Nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS) applied to damage assessment in bone

Nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS) is a resonance-based technique exploiting the significant nonlinear behavior of damaged materials. In NRUS, the resonant frequency(ies) of an object is studied as a function of the excitation level. As the excitation level increases, the elastic nonlinearity is manifest by a shift in the resonance frequency. This study shows the feasibility of this technique for application to damage assessment in bone. Two samples of bovine cortical bone were subjected to progressive damage induced by application of mechanical cycling. Before cycling commenced, and at each step in the cycling process, NRUS was applied for damage assessment. For independent assessment of damage, high-energy x-ray computed tomography imaging was performed but was only useful in identifying the prominent cracks. As the integral quantity of damage increased, NRUS revealed a corresponding increase in the nonlinear response. The measured change in nonlinear response is much more sensitive than the change in linear modulus. The results suggest that NRUS could be a potential tool for micro-damage assessment in bone. Further work must be carried out for a better understanding of the physical nature of damaged bone and for the ultimate goal of the challenging in vivo implementation of the technique.     

Applying nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy to improving thermal damage assessment in concrete

Nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS) consists of evaluating one or more resonant frequency peak shifts while increasing excitation amplitude. NRUS exhibits high sensitivity to global damage in a large group of materials. Most studies conducted to date are aimed at interrogating the mechanical damage influence on the nonlinear response, applying bending, or longitudinal modes. The sensitivity of NRUS using longitudinal modes and the comparison of the results with a classical linear method to monitor progressive thermal damage (isotropic) of concrete are studied in this paper. In addition, feasibility and sensitivity of applying shear modes for the NRUS method are explored.     

Damage localization in linear-form structures based on sensitivity investigation for principal component analysis

This paper addresses the problem of damage detection and localization in linear-form structures. Principal component analysis (PCA) is a popular technique for dynamic system investigation. The aim of the paper is to present a damage diagnosis method based on sensitivities of PCA results in the frequency domain. Starting from frequency response functions (FRFs) measured at different locations on the structure; PCA is performed to determine the main features of the signals. Sensitivities of principal directions obtained from PCA to structural parameters are then computed and inspected according to the location of sensors; their variation from the healthy state to the damaged state indicates damage locations. It is worth noting that damage localization is performed without the need of modal identification. Influences of some features as noise, choice of parameter and number of sensors are discussed. The efficiency and limitations of the proposed method are illustrated using numerical and real-world examples.     

Vertebral cancellous bone turn-over: microcallus and bridges in backscatter electron microscopy

Backscatter electron microscopy (BSE) is a powerful technique for investigating cancellous bone structure. Its main function is to offer information regarding the degree of mineralization of the tissue within individual trabeculae.

To illustrate the qualitative information that can be drawn from BSE imaging technique, we present a study on human vertebral cancellous bone. This tissue is continuously remodeled through osteoclastic resorption and osteoblastic new bone apposition. It is thought that osteoclastic resorption pits are especially deleterious for vertebral bone architecture since they often perforate the thin trabeculae; the osteoblasts being unable to repair the gap. In addition, excessive stress may also disrupt the architecture in case of trabecular fracture or damage accumulation.

Waves of new bone formation were easy to identify in BSE. Often these waves were connecting both edges of a perforation and called bridges. Additionally, we present a few images of microcallus formations. A microcallus is described as a small mass of woven bone that generally repairs a trabecula. The microstructural aspects of different microcalluses are presented and discussed. Both bridges and microcallus should be considered as examples of the repair porcess since they obviously preserve the connectivity of the trabeculae. However, bridges were much more frequent than microcallus (396 vs 15). Both mechanisms probably illustrate the normal response to different local stimuli.     

Airframe structural damage detection: a non-linear structural surface intensity based technique

The non-linear structural surface intensity (NSSI) based damage detection technique is extended to airframe applications. The selected test structure is an upper cabin airframe section from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter (Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, CT). Structural damage is simulated through an impact resonator device, designed to simulate the induced vibration effects typical of non-linear behaving damage. An experimental study is conducted to prove the applicability of NSSI on complex mechanical systems as well as to evaluate the minimum sensor and actuator requirements. The NSSI technique is shown to have high damage detection sensitivity, covering an extended substructure with a single sensing location.     

用散射光观察激光损伤的动态过程

本文利用散射光观察强激光对光学材料损伤的动态过程，详细说明了材料损伤时，散射光变化特点，以及损伤阈值的确定和散射光变化与损伤形貌的关系，并研究了激光损伤累积效应。     

应用高光谱图像光谱和纹理特征的番茄早疫病早期检测研究

提出了应用光谱和纹理特征的高光谱成像技术早期检测番茄叶片早疫病的方法。利用高光谱图像采集系统获取380～1 030 nm范围内71个染病和88个健康番茄叶片的高光谱图像,同时采用主成分分析法(PCA)对高光谱图像进行处理。选取染病和健康叶片感兴趣区域(region of interest, ROI)的光谱反射率值,同时分别从前8个主成分的每幅主成分图像的ROI中提取对比度(Contrast)、 相关性(Correlation)、 熵(Entropy)和同质性(Homogeneity)4个灰度共生矩阵的纹理特征值,再通过PCA和连续投影算法(SPA)结合最小二乘支持向量机(LS-SVM)构建番茄叶片早疫病的早期鉴别模型。建立的6个模型中,采用光谱反射率值的LS-SVM模型对番茄叶片早疫病的识别率最高,达到100%。结果表明,应用高光谱成像技术检测番茄叶片早疫病是可行的。     

Structural damage evolution assessment using the regularised time step integration method

This paper presents an approach to identify both the location and severity evolution of damage in engineering structures directly from measured dynamic response data. A relationship between the change in structural parameters such as stiffness caused by structural damage development and the measured dynamic response data such as accelerations is proposed, on the basis of the governing equations of motion for the original and damaged structural systems. Structural damage parameters associated with time are properly chosen to reflect both the location and severity development over time of damage in a structure. Basic equations are provided to solve the chosen time-dependent damage parameters, which are constructed by using the Newmark time step integration method without requiring a modal analysis procedure. The Tikhonov regularisation method incorporating the L-curve criterion for determining the regularisation parameter is then employed to reduce the influence of measurement errors in dynamic response data and then to produce stable solutions for structural damage parameters. Results for two numerical examples with various simulated damage scenarios show that the proposed method can accurately identify the locations of structural damage and correctly assess the evolution of damage severity from information on vibration measurements with uncertainties.     

Assessment of the magnetic field distribution in yellow and red bone marrow by the MAGSUS technique

The MAGSUS imaging technique has been shown to provide insights into the distribution of the macroscopic and microscopic static magnetic field without requiring further data processing. Applications of the MAGSUS technique on bone marrow are reported in more detail in this article. Effects of the superposition of water and lipid signals and of considerable transverse relaxation on MAGSUS imaging are demonstrated, and adapted imaging parameters are presented. Examples of applications on marrow with different physiological and pathological compositions and different locations are shown. Appropriate adjustments for a reliable estimation of the trabecular density in peripheral yellow marrow and for an assessment of the field distribution in hemopoietic red marrow are reported. Osteoporotic peripheral marrow with reduced amount of trabecular structures and alterations due to osteodystrophia deformans can be simply revealed by this method. An estimation of the trabecular density can also be performed by MAGSUS in vertebral bodies of hematologically unaffected persons, but the interindividually differing amount of paramagnetic depositions in the marrow (e.g., hemosiderin) must be taken into account.     

Accumulation of deuterium in radiation-damaged tungsten

Experimental studies have been performed to determine the effect of high-level radiation damage on the accumulation of deuterium and erosion of tungsten samples exposed to deuterium plasma. Tungsten samples were exposed first to fast helium ions having an energy of 3–4 MeV (providing from one to ten displacements per atom) and then to deuterium plasma up to a dose of 10²⁵ ion/m². The effects of deformation and modification of the surface microstructure have been observed. The concentrations of helium and deuterium have been measured by the methods of elastic nuclear proton backscattering and nuclear recoil detection of helium ions. A high concentration of deuterium in the damaged layer of a tungsten sample has been measured, and helium has been detected in a layer ～5 μm thick. The proposed method shows promise for determining the lifetime of materials used in fusion reactors and measuring the concentration of tritium accumulated in these materials.     

高光谱成像技术对鲜枣内外部品质检测的研究

外部缺陷以及内部可溶性固形物的含量对提升鲜枣的采后附加值和鲜枣后续生产加工具有重要的意义,因此,为了实现同时对鲜枣内外部品质进行快速、准确识别,利用高光谱成像技术(450-1,000 nm)对壶瓶枣的“自然损伤”和可溶性固形物含量同时进行检测研究。首先,对光谱数据进行主成分分析(PCA)得到前7个主成分光谱值,对图像数据采用灰度共生矩阵(GLCM)提取到7项图像纹理指标(对比度、相关性、能量、同质性、方差、均值、熵)。然后,分别使用光谱主成分值、图像纹理特征值、以及主成分与纹理特征融合值建立偏最小二乘支持向量机(LS-SVM)模型对壶瓶枣的外部缺陷(“自然损伤”)和内部品质(可溶性固形物含量)进行检测研究。结果表明：使用主成分与纹理特征融合值建立的LS-SVM模型可作为通用模型同时对壶瓶枣内外部品质进行检测研究,其“自然损伤”判别正确率为92.5%,可溶性固形物预测集的预测相关系数(R_p)和预测均方根误差(RMSEP)分别达到了0.944和0.495。表明,采用高光谱成像技术可以建立通用模型同时对壶瓶枣的内外部品质进行检测,该研究为壶瓶枣的无损检测提供了理论参考。     

Multi-exponential analysis of magnitude MR images using a quantitative multispectral edge-preserving filter

A solution for discrete multi-exponential analysis of T(2) relaxation decay curves obtained in current multi-echo imaging protocol conditions is described. We propose a preprocessing step to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and thus lower the signal-to-noise ratio threshold from which a high percentage of true multi-exponential detection is detected. It consists of a multispectral nonlinear edge-preserving filter that takes into account the signal-dependent Rician distribution of noise affecting magnitude MR images. Discrete multi-exponential decomposition, which requires no a priori knowledge, is performed by a non-linear least-squares procedure initialized with estimates obtained from a total least-squares linear prediction algorithm. This approach was validated and optimized experimentally on simulated data sets of normal human brains.     

Shockless spalling damage of alumina ceramic

Ceramic materials are commonly used to build multi-layer armour. However reliable test data is needed to identify correctly models and to be able to perform accurate numerical simulation of the dynamic response of armour systems. In this work, isentropic loading waves have been applied to alumina samples to induce spalling damage. The technique employed allows assessing carefully the strain-rate at failure and the dynamic strength. Moreover, specimens have been recovered and analysed using SEM. In a damaged but unbroken specimen, interactions between cracks has been highlighted illustrating the fragmentation process.     

Damage detection in beams using vibratory power estimated from the measured accelerations

While there have been several analytical studies to estimate the vibratory power of damaged structures, only a few attempts have been tried to identify the damage for practical implementations. In order to understand the characteristics of the vibratory power in damaged structures, it is necessary to trace the time histories of the instantaneous power in the vicinity of the damage. The spatial distribution of the vibratory power should also be investigated, and a proper damage index is required to diagnose the damage. In this paper, a practicable local damage detection method is proposed using the vibratory power estimated from the accelerations measured on the damaged beam structure. A new damage index is defined based on the proposed damage detection method and is applied to identify the structural damage. Numerical simulation and experiment are carried out on a beam to confirm the validity of the proposed method. In the experiments, the damage considered as an open crack such as slit inflicted on the top surface of the beam. Changes in the vibratory power of the damaged beam are investigated, and the results show that the proposed method identifies successfully the structural damage in the beam.     

A damage identification technique based on embedded sensitivity analysis and optimization processes

A vibration based structural damage identification method, using embedded sensitivity functions and optimization algorithms, is discussed in this work. The embedded sensitivity technique requires only measured or calculated frequency response functions to obtain the sensitivity of system responses to each component parameter. Therefore, this sensitivity analysis technique can be effectively used for the damage identification process. Optimization techniques are used to minimize the difference between the measured frequency response functions of the damaged structure and those calculated from the baseline system using embedded sensitivity functions. The amount of damage can be quantified directly in engineering units as changes in stiffness, damping, or mass. Various factors in the optimization process and structural dynamics are studied to enhance the performance and robustness of the damage identification process. This study shows that the proposed technique can improve the accuracy of damage identification with less than 2 percent error of estimation.     

Repeatability of echo-planar-based diffusion measurements of the human prostate at 3 T

Echo-planar-based diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the prostate is increasingly being suggested as a viable technique, complementing information derived from conventional magnetic resonance imaging methods for use in tissue discrimination. DWI has also been suggested as a potentially useful tool in the assessment of tumor response to treatment. In this study, the repeatability of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values obtained from both DWI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been assessed as a precursor to determining the magnitude of treatment-induced changes required for reliable detection. The repeatability values of DWI and DTI were found to be similar, with ADC values repeatable to within 35% or less over a short time period of a few minutes and a longer time period of a month. Fractional anisotropy measurements were found to be less repeatable (between 26% and 71%), and any changes duly recorded in longitudinal studies must therefore be treated with a degree of caution.     

具有抗漂移特性的激光共焦拉曼光谱成像技术与系统

共焦拉曼技术结合了共焦显微技术和拉曼光谱技术,具有高分辨率、高灵敏度、可层析成像的优势,广泛应用于物理、材料科学、生物医学、文物鉴定以及刑侦等领域。由于拉曼光谱成像需要较长时间,测量中系统易受环境等因素影响产生漂移,造成离焦,而现有商用共焦拉曼光谱仪并无定焦能力,容易影响测量结果。针对此问题,研制了一种具有抗漂移能力的激光共焦拉曼光谱探测系统。在不改变共焦拉曼探测基本原理的基础上,利用拉曼轴向响应曲线最大值对应显微物镜焦面这一特性,对每个探测点进行轴向扫描,采集一定数量的轴向信号,通过曲线拟合寻找光谱强度极值位置,保证扫描过程中样品始终处于系统的焦点位置处,抑制离焦影响,改善拉曼光谱成像效果。以单层石墨烯样品进行单点测试,证明仪器在5 μm离焦范围内可以实现实时定焦,定焦后采集到的拉曼光谱强度几乎不变,具有良好的抗漂移能力;对硅台阶样品进行成像测试,结果表明成像过程中,信号强度未发生明显变化,且横向分辨率有一定改善,效果明显优于普通共焦拉曼光谱探测系统。     

Damage detection in plates structures based on frequency shift surface curvature

This paper presents a novel damage detection method for plate structures based on the curvature of frequency shift surface (FSS). Unlike other commonly used vibration properties like mode shapes which have low accuracy in practice; this method uses the FSS curvature to improve the accuracy because the measurement of frequency gives better accuracy. Furthermore, it is found that the local damage will only cause local change on the FSS curvature which can be considered as abnormality because the FSS curvature of an intact plate is smooth according to the assumption that intact plate structures are often homogenous and smooth. To avoid the usage of prior knowledge of the health structure, the curve fitting technique based on local regression is adopted to simulate the FSS curvature for the intact state so that only the data from the damaged plate structure is required. Compared with traditional methods, this method is more sensitive and accurate.     

Multidimensional custom-made non-linear microscope: from ex-vivo to in-vivo imaging

We have built a custom-made multidimensional non-linear microscope equipped with a combination of several non-linear laser imaging techniques involving fluorescence lifetime, multispectral two-photon and second-harmonic generation imaging. The optical system was mounted on a vertical honeycomb breadboard in an upright configuration, using two galvo-mirrors relayed by two spherical mirrors as scanners. A double detection system working in non-descanning mode has allowed both photon counting and a proportional regime. This experimental setup offering high spatial (micrometric) and temporal (sub-nanosecond) resolution has been used to image both ex-vivo and in-vivo biological samples, including cells, tissues, and living animals. Multidimensional imaging was used to spectroscopically characterize human skin lesions, as malignant melanoma and naevi. Moreover, two-color detection of two photon excited fluorescence was applied to in-vivo imaging of living mice intact neocortex, as well as to induce neuronal microlesions by femtosecond laser burning. The presented applications demonstrate the capability of the instrument to be used in a wide range of biological and biomedical studies. PACS  87.64.mn; 78.47.Cd; 87.19.lw     

Acoustic radiation force optical coherence elastography for elasticity assessment of soft tissues

Biomechanical properties of soft tissues are important indicators of tissue functions which can be used for clinical diagnosis and disease monitoring. Elastography, incorporating the principles of elasticity measurements into imaging modalities, provides quantitative assessment of elastic properties of biological tissues. Benefiting from high-resolution, noninvasive, and three-dimensional optical coherence tomography, optical coherence elastography (OCE) is an emerging optical imaging modality to characterize and map biomechanical properties of soft tissues. Recently, acoustic radiation force (ARF)–OCE has been developed for elasticity measurements of ocular tissues, detection of vascular lesions, and monitoring of blood coagulation based on remote and noninvasive ARF excitation to both internal and superficial tissues. Here, we describe the advantages of the ARF–OCE technique, the measurement methods in ARF–OCE, the applications in biomedical detection, current challenges, and advances. ARF–OCE technology has the potential to become a powerful tool for in vivo elasticity assessment of biological samples in a noncontact, noninvasive, and high-resolution nature.