The interaction of fundamental torsional guided waves from axial and oblique defects in pipes

A quantitative study of the interaction of the T(0,1) torsional mode with axial and oblique defects in a pipe is presented in this paper. A mode decomposition technique employing the chirplet transform is used to separate the multimodal signals reflected from the defects. Reflection signals are obtained from experiments on a carbon steel pipe. The influence of the crack length and inclination angle on the reflection is investigated. The reflection from an axial defect is found to consist of a series of wave pulses with gradually decaying amplitude. The results show that the reflection coefficient of an axial crack initially increases with the crack length but finally reaches an oscillating regime. Furthermore, for an oblique crack, it is revealed that the reflection coefficient is linearly dependent on the equivalent circumferential extent of the defect and is independent of the axial length.

Experimental Investigation of Crack Initiation and Propagation in the Unreinforced Masonry Specimen Subjected to Vertical Settlement

To study the cracking process of the wall caused by differential settlement under a uniformly distributed load on the top of the wall, a laboratory model experiment was carried out on large-scale masonry specimens, and the acoustic emission (AE) technique and digital close-range industrial photogrammetry were adopted to monitor the AE signals and displacement characteristics of the masonry specimens during loading in real time. The results show that, in the case of differential settlement with small settlement on both sides and large settlement in the middle, two main cracks appear on the left and right sides of the wall, extending obliquely from bottom to top. During the loading process, damage of the wall is aggravated due to the differential settlement, and both cumulative ringing count and energy count have different periods of steep rise. With the increase in the load and activation of the AE event, the AE event becomes active, and the cumulative ringing count and cumulative energy curve have an obvious turning point, where the slope of the curve is substantially higher than that before the turning point. By using digital close-range industrial photogrammetry, it is observed that the main oblique crack on the left is mainly caused by the difference in the vertical deformation, while the main oblique crack on the right is caused by different displacements and deformation directions of the wall on both sides of the crack.

Simplified Matrix Focusing Imaging Algorithm for Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing

Full matrix focusing method has been proved with the advantages of good signal-to-noise ratio and high-resolution image. However, it is still suffering from the problems of the time-consuming data acquisition and processing. In order to solve the problem, two kind simplified matrix focusing methods are provided in this paper. One is a triangular matrix focusing algorithm based on the principle of reciprocity for the multi-channel ultrasonic system. The other is a trapezoidal matrix focusing algorithm based on the energy weight of the different channel to the imaging area. In order to prove the validity of the provided algorithms, both side-drilled hole and oblique crack defects are used for the imaging comparation. The results show that the imaging quality of the triangular matrix focusing algorithm is basically consistent to that of the full matrix focusing method, and the imaging quality of the trapezoidal matrix focusing algorithm can be slightly reduced as the amount of multi-channel data decreases. In addition, both data acquisition and computational efficiency using the provided algorithms have been improved significantly.

High-Density Distributed Crack Tip Sensing System Using Dense Ultra-Short FBG Sensors

Crack generation starts at the crack tip, which bears the highest stress concentration. Under further stress, the crack propagates and leads to severe structural damage. To avoid such damage, the identification of the crack tips, and monitoring of the surrounding stress and strain fields, are very important. In this work, the location of, and strain distribution monitoring around, the crack tip are achieved using a dense ultra-short (DUS) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array together with an improved optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) interrogator. The adjacent grating interference correlation algorithm helps overcome the limitation on the demodulation precision, which is imposed by the inherently broad reflection spectra of individual ultra-short gratings. High spatial resolution measurement of the strain profile around the crack tip is performed at different levels of induced strain. Furthermore, the vertical-crossed layout is adopted to avoid the omission of cracks, which usually occurs in the case of the one direction layout. We achieve 1 mm spatial resolution and 7.5 m detection distance. Location of a single crack, multiple cracks, and an oblique crack was realized experimentally by locating the crack tips. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, verifying the feasibility of the DUS-FBG system for high-density distributed crack tip sensing.

The Influence of Prefabricated Crack with Bias Angle on the Material’s Fracture Toughness

In this work, the effect of the prefabricated crack offset angle on the fracture toughness of the CT specimen was studied by means of the numerical simulation of tensile fracture. It is found that offset angle has a great influence on the fracture toughness of the CT specimen with a straight crack, and the effect is obvious when the bias angle is greater than 3 degrees. For the CT specimen with an oblique crack tip, with the increase of the bias angle of the crack tip, the J-integral value and the fracture toughness are not significantly changed. At the same time, as the angle increases, the stress applied load has more obvious influence on the crack tip stress field.

Natural Vibration of a Beam with a Breathing Oblique Crack

An analytical method is proposed to calculate the natural frequency of a cantilever beam with a breathing oblique crack. A double-linear-springs-model is developed in the modal analysis process to describe the breathing oblique crack, and the breathing behaviour of the oblique crack is objectively simulated. The finite element method (FEM) analysis software ABAQUS is used to calculate the geometric correction factors when the cracked plate is subjected to a pure bending moment at different oblique crack angles and relative depths. The Galerkin method is applied to simplify the cracked beam to a single degree of freedom system, allowing the natural frequency of the beam with the breathing oblique crack to be calculated. Compared with the natural frequencies of the breathing oblique cracked beam obtained using the ABAQUS FEM method, the proposed analytical method exhibits a high computational accuracy, with a maximum error of only 4.65%.