Lamb waves in anisotropic plates (review)

Propagation of Lamb waves in elastic anisotropic plates is studied in the framework of the six-dimensional Cauchy formalism. Closed-form secular equations for dispersion curves for Lamb waves propagating in a plate with arbitrary elastic anisotropy are obtained.     

Laser-generated surface acoustic waves in a ring-shaped waveguide resonator

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) waveguide resonator is formed by a ring-shaped strip of copper 10 μm wide and ∼130 μm in diameter embedded into a 0.8 μm thick layer of silica on a silicon wafer. SAWs are excited at one side of the copper ring by a short laser pulse focused into a spatially periodic pattern and detected via diffraction of the probe laser beam overlapped with the excitation spot. SAW wavepackets with central frequency 460 MHz travel around the ring and are detected each time they make a full circle and pass trough the probe spot. Potential applications of ring resonators for SAWs are discussed.     

Generalized thermoelastic waves in homogeneous isotropic plates

The propagation of thermoelastic waves in homogeneous isotropic plate subjected to stress-free and rigid insulated and isothermal conditions is investigated in the context of conventional coupled thermoelasticity (CT), Lord-Shulman (LS), Green-Lindsay (GL), and Green-Nagdhi (GN) theories of thermoelasticity. Secular equations for the plate in closed form and isolated mathematical conditions for symmetric and skew-symmetric wave mode propagation in completely separate terms are derived. It is shown that the motion for SH modes gets decoupled from the rest of the motion and remains unaffected due to thermo-mechanical coupling and thermal relaxation effects. The phase velocities for SH modes have also been obtained. The results for coupled and uncoupled theories of thermoelasticity have been obtained as particular cases from the derived secular equations. At short wavelength limits the secular equations for symmetric and skew-symmetric waves in a stress-free insulated and isothermal plate reduce to Rayleigh surface waves frequency equations. Finally, the numerical solution is carried out for aluminum-epoxy composite material and the dispersion curves for symmetric and skew-symmetric wave modes are presented to illustrate and compare the theoretical results.     

Prolonged acousto-optic interaction with Lamb waves in crystalline plates

The propagation and acousto-optic interaction of Lamb modes in an anisotropic plate of tellurium dioxide (TeO2) are studied numerically and analytically. In the case of a Y-cut X-propagating TeO2 plate, the very high elastic anisotropy of the crystal greatly modifies the dispersion curves, giving rise to their multiple oscillations. The existence ranges of backward Lamb modes increase with the mode order contrary to the case of isotropic plates. The quasi-collinear light scattering by Lamb waves is considered. Owing to the structure of Lamb wave field, a simultaneous light diffraction at two different optical frequencies can take place while Lamb waves are excited only at the single frequency. It is demonstrated with the Z-cut (110)-propagating plate that a small change in the acoustic frequency can result in a significant shift in the frequency of the scattered light.     

Excitations of thermoelastic waves in plates by a pulsed laser

The method of the eigenfunction expansion, also known as the expansion in normal modes, is employed to study numerically the axisymmetric excitation of the thermoelastic waves in plates by a pulsed laser. This method gives a systematic treatment and allows one to investigate not only the quasistatic and dynamic thermoelastic responses of pulsed photothermal deformation on the time scale of 1 s, but also the thermoelastic generation of longitudinal, transverse, and surface acoustic waves in thick materials, as well as the excitations of the Rayleigh-Lamb wave modes in thin plates. The formalism is particularly suitable for waveform analyses of the excitations of transient Lamb waves in thin plates because one needs only to calculate the contributions of several lower eigenmodes. The numerical technique provides a quantitative tool for the experimental determination of material properties, especially the mechanical and elastic properties of free-standing films and thicker sheet materials by thermoelastic detection.     

Laser-induced thermoelastic Leaky Lamb waves at the fluid–solid interface

A model based on the theory of fluid–structure interaction is developed to simulate the laser thermoelastic generation and propagation of Leaky Lamb waves at the water–aluminum interface. Each component of displacement, stress, and temperature are derived in transform domain by the photothermoelastic transfer matrix method. The time domain solutions are obtained by numerically inverting the transforms while the dispersion curves and attenuation curves for the leaky waves are also calculated. Then the propagation characteristics of different modes are analyzed. The model establishes a quantitative relation between the laser parameters, the material parameters, the corresponding waveforms, and the dispersion curves, which provides a useful tool for the Leaky Lamb waves applied to nondestructive evaluation.     

Hybridization of acoustic waves in piezoelectric plates

The interaction (hybridization) of different types of acoustic waves of zero and higher orders propagating in lithium niobate piezoelectric plates is theoretically investigated. Different crystallographic orientations of the plates and different directions of wave propagation in them are considered. It is shown that, for an electrically free plate with the propagation direction along any of the crystallographic axes, the dispersion curves have intersection points and hybridization is absent. However, when the propagation direction slightly changes or when one of the plate surfaces is short-circuited, the dispersion curves separate and the waves become coupled. A quantitative coefficient characterizing the degree of wave hybridization with allowance for both mechanical and electric coupling is introduced. It is shown that the dependence of this coefficient on the product of the plate thickness by the wave frequency determines the extent of separation of the dispersion curves of interacting waves. The phenomenon under study is of both fundamental and practical interest, for example, in connection with the problem of an efficient excitation of nonpiezoactive acoustic waves in piezoelectric plates.     

Study on laser-generated Lamb waves propagation in viscoelastic and anisotropic plate

The propagation characteristics of laser-generated Lamb waves in thin composite plates are theoretically studied. Taking the anisotropic and viscoelastic properties of the composite material into account, the finite element models for simulating laser-generated Lamb waves in the composite material are established in the frequency domain. Numerical results are calculated in purely elastic and viscoelastic transversely isotropic plates, respectively. The effects of the anisotropic and viscoelastic properties on the propagation of Lamb waves are analyzed in detail. The numerical results exhibit that the features of the laser-generated Lamb wave, including attenuation, velocity, frequency, and the dispersive nature, have a close relationship with the anisotropic and viscoelastic properties of the material.     

Lamb waves in two-dimensional phononic crystal plate with anisotropic inclusions

An analysis is given to the band structure of the two-dimensional phononic crystal plate constituted of a square array of elastic anisotropic, circular Pb cylinders embedded in elastic isotropic epoxy. The numerical results show that the band gap can be tuned by rotating the anisotropic material orientation. It is found that the influence of anisotropy on band gap of Lamb wave is clearly different from that on the band gap of bulk waves. The thickness of the system under study is a sensitive parameter to affect the influence of anisotropic materials on the normalized gap width.     

Konenkov’s waves in anisotropic layered plates

Rayleigh-type flexural waves localized near the edge of a thin anisotropic layered plate are investigated. The following effects are revealed: a wave attenuation with oscillations, a change of sign of the energy flux for certain types of anisotropy, and the appearance of stationary waves.     

Focusing and waveguiding of Lamb waves in micro-fabricated piezoelectric phononic plates

This paper presents results on the numerical and experimental studies of focusing and waveguiding of the lowest anti-symmetric Lamb wave in micro-fabricated piezoelectric phononic plates. The phononic structure was based on an AT-cut quartz plate and consisted of a gradient-index phononic crystal (GRIN PC) lens and a linear phononic plate waveguide. The band structures of the square-latticed AT-cut quartz phononic crystal plates with different filling ratios were analyzed using the finite element method. The design of a GRIN PC plate lens which is attached with a linear phononic plate waveguide is proposed. In designing the waveguide, propagation modes in square-latticed PC plates with different waveguide widths were studied and the results were served for the experimental design. In the micro-fabrication, deep reactive ion etching (Deep-RIE) process with a laboratory-made etcher was utilized to fabricate both the GRIN PC plate lens and the linear phononic waveguide on an 80 μm thick AT-cut quartz plate. Interdigital transducers were fabricated directly on the quartz plate to generate the lowest anti-symmetric Lamb waves. A vibro-meter was used to detect the wave fields and the measured results on the focusing and waveguiding of the piezoelectric GRIN PC lens and waveguide are in good accordance with the numerical predictions. The results of this study may serve as a basis for developing an active micro plate lens and related devices.     

Laser-generated waves and wakes in rotating ion crystals

Locally excited plasma waves are generated in a Coulomb crystal by "pushing" with radiation pressure on a rotating cloud of laser-cooled 9Be+ ions. The waves form a stationary wake that is directly imaged through the dependence of the ion fluorescence on Doppler shifts, and theoretical calculations in a slab geometry are shown to accurately reproduce these images. The technique demonstrates a new method of exciting and studying waves in cold ion clouds.     

Generalized thermoelastic Lamb waves in a plate bordered with layers of inviscid liquid

The propagation of thermoelastic waves in a homogeneous isotropic, thermally conducting plate bordered with layers of inviscid liquid or half-space of inviscid liquid on both sides is investigated in the context of generalized theories of thermoelasticity. Secular equations for the plate in closed form and isolated mathematical conditions for symmetric and antisymmetric wave modes in completely separate terms are derived. The results for coupled and uncoupled theories of thermoelasticity have been obtained as particular cases. The different regions of secular equations are obtained and special cases, such as Lame modes, thin plate waves and short wavelength waves of the secular equations are also discussed. The secular equations for thermoelastic leaky Lamb waves are also obtained and deduced. The amplitudes of displacement components and temperature change have also been computed and studied. Finally, the numerical solution is carried out for an aluminum-epoxy composite and aluminum materials plate bordered with water. The dispersion curves for symmetric and antisymmetric thermoelastic wave modes and amplitudes of displacement and temperature change in case of fundamental symmetric (S₀) and skew symmetric (A₀) modes are presented in order to illustrate and compare the theoretical results. The theory and numerical computations are found to be in close agreement. The results have been deduced and compared with the relevant publications available in the literature at the relevant stages of the work.     

Circumferential thermoelastic waves in orthotropic cylindrical curved plates without energy dissipation

In this article, the propagation of guided thermoelastic waves in the circumferential direction of orthotropic cylindrical curved plates subjected to stress-free, isothermal boundary conditions is investigated in the context of the Green-Naghdi (GN) generalized thermoelastic theory (without energy dissipation). The coupled wave equations and heat conduction equation are solved by the Legendre orthogonal polynomial series expansion approach. The convergency of the method is discussed through a numerical example. The dispersion curves of thermal modes and elastic modes are illustrated simultaneously. Dispersion curves of the corresponding pure elastic cylindrical plate are also shown to analyze the influence of the thermoelasticity on elastic modes. The displacement, temperature and stress distributions are shown to discuss the differences between the elastic modes and thermal modes. A thermoelastic cylindrical plate with a different ratio of radius to thickness is considered to discuss the influence of the ratio on the characteristics of circumferential thermoelastic waves.     

Improving accuracy of acoustic source localization in anisotropic plates

The acoustic source localization technique for anisotropic plates proposed by the authors in an earlier publication ([1] Kundu et al., 2012) is improved in this paper by adopting some modifications. The improvements are experimentally verified on anisotropic flat and curved composite plates. Difficulties associated with the original technique were first investigated before making any modification. It was noted that the accuracy of this technique depends strongly on the accuracy of the measured time difference of arrivals (TDOA) at different receiving sensors placed in close proximity in a sensor cluster. The sensor cluster is needed to obtain the direction of the acoustic source without knowing the material properties of the plate. Two modifications are proposed to obtain the accurate TDOA. The first one is to replace the recorded full time histories by only their initial parts – the first dip and peak – for the subsequent signal processing. The second modification is to place the sensors in the sensor cluster as close as possible. It is shown that the predictions are improved significantly with these modifications. These modifications are then applied to another sensor cluster based technique called the beamforming technique, to see if similar improvements are achieved for that technique also with these modifications.     

Location of micro-cracks in plates using time reversed nonlinear Lamb waves

A promising tool to detect micro-cracks in plate-like structures is used for generating higher harmonic Lamb waves. In this paper, a method combining nonlinear S_0 mode Lamb waves with time reversal to locate micro-cracks is presented and verified by numerical simulations. Two different models, the contact acoustic nonlinearity(CAN) model and the Preisach–Mayergoyz(PM) model, are used to simulate a localized damage in a thin plate. Pulse inversion method is employed to extract the second and fourth harmonics from the received signal. Time reversal is performed to compensate the dispersion of S_0 mode Lamb waves. Consequently, the higher harmonics generated from the damaged area can be refocused on their source. By investigating the spatial distribution of harmonic wave packets, the location of micro-cracks will be revealed.The numerical simulations indicate that this method gives accurate locations of the damaged area in a plate. Furthermore,the PM model is proved to be a suitable model to simulate the micro-cracks in plates for generation of higher harmonics.     

Calculation of electromechanical coupling coefficient of Lamb waves in multilayered plates

Two methods have been always used to calculate the electromechanical coupling coefficient of a Lamb wave in a multilayered plate: one is an approximate method using the acoustic velocity difference under different electric boundary conditions and the other is the Green's function method. The Green's function method is more accurate but more complicated, because an 8N-order matrix is used for calculating the electromechanical coupling coefficient of the Lamb wave in an N-layered plate, which induces great computation loads and some calculation deviations. In this paper, a transfer matrix method is used for calculating the electromechanical coupling coefficient of Lamb waves in a multilayered plate, in which only an 8-order matrix is needed regardless of the number of layers of the plate. The results show that the transfer matrix method can obtain the same accuracy as those by the Green's function method, but the computation load and deviation are greatly decreased by avoiding the use of a high order matrix used in the Green's function method.     

The propagation of coupled Lamb waves in multilayered arbitrary anisotropic composite laminates

Based on linear three-dimensional elasticity theory, the wave equations of coupled Lamb waves in multilayered arbitrary anisotropic composite laminates are derived using a Legendre orthogonal polynomial approach. The elastodynamic solution for the propagation of coupled Lamb waves in composite plates is also presented to determine the characteristics of coupled Lamb waves. To verify the applicability and validity of the method, two cases of bi-layered plates formed with isotropic components and anisotropic components, respectively, are primarily manipulated for comparison with earlier known results. Next, the dispersion curves, displacements and stress distributions of Lamb waves in multilayered anisotropic laminates are calculated. The effects of coupling and fiber orientation on the characteristics of the Lamb waves are illustrated. The potential usefulness of the fundamental modes of the coupled Lamb waves is discussed in detail.     

Selective generation of ultrasonic Lamb waves by electromagnetic acoustic transducers

In this paper, we describe a modal expansion approach for the analysis of the selective generation of ultrasonic Lamb waves by electromagnetic acoustic transducers(EMATs). With the modal expansion approach for waveguide excitation, an analytical expression of the Lamb wave's mode expansion coefficient is deduced, which is related to the driving frequency and the geometrical parameters of the EMAT's meander coil, and lays a theoretical foundation for exactly analyzing the selective generation of Lamb waves with EMATs. The influences of the driving frequency on the mode expansion coefficient of ultrasonic Lamb waves are analyzed when the EMAT's geometrical parameters are given. The numerical simulations and experimental examinations show that the ultrasonic Lamb wave modes can be effectively regulated(strengthened or restrained) by choosing an appropriate driving frequency of EMAT, with the geometrical parameters given. This result provides a theoretical and experimental basis for selectively generating a single and pure Lamb wave mode with EMATs.     

复合兰姆波声子晶体中超宽部分禁带

兰姆波在声子晶体薄板中的传播特性因其在无损检测、 减振技术和传感器件等领域的潜在应用价值而受到越来越多的关注. 本文采用超原胞平面波展开法和有限元法系统地研究了复合对称结构声子晶体薄板中的兰姆波超宽部分禁带. 结果表明: 对于在薄板侧面对称地嵌入双层矩形空气柱构成的复杂系统, 低阶兰姆波部分带隙结构极为丰富. 将晶格常数(L)和板厚(H) 比值具有匹配关系的兰姆波声子晶体衔接构成复合结构, 低阶兰姆波部分禁带宽度因各组分结构的部分禁带交叠而得到显著拓宽, 可在低频超宽频带内实现对特定低阶兰姆波模式良好的模式选择功能. 该研究结果对兰姆波缺陷无损检测中模式优化选择及兰姆波单向导通器件设计等方面具有重要意义.