Ultrasonic techniques are widely used for the detection of defects in solid structures. They are mainly based on estimating the impulse response of the system and most often refer to linear models. High-stress conditions of the structures may reveal non-linear aspects of their behavior caused by even small defects due to ageing or previous severe loading: consequently, models suitable to identify the existence of a non-linear input-output characteristic of the system allow to improve the sensitivity of the detection procedure, making it possible to observe the onset of fatigue-induced cracks and/or defects by highlighting the early stages of their formation. This paper starts from an analysis of the characteristics of a damage index that has proved effective for the early detection of defects based on their non-linear behavior: it is based on the Hammerstein model of the non-linear physical system. The availability of this mathematical model makes it possible to derive from it a number of different global parameters, all of which are suitable for highlighting the onset of defects in the structure under examination, but whose characteristics can be very different from each other. In this work, an original damage index based on the same Hammerstein model is proposed. We report the results of several experiments showing that our proposed damage index has a much higher sensitivity even for small defects. Moreover, extensive tests conducted in the presence of different levels of additive noise show that the new proposed estimator adds to this sensitivity feature a better estimation stability in the presence of additive noise.
The Hammerstein model identification technique based on swept sine excitation signals proved in numerous applications to be particularly effective for the definition of a model for nonlinear systems. In this paper we address the problem of the robustness of this model parameter estimation procedure in the presence of noise in the measurement step. The relationship between the different functions that enter the identification procedure is analyzed to assess how the presence of additive noise affects model parameters estimation. This analysis allows us to propose an original technique to mitigate the effects of additive noise in order to improve the accuracy of model parameters estimation. The different aspects addressed in the paper and the technique for mitigating the effects of noise on the accuracy of parameter estimation are verified on both synthetic and experimental data acquired with an ultrasonic system. The results of both simulations and experiments on laboratory data confirm the correctness of the assumptions made and the effectiveness of the proposed mitigation methodology.
In the world of real audio systems it is extremely important to model and identify their non-linear behaviour, especially in the case of professional audio devices. In this context, it is useful to have a quantitative estimation of the non-linearity degree of the device, which can be obtained by exploiting an efficient and rapid measurement methodology. In this paper, we propose an original estimation technique targeting the third-order intermodulation distortion, and based on a single detection. The proposed technique can be implemented both on devices operating in baseband and in bandpass. Starting from the same single detection, the technique allows to give either an estimate of the third-order intermodulation distortion for the signal level actually used, and to extrapolate the estimate of the intermodulation distortion to signal levels different from the one actually used. Experimental verifications on real audio devices have allowed to validate the procedure in operational situations, thus confirming the validity of the proposed approach.
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