Albert A. Saputra

The simulation of Lamb waves in a cracked plate using the scaled boundary finite element method

The scaled boundary finite element method is applied to the simulation of Lamb waves for ultrasonic testing applications. With this method, the general elastodynamic problem is solved, while only the boundary of the domain under consideration has to be discretized. The reflection of the fundamental Lamb wave modes from cracks of different geometry in a steel plate is modeled. A test problem is compared with commercial finite element software, showing the efficiency and convergence of the scaled boundary finite element method. A special formulation of this method is utilized to calculate dispersion relations for plate structures. For the discretization of the boundary, higher-order elements are employed to improve the efficiency of the simulations. The simplicity of mesh generation of a cracked plate for a scaled boundary finite element analysis is illustrated.

Detection of defects in thin-walled structures by means of Lamb waves

In this paper the Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method (SBFEM) is applied for the simulation of Lamb waves in cracked plates. This method is highly advantageous to study the interaction of different Lamb wave modes with cracks as the crack is not discretized and no refinement is required around the crack tip. Numerical examples are presented for the reflection of the fundamental symmetric and antisymmetric modes from cracks of different depth. The spatial Fourier transformation is employed to calculate the amplitudes of reflected Lamb wave modes. The results reveal possibilities to obtain details of the crack geometry in non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring applications.