Flexural waves transmitted by rectangular piezoceramic transducers

Abstract

Rectangular piezoceramic transducers are widely used in ultrasonic evaluation and health monitoring techniques and structural vibration control applications. In this paper the flexural waves excited by rectangular transducers adhesively attached to isotropic plates are investigated. In view of the difficulties in developing accurate analytical models describing the transfer characteristics of the transducer due to the complex electromechanical transduction processes and transducer-structure interactions involved, a combined theoretical-experimental approach is developed. A multiple integral transform method is used to describe the propagation behaviour of the waves in the plates, while a heterodyne Doppler laser vibrometer is employed as a non-contact receiver device. This combined theoretical-experimental approach enables the efficient characterization of the electromechanical transfer properties of the piezoelectric transducer which is essential for the development of optimized non-destructive evaluation systems. The results show that the assumption of a uniform contact pressure distribution between the transducer and the plate can accurately predict the frequency spectrum and time domain response signals of the propagating waves along the main axes of the rectangular transmitter element.

Finite-dimensional piezoelectric transducer modeling for guided wave based structural health monitoring

“…These solutions were used to generate equations describing the displacement field patterns for circular and narrow rectangular piezo actuators, which were modeled as causing bending moments and moment doublets respectively along their edges. Veidt et al [17] used a hybrid theoretical-experimental approach for solving the excitation field due to surface-bonded rectangular and circular actuators. In the theoretical development, the piezoactuator was modeled as causing normal surface traction, and again Mindlin plate theory was used.…”

Modeling of Guided-wave Excitation by Finite-dimensional Piezoelectric Transducers in Composite Plates

“…This was also a 2-D analysis. Some researchers (Lin and Yuan 12 , Rose and Wang 13 , Veidt et al 14 ) have looked at using Mindlin plate theory for modeling GW excitation by circular and/or rectangular piezos in isotropic plates. That approach yields approximate solutions and cannot model higher GW modes.…”

Multiscale Modeling of Advanced Materials for Damage Prediction and Structural Health Monitoring

“…Other researchers have also utilized the built-in piezoelectric elements in commercial FEM packages (Soni, Das, and Chattopadhyay, 2009) to model piezoelectric actuators and sensors for SHM applications. Mindlin plate theory incorporating transverse shear and rotary inertia effects was used by other researchers to model the GW excitation as causing bending moments along the actuator edge (Veidt, Liu, and Kitipornchai, 2001;Rose and Wang, 2004). One major disadvantage of using Mindlin plate theory is that it is only capable of approximately modeling the zeroth order antisymmetric Lamb wave mode and therefore is only valid at low frequencies where higher order modes are not present in the plate.…”