Evaluation of fatigue damage using nonlinear guided waves

This research develops an experimental procedure for characterizing fatigue damage in metallic plates using nonlinear guided waves. The work first considers the propagation of nonlinear waves in a dispersive medium and determines the theoretical and practical considerations for the generation of higher order harmonics in guided waves. By using results from the nonlinear optics literature, it is possible to demonstrate that both phase and group velocity matching are essential for the practical generation of nonlinear guided elastic waves. Next, the normalized acoustic nonlinearity of low cycle fatigue damaged aluminum specimens is measured with Lamb waves. A pair of wedge transducers is used to generate and detect the fundamental and second harmonic Lamb waves. The results show that the normalized acoustic nonlinearity measured with Lamb waves is directly related to fatigue damage in a fashion that is similar to the behavior of longitudinal and Rayleigh waves. This normalized acoustic nonlinearity is then compared with the measured cumulative plastic strain to confirm that these two parameters are related, and to reinforce the notion that Lamb waves can be used to quantitatively assess plasticity driven fatigue damage using established higher harmonic generation techniques.