Theoretical and experimental analysis of guided wave propagation in plate-like structures with sinusoidal thickness variations

Abstract Guided waves have attracted significant attention for non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) due to their ability to travel relatively long distances without significant energy loss combined with their sensitivity to even small defects. Therefore, they are commonly used in damage detection and localization applications. The main idea of incorporating guided waves in NDT and SHM is based on processing the received signals and appropriate interpretation of their characteristics. A great amount of research devoted to diagnostics of plate-like structures considers specimens with constant thickness, which significantly facilities the diagnostic process. In such a case the velocity is also assumed to be constant. However, the developed diagnostic methods should be applicable, especially for the structures exposed to an aggressive environment, excessive load, or unfavorable weather conditions, etc., when the probability of damage occurring is much higher. In such cases, the assumption about the uniform thickness alongside the propagation path cannot be applied in every case. Thus, the present study is focused on wave propagation in metallic plates with variable thickness. The results of theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations of antisymmetric Lamb mode propagation in aluminum plates with a sine-shaped surface are presented. In the first step, the influence of non-uniform thickness distribution on wave velocity has been described. Next, the inverse problem aimed at shape reconstruction based on time of flight (ToF) analysis and spatially varying wave velocity was solved and compared with the standard dispersion curve-fitting method.