Development of a Low Frequency Shear Horizontal Piezoelectric Transducer for the Generation of Plane SH Waves

The shear horizontal guided wave fundamental mode (SH0) has the particularity of being the only non-dispersive plate guided wave mode. This characteristic makes this ultrasonic guided wave mode very attractive in nondestructive testing, facilitating signal processing for long range inspections. It is, however, difficult to generate only a single guided wave mode when using piezoelectric transduction. This work aims to develop a piezoelectric transducer capable of generating a virtually pure plane zeroth order shear horizontal wave. The chosen material was the PZT-5H for its dominant d(15) piezoelectric constant, which makes it a perfect candidate for SH-wave generation. The transducer dimensions were optimised using an analytical model based on the Huygens' principle of superposition and the dipole pattern of a shear point source. A 3D multiphysics finite element model was then used to validate the analytical model results. Experimental validation was finally conducted with a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) system. Excellent agreement between the analytical model, finite element model and experimental validation was seen.