Visualization of non-propagating Lamb wave modes for fatigue crack evaluation

Abstract

This article develops a non-propagating Lamb wave mode (NPL) imaging technique for fatigue crack visualization. NPL has a great potential for crack evaluation in that it significantly contributes local mode amplitudes in the vicinity of a crack without spatial propagation. Such unique physical phenomenon is theoretically proven and experimentally measured through laser scanning. Although its measurement is a quite challenging work due to the fact that it is quite localized and coexists with complex propagating Lamb wave modes, a NPL filter proposed in this article overcomes the technical challenge by eliminating all propagating Lamb modes from laser scanned full Lamb wavefields. Through the NPL filtering process, only fatigue crack-induced NPLs can be measured and retained. To verify such physical observation and the corresponding NPL filter, a real micro fatigue crack is created by applying repeated tensile loading, and its detectability is tested using a surface-mounted piezoelectric transducer for generating Lamb waves and a laser Doppler vibrometer for measuring the corresponding responses. The experimental results confirm that even an invisible fatigue crack can be instantaneously visualized and effectively evaluated through the proposed NPL measurement and filtering processes.