OPTIMIZATION OF LAMB WAVE INSPECTION TECHNIQUES

Lamb waves can propagate over long distances which means that they are attractive for the quick, long range inspection of large structures, and they can also be useful for localized inspection, particularly in thin structures. This paper discusses the selection of the appropriate mode and frequency range for different inspection requirements and reviews the possible methods of excitation, response measurement and signal processing. It is usually desirable to transmit a single, non-dispersive mode, and excitation methods to achieve this are discussed. A variety of signal processing techniques from simple time domain to relatively complex two-dimensional Fourier analysis are available. Time domain processing can often be applied satisfactorily in low frequency-thickness regions where only two modes can propagate, but tends to be unreliable above the cut-off frequency of the a1 mode. As an example of the design of a Lamb wave testing regime, a set of tests on a butt-welded steel plate with simulated weld defects of different depths is described. It is shown that by operating below the a1 cut-off frequency with judicious selection of testing technique, the presence of defects can be detected reliably from changes in the shape of the received waveform.