Evaluation of inversion approaches for plates based on guided waves and modal analysis

Abstract The identification of defects in plate-like structures has been successfully treated using both local guided ultrasonic waves and global modal quantities. Although there are many papers on these techniques, a lack of comparability between the two methods persists. This makes it difficult for users to identify the most appropriate method for the defect in question. This paper examines the effect of different parameterizations of a circular defect in a square aluminum plate on the system response in a case study. The measured local ultrasound signal from a propagating guided wave makes up the initial data set. The first method uses the entire waveform for the objective function of the optimization problem, while the second considers the velocity of the $$A_0$$ A 0 mode. In the third and fourth methods, the first and second global natural frequencies of the plate modeled with free-free boundary conditions are investigated. The numerical models are validated experimentally through measurements with a laser Doppler vibrometer. This results in the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the objective functions for all parameter combinations of the defect. The recommendation to sequentially employ modal analysis and then the ultrasound procedure is made for the defect type used in this study. The data gathered on the objective functions suggests that potential joint employment of the natural frequency and ultrasound methods may increase computational efficiency. For a specific case, the methods could also complement each other in terms of challenges such as local minima.