Response of second-harmonic generation of Lamb wave propagation to microdamage thickness in a solid plate

The response features of second-harmonic generation (SHG) of primary Lamb wave propagation to the thickness of microdamage layer (MDL) in a solid plate have been theoretically and numerically investigated in this paper. Here the solid plate with a MDL is regarded as a double-layered plate in analysis of nonlinear Lamb wave propagation. On the basis of a second-order perturbation approximation and modal expansion analysis, the physical process of cumulative SHG by primary Lamb wave propagation in a solid plate with a MDL has been investigated. The influence of variation in the thickness of MDL on the effect of SHG of primary ${\mathit{S}}_0$ mode, which satisfies an approximate phase velocity matching in the low frequency region, has been theoretically analyzed, and then the finite element (FE) simulation has been carried out to validate the results of the theoretical predictions. A close agreement between the theoretical analyses and FE simulations validates the effectiveness of using the effect of SHG of primary ${\mathit{S}}_0$ mode for characterizing changes in the thickness of MDL. Moreover, change mechanism of nonlinear acoustic parameter with the thickness of MDL is revealed It is expected that the results obtained can provide a convenient means for accurately characterizing nonhomogeneous microdamage (MDL thickness) in layered plates.