Ultrasonic guided wave tomography for ice detection.

Of great concern for many structures, particularly critical sections of rotary and fixed wing aircrafts, is the ability to detect ice either on grounded or in-flight vehicles. As a consequence, some work is reported here that could be useful for a variety of different industries where ice formation is an important problem. This paper presents experimental validations of a probability-based reconstruction algorithm (PRA) on ice detection of plate-like structures.

Crystalline fibrillar gel formation in aqueous surfactant-antioxidant system.

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is a well-known cationic surfactant capable to micellize into diverse morphologies in aqueous medium. We observed the formation of an opaque gel state from aqueous CTAB solution in the presence of the aromatic additive, para-coumaric acid (PCA). Optical microscopic images revealed the presence of large fibrils in the system at room temperature.

Ultrasonic guided interface waves at a soft-stiff boundary.

Interface waves traveling along the boundary between two solids have been studied for nearly a century. However, little attention has been given to the case where interface waves travel at the boundary between a soft and stiff solid and when the soft material is relatively light and viscoelastic. In this paper, the characteristics of interface waves that propagate along a soft-stiff boundary are described.

Ultrasonic guided wave propagation across waveguide transitions: energy transfer and mode conversion.

Ultrasonic guided wave inspection of structures containing adhesively bonded joints requires an understanding of the interaction of guided waves with geometric and material discontinuities or transitions in the waveguide. Such interactions result in mode conversion with energy being partitioned among the reflected and transmitted modes. The step transition between an aluminum layer and an aluminum-adhesive-aluminum multi-layer waveguide is analyzed as a model structure.

Interaction of torsional and longitudinal guided waves in weakly nonlinear circular cylinders.

The nonlinear forcing terms for the wave equation in general curvilinear coordinates are derived based on an isotropic homogeneous weakly nonlinear elastic material. The expressions for the nonlinear part of the first Piola-Kirchhoff stress are specialized for axisymmetric torsional and longitudinal fundamental waves in a circular cylinder. The matrix characteristics of the nonlinear forcing terms and secondary mode wave structures are manipulated to analyze the higher harmonic generation due to the guided wave mode self-interactions and mutual interactions.

A spacing compensation factor for the optimization of guided wave annular array transducers.

Transducer arrays can be utilized in ultrasonic guided wave applications to achieve preferential excitation of particular points on a dispersion curve. These arrays are designed according to the principles of wave interference and the influence of the wavelength excitation spectrum. This paper develops the relationships between the peak wavelength in the excitation spectra and the element spacing of linear comb and annular arrays.

Guided wave propagation in single and double layer hollow cylinders embedded in infinite media.

Millions of miles of pipes are being used for the transportation, distribution, and local use of petroleum products, gas, water, and chemicals. Most of the pipes are buried in soil, leading to the significance of the study on the subject of guided wave propagation in pipes with soil influence. Previous investigations of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in an elastic hollow cylinder and in an elastic hollow cylinder coated with a viscoelastic material have led to the development of inspection techniques for bare and coated pipes.

Ice detection and classification on an aircraft wing with ultrasonic shear horizontal guided waves.

Ice accumulation on airfoils has been identified as a primary cause of many accidents in commercial and military aircraft. To improve aviation safety as well as reduce cost and environmental threats related to aircraft icing, sensitive, reliable, and aerodynamically compatible ice detection techniques are in great demand. Ultrasonic guided-wave-based techniques have been proved reliable for "go" and "no go" types of ice detection in some systems including the HALO system, in which the second author of this paper is a primary contributor.

Guided wave propagation and mode differentiation in hollow cylinders with viscoelastic coatings.

Guided wave propagation theories have been widely explored for about one century. Earlier theories on single-layer elastic hollow cylinders have been very beneficial for practical nondestructive testing on piping and tubing systems. Guided wave flexural (nonaxisymmetric) modes in cylinders can be generated by a partial source loading or any nonaxisymmetric discontinuity.

Phased array focusing with guided waves in a viscoelastic coated hollow cylinder.

Guided wave phased array focusing has shown many advantages in long-range pipeline inspection, such as, longer inspection distance, greater wave penetration power and higher detection resolution. Viscoelastic coatings applied to a large percentage of pipes for protection purposes created some challenges in terms of focusing feasibility and inspection ability. Previous studies were all based on bare pipe models.

Flexible piezopolymer ultrasonic guided wave arrays.

Ultrasonic guided wave technology is being applied to a variety of gas and liquid transmission pipeline inspection applications. There are a variety of promising transduction techniques used to excite longitudinal, torsional, and flexural modes in pipe. Some of the more common methods include electromagnetic-acoustic, magnetostrictive, and piezoceramic array transducers.

Determination of density distribution in ferrous powder compacts using ultrasonic tomography.

Laser-induced ultrasonic bulk wave tomography is used for density variation determination of powder metal compacts. A laser beam is used to excite ultrasonic energy, and the signals passing through the specimen are received by an air-coupled transducer. The density variations of powder metal compacts can be determined directly by the cross-sectional tomographic images of slowness obtained by using a filtered, backprojection algorithm based on measured time of flights.

Natural beam focusing of non-axisymmetric guided waves in large-diameter pipes.

The propagation of non-axisymmetric guided waves in larger diameter pipes is studied in this paper by treating the guided waves as corresponding Lamb waves in an unwrapped plate. This approximation leads to a simpler method for calculating the phase velocities of hollow cylinder guided waves, which reveals a beam focusing nature of non-axisymmetric guided waves generated by a partial source loading. The acoustic fields in a pipe generated by a partial-loading source includes axisymmetric longitudinal modes as well as non-axisymmetric flexural modes.

Ultrasonic guided wave scattering in a plate overlap.

Guided wave scattering in a plate overlap is investigated by numerical calculations and experimental measurements of transmission and reflection factors from the overlap region. In the numerical study, a hybrid boundary element-finite element method is used to calculate the guided wave scattered field from the overlap region. Transmission and reflection factors are calculated for incident A0 and S0 Lamb and n0 shear horizontal waves, including higher modes generated through mode conversion phenomena.

Guided wave propagation in an elastic hollow cylinder coated with a viscoelastic material.

The propagation of ultrasonic guided waves in an elastic hollow cylinder with a viscoelastic coating is studied. The principle motivation is to provide tools for performing a guided wave, nondestructive inspection of piping and tubing with viscoelastic coatings. The theoretical boundary value problem is solved that describes the guided wave propagation in these structures for the purpose of finding the guided wave modes that propagate with little or no attenuation.

A physical interpretation of elastic guided-wave reflection from normal ends of a waveguide.

Studied in this paper are two-dimensional guided wave reflections from normal boundaries in an isotropic elastic media. By making use of the transverse resonance concept, the reflections of the waveguide modes from normal interfaces are interrogated. A general condition is obtained under which the guided waves in an isotropic medium will undergo no mode conversion when interaction occurs with a normal traction free or fixed end.

Guided wave dispersion curves for a bar with an arbitrary cross-section, a rod and rail example.

Theoretical and experimental issues of acquiring dispersion curves for bars of arbitrary cross-section are discussed. Since a guided wave can propagate over long distances in a structure, guided waves have great potential for being applied to the rapid non-destructive evaluation of large structures such as rails in the railroad industry. Such fundamental data as phase velocity, group velocity, and wave structure for each guided wave mode is presented for structures with complicated cross-sectional geometries as rail.

Analysis of flexural mode focusing by a semianalytical finite element method.

Focusing is one of the most promising techniques for the detection of small defects in pipe works, in which guided waves including longitudinal and flexural modes are tuned so that ultrasonic energy can be focused at a target point in a pipe, and analysis of reflected waves gives information on defects such as location and size. In this paper, the focusing technique is discussed by way of a simulation of guided wave propagation in pipe by a semianalytical finite element method (SAFE). Experiments and SAFE calculations were compared for waveforms transmitted by a single transducer and received at different circumferential positions initially, and then the focusing phenomena were experimentally observed using focusing parameters obtained by calculations.

Angular-profile tuning of guided waves in hollow cylinders using a circumferential phased array.

Angular-profile tuning of guided waves in hollow cylinders is implemented by using partial loading of the elements in a circumferentially placed phased array. Each partial loading element generates nonaxisymmetric guided waves in a pipe. In earlier work, numerical calculations and experiments have shown that, for nonaxisymmetric guided waves, circumferential distribution of particle displacements (i.