scholarly journals A Study of Sensor Placement Optimization Problem for Guided Wave-Based Damage Detection

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohan Soman ◽  
Pawel Kudela ◽  
Kaleeswaran Balasubramaniam ◽  
Shishir Kumar Singh ◽  
Pawel Malinowski

Guided waves (GW) allow fast inspection of a large area and hence have attracted research interest from the structural health monitoring (SHM) community. Thus, GW-based SHM is ideal for thin structures such as plates, pipes, etc., and is finding applications in several fields like aerospace, automotive, wind energy, etc. The GW propagate along the surface of the sample and get reflected from discontinuities in the structure in the form of boundaries and damage. Through proper signal processing of the reflected waves based on their time of arrival, the damage can be detected and isolated. For complex structures, a higher number of sensors may be required, which increases the cost of the equipment, as well as the mass. Thus, there is an effort to reduce the number of sensors without compromising the quality of the monitoring achieved. It is of utmost importance that the entire structure can be investigated. Hence, it is necessary to optimize the locations of the sensors in order to maximize the coverage while limiting the number of sensors used. A genetic algorithm (GA)-based optimization strategy was proposed by the authors for use in a simple aluminum plate. This paper extends the optimization methodology for other shape plates and presents experimental, analytical, and numerical studies. The sensitivity studies have been carried out by changing the relative weights of the application demands and presented in the form of a Pareto front. The Pareto front allows comparison of the relative importance of the different application demands, and an appropriate choice can be made based on the information provided.

Author(s):  
Peng Zuo ◽  
Peter Huthwaite

Quantitative guided wave thickness mapping in plate-like structures and pipelines is of significant importance for the petrochemical industry to accurately estimate the minimum remaining wall thickness in the presence of corrosion, as guided waves can inspect a large area without needing direct access. Although a number of inverse algorithms have been studied and implemented in guided wave reconstruction, a primary assumption is widely used: the three-dimensional guided wave inversion of thickness is simplified as a two-dimensional acoustic wave inversion of velocity, with the dispersive nature of the waves linking thickness to velocity. This assumption considerably simplifies the inversion procedure; however, it makes it impossible to account for mode conversion. In reality, mode conversion is quite common in guided wave scattering with asymmetric wall loss, and compared with non-converted guided wave modes, converted modes may provide greater access to valuable information about the thickness variation, which, if exploited, could lead to improved performance. Geometrical full waveform inversion (GFWI) is an ideal tool for this, since it can account for mode conversion. In this paper, quantitative thickness reconstruction based on GFWI is developed in a plate cross-section and applied to study the performance of thickness reconstruction using mode conversion.


Author(s):  
T Wandowski ◽  
P Malinowski ◽  
P Kudela ◽  
W Ostachowicz

The aim of this article was a numerical and experimental study of the active damage detection methods based on piezoelectric elements attached to a composite laminate. In considered case, guided waves were excited and received in a structure using pulse-echo method. It means that after exciting a structure with a pulse, an array of sensors located on a structure was used to ‘listen' for reflected waves coming from discontinuities. The main part of structural health monitoring system is signal-processing algorithms, which allow to detect and localize damage. Algorithm applied in this research results in special maps that indicate damage location. In this article, a damage localization algorithm was described and experimentally tested. The proposed method was successfully tested on a carbon—epoxy part of a helicopter.


2011 ◽  
Vol 117-119 ◽  
pp. 962-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen He ◽  
Xiao Jiang Luo ◽  
Kui Zhao ◽  
Wang Cheng ◽  
Chun Hui Zhong

High frequency longitudinal guided waves were used to inspect the anchored rock bolts. Experiments were conducted to find the optimal frequencies for the bolt testing. A broad-band signal was excited at the top end of the bolt, and the power spectral density(PSD) analysis of the bolt end reflected waves was made. Base on that the frequency component of the bolt end reflected waves could be obtain, and the frequencies with higher power spectral density values are the optimal ones. At optimal frequencies, the guided wave attenuates more slightly than it is at other frequencies and the bolt end reflected waves can be clearly acquisitioned. Experimental results show that the optimal frequencies of guided wave in a free bolt and in an anchored bolt are quite the same, and they are mainly affected by the bolt instead of the anchor media. Conclusions can be drawn that the propagation velocities of guided wave at optimal frequencies in a free bolt are close to those in the embedded section of the bolt. As a result, the bolt length and the position of flaw in the anchored bolt can be determined by the guided wave velocity in a free bolt and the reflected wave from the bolt end and from the flaw, respectively.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (13) ◽  
pp. 3019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gongzhe Qiu ◽  
Xiaochun Song ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Jun Tu ◽  
Tao Chen

High frequency guided-waves offer a trade-off between the high sensitivity of local bulk ultrasonic thickness measurements and the large area scanning of lower frequency guided-waves, so it has been a growing interest for corrosion inspection with the dispersive SH1 mode. However, according to the dispersive curve, it is hard to generate the pure SH1 mode since the non-dispersive SH0 mode will be excited simultaneously. Thus, this paper investigates a transducer design method to generate a pure SH1 guided-wave, where the dual periodic-permanent-magnet electromagnetic acoustic transducers (PPM EMATs) are placed on exactly opposite positions either side of the plate symmetrically. The suppression effect for SH0 and the enhancement effect for SH1 of the dual PPM EMATs are mainly discussed by theoretical analysis and simulation analysis, and the influence of positioning errors of PPM EMATs placed on opposite sides of the plate on its performances are analyzed. Employing the proposed dual PPM EMATs, some experiments are performed to verify the reliability of finite element simulation. The results indicate that the dual PPM EMATs can suppress the SH0 mode and generate the pure SH1 mode effectively. Moreover, the longitudinal and lateral positioning errors can affect the dual PPM EMATs performances significantly.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147592172110053
Author(s):  
Qian Ji ◽  
Li Jian-Bin ◽  
Liu Fan-Rui ◽  
Zhou Jian-Ting ◽  
Wang Xu

The seven-wire strands are the crucial components of prestressed structures, though their performance inevitably degrades with the passage of time. The ultrasonic guided wave methods have been intensely studied, owing to its tremendous potential for full-scale applications, among the existing nondestructive testing methods, for evaluating the stress status of strands. We have employed the theoretical and finite element methods to solve the dispersion curve of single wire and steel strands under various boundary conditions. Thereafter, the singular value decomposition was adopted to work with the simulated and experimental signals for extracting a feature vector that carries valuable stress status information. The effectiveness of the vector was verified by analyzing the relationship between the vector and the stress level. The vector was also used as an input to establish a support vector regression model. The accuracy of the model has been discussed for different sample sizes. The results show that the fundamental mode dispersion curve offset on the high-frequency part and cut-off frequency increases as the boundary constraints enhance. Simulated and experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness and potential of the proposed support vector regression method for evaluating the stress level in the strands. This method performs well even at low stress levels and the reliability can be enhanced by adding more samples.


Author(s):  
Kuan Ye ◽  
Kai Zhou ◽  
Ren Zhigang ◽  
Ruizhe Zhang ◽  
Chunsheng Li ◽  
...  

The power transmission tower’s ground electrode defect will affect its normal current dispersion function and threaten the power system’s safe and stable operation and even personal safety. Aiming at the problem that the buried grounding grid is difficult to be detected, this paper proposes a method for identifying the ground electrode defects of transmission towers based on single-side multi-point excited ultrasonic guided waves. The geometric model, ultrasonic excitation model, and physical model are established, and the feasibility of ultrasonic guided wave detection is verified through the simulation and experiment. In actual inspection, it is equally important to determine the specific location of the defect. Therefore, a multi-point excitation method is proposed to determine the defect’s actual position by combining the ultrasonic guided wave signals at different excitation positions. Besides, the precise quantification of flat steel grounding electrode defects is achieved through the feature extraction-neural network method. Field test results show that, compared with the commercial double-sided excitation transducer, the single-sided excitation transducer proposed in this paper has a lower defect quantization error in defect quantification. The average quantization error is reduced by approximately 76%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yao Liu ◽  
Xiucheng Liu ◽  
Chehua Yang ◽  
Wenxin Guo ◽  
Bin Wu ◽  
...  

In the study, ultrasonic longitudinal mode guided waves were employed to detect defects in elbowed tubes (without welds) with a diameter of 10 mm. Finite element simulation results highlighted that the emitted L(0,1) mode guided waves experienced strong reflection and mode conversion at the elbow region to generate F(1,1) mode, followed by slow and weak F(2,1) mode. The guided wave reflected from the elbow with a through-wall defect was manifested as two overlapped wave packets, which were good indicators of a defective elbow. To conduct L(0,1) mode guided waves inspection on the small-diameter elbowed tubes, a novel tailored squirrel-cage magnetostrictive sensor was employed in the experiment. The new sensor employed the configuration of segmental iron-cobalt strips and small-size permanent magnet arrays. The entire sensor is composed of two identical C-shaped sensor elements and can be recycled and installed conveniently. Experimental results obtained from healthy and defective tubes were consistent with the conclusions obtained from finite element simulations. An artificial through-wall defect at the elbow and a notch defect at the straight part of the tube could be simultaneously detected by L(0,1) mode guided waves through comparing experimental signals with simulation results.


Author(s):  
Takahiro Hayashi ◽  
Koichiro Kawashima ◽  
Zongqi Sun ◽  
Joseph L. Rose

Guided waves can be used in pipe inspection over long distances. Presented in this paper is a beam focusing technique to improve the S/N ratio of the reflection from a tiny defect. Focusing is accomplished by using non-axisymmetric waveforms and subsequent time delayed superposition at a specific point in a pipe. A semi-analytical finite element method is used to present wave structure in the pipe. Focusing potential is also studied with various modes and frequencies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1071
Author(s):  
Davide Bombarda ◽  
Giorgio Matteo Vitetta ◽  
Giovanni Ferrante

Rail tracks undergo massive stresses that can affect their structural integrity and produce rail breakage. The last phenomenon represents a serious concern for railway management authorities, since it may cause derailments and, consequently, losses of rolling stock material and lives. Therefore, the activities of track maintenance and inspection are of paramount importance. In recent years, the use of various technologies for monitoring rails and the detection of their defects has been investigated; however, despite the important progresses in this field, substantial research efforts are still required to achieve higher scanning speeds and improve the reliability of diagnostic procedures. It is expected that, in the near future, an important role in track maintenance and inspection will be played by the ultrasonic guided wave technology. In this manuscript, its use in rail track monitoring is investigated in detail; moreover, both of the main strategies investigated in the technical literature are taken into consideration. The first strategy consists of the installation of the monitoring instrumentation on board a moving test vehicle that scans the track below while running. The second strategy, instead, is based on distributing the instrumentation throughout the entire rail network, so that continuous monitoring in quasi-real-time can be obtained. In our analysis of the proposed solutions, the prototypes and the employed methods are described.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 168781401668570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongsheng Li ◽  
Zihao Jing ◽  
Mengdao Jin

Damage-scattering signal extraction using conventional ultrasonic guided wave–based damage detection techniques requires the measurement of baseline data under pristine condition. This study proposes a baseline-free ultrasonic guided wave damage localization and imaging method based on Lamb wave baseline-free probability imaging method. Although traditional Lamb wave probability imaging can monitor damage location in plate-like structures, the absolute time of arrival and magnitude of the signal are affected by several factors and are therefore difficult to obtain. This study also proposes a probability-based hyperbola diagnostic imaging method that is based on different times of arrival and has no magnitude information. A distributed active sensor network conforming to a pulse-echo configuration and time window functions is developed to separate damage-scattering signals from structural response signals. Continuous wavelet transform is used to calculate the time of flight of damage signal waves. The numerical simulation and experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in identifying damage.


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