Acoustoelastic determination of residual stress with laser doppler velocimetry

The main object of this study is to develop a new technique for stress nondestructive measurement. A noncontact measurement technique of ultrasonic wave velocity is proposed. In the measurement system, a laser Doppler velocimeter, which is noncontact, is used to detect wave motions due to Rayleigh waves instead of a piezoelectric transducer. The noncontact measurement technique is applied to determine the stress-acoustic coefficient of Rayleigh waves for aluminum 5052 and a structural steel, and the results are in good agreement with those obtained using knife-edge piezoelectric transducers. The technique is also used to evaluate residual stress existing in an H-section rolled beam of the structural steel. The distribution of residual stress is reasonable.