformation of the numerical solutions in the frequency domain. 3D BEM program development is underway to model more practical ultrasonic wave signals. Some encouraging numerical results have recently been obtained in comparison with the analytical solutions for wave propagation in a bar subjected to time harmonic longitudinal excitation. It is expected that the presented modeling techniques for elastic wave propagation and scattering can be applied to establish quantitative nondestructive evaluation techniques in various ways.

• 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.13-27
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• 2023

Fatigue crack is a fatal problem for steel structures. Early detection and maintenance can help extend the service life and prevent hazards. This paper presents the ultrasonic guided waves-based (UGWs-based) fatigue crack detection of a steel I-beam. The semi-analytical finite element model has been built to obtain the wave propagation characteristics. Damage indices in both time and frequency domains were analyzed by considering the characteristic variations of UGWs including the amplitude, phase angle, and wave packet energy. The pulse-echo and pitch-catch methods were combined in the detection scheme. Lab-scale experiments were conducted on welded steel I-beams to verify the proposed method. Results show that the damage indices based on the characteristic variations in the time domain can identify and localize the fatigue crack before it enters the rapid growth stage. The damage severity can be reasonably evaluated by analyzing the time-domain damage indices. Two nonlinear damage indices in the frequency domain give earlier warnings of the fatigue crack than the time-domain damage indices do. The identification results based on the above two nonlinear indices are found to be less consistent under various excitation frequencies. More robust nonlinear techniques needed to be searched and tested for early crack detection in steel I-beams in further study.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.570-578
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• 2009

Excitation and propagation of guided waves are very complex problems in pipes due to their dispersive nature. Pipes are commonly used in the oil, chemical or nuclear industry and hence must be inspected regularly to ensure continued safe operation. The normal mode expansion(NME) method is given for the amplitude with which any propagating waveguide mode is generated in the pipes by applied surface tractions. Numerical results are calculated based on the NME method using different sources, i.e., non-axisymmetric partial loading and quasi-axisymmetric loading sources. The sum of amplitude coefficients for 0~nineth order of the harmonic modes are calculated based on the NME method and the dispersion curves in pipes. The superimposed total field which is namely the angular profile, varies with propagating distance and circumferential angle. This angular profile of guided waves provides information for setting the transducer position to find defects in pipes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.351-356
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• 2012

Ultrasonic cavitation is a physical phenomenon that generates and collapses microbubbles in media (mainly fluids) under conditions of strong ultrasonic irradiation. In this study, changes in the ultrasonic acoustic characteristics of bubble clouds in relation to ultrasonic irradiation were observed by the quantitative evaluation of cavitation yields. Concave-type single ultrasonic transducers with center frequencies of 500 kHz and 1.1 MHz were used to produce cavitation, and 2.25 MHz interference ultrasonic waves that would traverse any bubble clouds generated were used to analyze the cavitation. The parameters used for the evaluation of cavitation yields (changes in the center frequency, attenuation characteristics, and the propagation time of penetrating waves) were analyzed in relation to the cavitation-generating conditions (irradiation intensity, excitation signal, and center frequency). On the basis of these results, correlations between the changes in the center frequency and irradiation intensity were identified. Although the correlation coefficient was low, notable changes were observed in the center frequency under certain irradiation conditions. Attenuation trends in the interference ultrasonic waves showed high correlations with all the irradiation conditions, and it was noted that these trends were not affected by the forms of cavitation generated. No differences in the propagation time were observed among different irradiation conditions. These findings suggest that bubble yields can be quantitatively evaluated effectively by evaluating the diverse irradiation conditions and that such a quantitative evaluation could be used to study the basic cavitation phenomenon occurring in high-intensity ultrasonic wave treatment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.401-407
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• 2017

This paper describes wavenumber filtering for damage detection using single-frequency standing wave excitation and laser scanning sensing. An embedded piezoelectric sensor generates ultrasonic standing waves, and the responses are measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer and mirror tilting device. After scanning, newly developed damage detection techniques based on wavenumber filtering are applied to the full standing wave field. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed techniques, several experiments were performed on composite plates with delamination and aluminum plates with corrosion damage. The results demonstrated that the developed techniques could be applied to various structures to localize the damage, with the potential to improve the damage detection capability at a high interrogation speed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.185-215
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• 2005

Advanced signal processing techniques have been long introduced and widely used in structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE). In our research, we applied several signal processing approaches for our embedded ultrasonic structural radar (EUSR) system to obtain improved damage detection results. The EUSR algorithm was developed to detect defects within a large area of a thin-plate specimen using a piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) array. In the EUSR, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was first applied for signal de-noising. Secondly, after constructing the EUSR data, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) were used for the time-frequency analysis. Then the results were compared thereafter. We eventually chose continuous wavelet transform to filter out from the original signal the component with the excitation signal's frequency. Third, cross correlation method and Hilbert transform were applied to A-scan signals to extract the time of flight (TOF) of the wave packets from the crack. Finally, the Hilbert transform was again applied to the EUSR data to extract the envelopes for final inspection result visualization. The EUSR system was implemented in LabVIEW. Several laboratory experiments have been conducted and have verified that, with the advanced signal processing approaches, the EUSR has enhanced damage detection ability.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2004

It is possible to detect flaws in pipelines without interruption using all EMAT transducer because it is a non-contact transducer which can transmit ultrasonic waves into specimens without couplant. And it ran easily generate guided waves desired in each specific problem by altering the design of coil and magnet. In the present work, EMAT systems have been fabricated to generate surface waves, and selectively the plate wave of $A_1\;or\;S_1$ mode. The surface wave of 1.5MHz showed a good signal-to-noise ratio without distortion in its propagation along a pipeline, while the $S_1$ mode of 800kHz and the $A_1$ mode of 940kHz were distorted according to their dispersive properties. The wider the excitation pulse becomes, the better the mode selectivity of the plate waves becomes. A pipe of 256mm inner diameter and 5.5m thickness with 5 flaws was used for comparing the flaw detectability among the modes under consideration.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.175-182
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• 2018

In this study, the theoretical method and the finite element analysis were designed in parallel to fabricate basic research data on the production of tool horn for cutting machine with ultrasonic vibration energy. In order to perform high-performance ultrasonic cutting, it is necessary to vibrate only with longitudinal vibration instead of transverse vibration. In order to efficiently transmit the mechanical vibration energy, the maximum amplitude should be generated at the output portion. Therefore, the tool horn must be designed so that the excitation frequency of the oscillator and the natural frequency of the tool horn are the same. In order to design the resonance of the tool horn, there are a theoretical approach using the one-dimensional wave equation and a method of reflecting the finite element analysis result to the design model. In this study, the approximate dimensions of the tool horn are first determined through the one- Based on the results of the finite element analysis, the optimal model was selected and reflected in the final shape of the tool horn. We will use this information as the basic data of actual tool horn for cutting, and will compare the production and experimental data with the contents of this research.