Guided Lamb wave–based structural health monitoring using a novel wave packet tracing method for damage localization and size quantification

Abstract

In guided Lamb wave–based structural health monitoring, the interpretation of collected signals is a complex task because of the dispersive and multi-modal characteristics of guided Lamb waves. In this work, a novel wave packet tracing method for damage localization and size quantification is presented. This method involves creating time–space representations of the guided Lamb waves collected at a series of locations with a spatially dense distribution along paths at pre-selected angles with respect to the direction normal to the direction of wave propagation. The fringe patterns due to wave dispersion, which depends on the phase velocity, are selected as the primary features that carry information regarding the wave propagation and scattering. Simulated damage of various sizes, shapes, and locations is analyzed to visually and quantitatively demonstrate the wave packet tracing method.