Reflection of compressional and Rayleigh waves on the edges of an elastic plate with quadratic nonlinearity.

Previous ultrasonic studies have demonstrated that measurements of material nonlinearities can provide a means for detecting early signs of fatigue damage using both compressional (P) and Rayleigh (R) surface waves. However, these experimental studies have typically been limited to the direct wave arrival between the source and receiver in simple geometries where no reflection occurs. In particular, the degree of material nonlinearity is often quantified by the ratio of the cumulative amplitude of the first harmonic to that of the fundamental for the direct arrival only.