IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

SIGNAL PROCESSING
FOR GUIDED WAVE
STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING

by

Tindaro Cicero

A thesis submitted to Imperial College London for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Imperial College London
London SW7 2AZ

July 2009
Abstract

The importance of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in several industrial fields

has been continuously growing in the last few years with the increasing need for
the development of systems able to monitor continuously the integrity of complex
structures. In order to be competitive with conventional non destructive evaluation
techniques, SHM must be able to effectively detect the occurrence of damage in
the structure, giving information regarding the damage location. Ultrasonic guided
waves offer the possibility of inspecting large areas of structures from a small number
of sensor positions. However, inspection of complex structures is difficult as the
reflections from different features overlap. Therefore damage detection becomes an
extremely challenging problem and robust signal processing is required in order to
resolve strongly overlapping echoes.

In our work we have considered at first the possibility of employing a deconvolution

approach for enhancing the resolution of ultrasonic time traces and the potential
and the limitations of this approach for reliable SHM applications have been shown.
The effects of noise on the bandwidth of the typical signals in SHM and the effects
of frequency dependent phase shifts are the main detrimental issues that strongly
reduce the performance of deconvolution in SHM applications.

The second part of this thesis is concerned with the evaluation of a subtraction ap-
proach for SHM when changes of environmental conditions are taken into account.
Temperature changes result in imperfect subtraction even for an undamaged struc-
ture, since temperature changes modify the mechanical properties of the material
and therefore the velocity of propagation of ultrasonic guided waves. Compensation
techniques have previously been used effectively to overcome temperature effects, in
order to reduce the residual in the subtraction. In this work the performance of tem-
perature compensation techniques has been evaluated also in the presence of other
detrimental effects, such as liquid loading and different temperature responses of
materials in adhesive joints. Numerical simulations and experiments have been con-
ducted and it has been shown that temperature compensation techniques can cope

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in principle with non temperature effects. It is concluded that subtraction approach
represents a promising method for reliable Structural Health Monitoring. Nonethe-
less the feasibility of a subtraction approach for SHM depends on environmental
conditions.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Peter Cawley, Dr.

Francesco Simonetti and Prof. Mike Lowe for their superb guidance and endless
patience. Being in the Nondestructive Testing group I was not only part of a stim-
ulating and lively research environment, but I felt part of an incredible group of
friends. I want to extend my thanks to Daniel, Marco, Ken, Prabhu, Fred, Matt,
Thomas, Giuseppe, Pierre, Remo and all the other colleagues with whom I enjoyed
sharing this invaluable experience at Imperial College. I am sure you will remain
friends for life.

I am deeply indebted to Prof. Stanislav I. Rokhlin for his help and precious advice
and for the patience shown in our long and useful discussions.

Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their support and
encouragement throughout my studies. I have always felt that you were close by
over the years. Heartfelt thanks goes to Anna for standing by me every day and
for continuously renewing my enthusiasm. Last (but not least) thanks to my little
niece Antonella who has brought so much joy in the last few months of my PhD.

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Contents

1 Introduction 22

1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

1.2 Thesis outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2 An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring 26

2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2.2 Aircraft design and Structural Health Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.3 Passive systems for Structural Health Monitoring: Acoustic Emission 29

2.4 Active systems for Structural Health Monitoring: Guided wave SHM
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

2.4.1 Single mode transduction for an active Guided wave SHM

system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

2.4.2 Guided wave SHM arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

2.4.3 Single unit arrays for SHM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2.4.4 Distributed sparse arrays for SHM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2.5 Signal processing for Structural Health Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . 41

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 CONTENTS

3 Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques 43

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.2 Causality, Stability and Minimum phase properties . . . . . . . . . . 45

3.3 Least squares deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

3.4 Autoregressive spectral extrapolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

3.5 Maximum likelihood deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3.6 Minimum entropy deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3.7 Iterative deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

3.8 LP -norm deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

3.9 Deconvolution approach for phase shifted signals . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

3.10 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

4 Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring 56

4.1 The Deconvolution approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

4.2 Mathematical Model for Deconvolution Approach . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4.3 The Wiener filter approach for deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.3.1 Non optimal Wiener Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

4.3.2 Optimal Wiener Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4.4 A typical problem in Structural Health Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . 62

4.5 Effect of noise on deconvolution performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4.5.1 Broadband Input wavelet: performance of the optimal Wiener

filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

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 CONTENTS

4.5.2 Hanning windowed toneburst: effect of limited bandwidth on

temporal resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

4.6 Effect of phase shift on deconvolution performance . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.6.1 Frequency independent phase shift. Reflection from the free

edge of a plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.6.2 Frequency dependent phase shift. Plane strain model for a

plate with a rib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.7 Combined effect of noise and phase shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

4.7.1 Introduction to the SMLR algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.7.2 Performance of SMLR algorithm on a typical problem in SHM 72

4.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

5 Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring 75

5.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

5.2 Detrimental factors for subtraction performance . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

5.3 Effect of temperature changes on signal subtraction . . . . . . . . . . 78

5.4 Temperature compensation techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

5.4.1 Signal processing for the subtraction approach . . . . . . . . . 80

5.4.2 Optimal Baseline method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5.4.3 Optimal Stretch method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

5.4.4 Local Temporal Coherence method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

5.4.5 Combination of compensation techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

5.5 SHM applications of Temperature Compensation Techniques . . . . . 87

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5.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

6 Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach 91

6.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6.2 Guided waves in bilayered plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

6.3 Parameters affecting guided wave propagation in a fluid-solid bilayer . 94

6.4 Comparing Liquid Loading to Temperature changes . . . . . . . . . . 96

6.4.1 S0 mode in Aluminium-water bilayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

6.4.2 A0 mode in Aluminium-water bilayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

6.5 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch with liquid

loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

6.6 Infinite water layer on an aluminium plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

6.6.1 Amplitude compensation for the S0 mode . . . . . . . . . . . 104

6.6.2 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch with

liquid loading: Infinite water layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

6.7 Subtraction approach in presence of an epoxy layer . . . . . . . . . . 107

6.7.1 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch with a

thin epoxy layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

6.8 Experimental work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

6.9 Experiment with an infinite water layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

6.9.1 Experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

6.9.2 Measurement procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

6.9.3 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

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 CONTENTS

6.10 Experiment with a thin uniform viscoelastic layer . . . . . . . . . . . 121

6.10.1 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

6.11 Experiment with a non uniform viscoelastic layer . . . . . . . . . . . 125

6.12 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

7 Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on Sub-

traction approach 128

7.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

7.2 Different temperature responses of materials and Temperature Com-

pensation techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

7.3 Experimental setup and 3D FE model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

7.3.1 Experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

7.3.2 3D FE model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

7.4 Results of numerical simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

7.5 Preliminary experiments: performance of Optimal Stretch method . . 136

7.5.1 Optimal Stretch performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

7.5.2 Optimal Baseline performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

7.6 Second series of experiments on the bonded stringer . . . . . . . . . . 140

7.6.1 Optimal Stretch performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

7.6.2 Optimal Baseline performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

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7.7 Temperature compensation strategy and damage detection . . . . . 143

7.7.1 Compensation strategy performance: undamaged structure . . 144

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 CONTENTS

7.7.2 Compensation strategy performance: damaged structure . . . 145

7.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

8 Conclusions 151

8.1 Thesis Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

8.2 Brief summary of the main contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

8.3 Future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

References 157

List of Publications 171

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List of Figures

1.1 Aerospace, oil and gas industry, chemical and power generation plants
are potential fields of application for SHM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.1 Schematic representation of an airframe structure [3]. . . . . . . . . . 28

2.2 Dispersion curves for a steel plate. a)Phase Velocity, b)Group Velocity. 30

2.3 a)Single unit array, b)Distributed sparse array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.1 Convolution process in nondestructive evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.1 Time trace recorded in a 1000 × 1000 × 5 mm aluminium plate. . . . 57

4.2 a) Pitch catch inspection of a plate. The typical recorded signal con-
tains strongly overlapping echoes. b) Ideal deconvolution: the wave
packets of the received signals have been compressed to sharp spikes,
allowing the identification of the different echoes. . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4.3 Generation of strongly overlapping signals. The two reflections are

not resolvable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

4.4 Broadband input wavelet: detection of a small reflection by means of

the optimal Wiener filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4.5 Comparison between Hanning toneburst and broadband input wavelet. 64

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 LIST OF FIGURES

4.6 Hanning toneburst: detection of a small reflection by means of the

optimal Wiener filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.7 Wavelet modification caused by a π/2 rad phase shift on a 3 cycle

Hanning toneburst (the propagated distance for the reflected signal is
50 mm). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

4.8 Deconvolution of π/2 rad phase shifted signal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.9 Plane strain model of a steel plate with a rib. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

4.10 Input and reflected signals from the rib for the incident A0 mode. . . 68

4.11 Reflection coefficient from a rib. Ideal deconvolution. . . . . . . . . . 69

4.12 Reference and test sequences for the SMLR algorithm. . . . . . . . . . 71

4.13 Typical problem in SHM. Deconvolution of two strongly overlapping

signals (SNR = 40 dB). Detection and estimation of arrival times
and amplitudes by means of SMLR algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

4.14 Received signal with a π/2 rad frequency independent phase shift, SNR
= 40 dB. Detection and amplitude estimation by means of the SMLR
algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

5.1 Ideal Baseline subtraction for SHM. The subtraction of the baseline
from the current signal leads to a subtracted signal from which the
presence of a defect can be determined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

5.2 Schematic of the time shift and maximum residual in the subtraction
for a 5 cycle Hanning toneburst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

5.3 Optimal Baseline subtraction for SHM. The temperature difference of

the two time traces is 0.1 ◦ C. The maximum residual is -38 dB [103]. 82

5.4 Amplitude of the subtracted signal on a dB scale relative to the am-

plitude of the first arrival in figure 5.3 [103]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

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 LIST OF FIGURES

5.5 Uncompensated subtraction with a 5 ◦ C temperature difference. The

maximum residual is -10 dB [103]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

5.6 Optimal Stretch subtraction for SHM. The temperature difference of

the two time traces is 5 ◦ C. The maximum residual is -38 dB [103]. . 85

5.7 Amplitude in dB scale of the subtracted signal relative to the amplitude

of the first arrival in figure 5.6 [103]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

6.1 Schematic of an aluminium-water bilayer. τ is the ratio of liquid

thickness to plate thickness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

6.2 a)Comparison of the dispersion curve for an aluminium-water bilayer

and a free aluminimim plate. b)Difference between the two phase
velocities. The plate thickness is 10 mm and τ = 0.01. . . . . . . . . . 95

6.3 a) Uncompensated subtraction for a 10 ◦ C temperature change for

the S0 mode. The maximum residual is -11 dB. b)Uncompensated
subtraction with liquid loading. The maximum residual is -28.5 dB. . 98

6.4 S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium water
bilayer at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20
and 30 ◦ C. The values of the corresponding phase velocities at centre
frequency are indicated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

6.5 a) Uncompensated subtraction for a 10 ◦ C temperature change for

the A0 mode. The maximum residual is -16 dB. b) Uncompensated
subtraction with liquid loading. The maximum residual is -19 dB. . . 100

6.6 A0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium wa-
ter bilayer at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20
and 30◦ C. The values of the corresponding phase velocities at centre
frequency are indicated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

13
 LIST OF FIGURES

6.7 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a uniform water
layer, τ = 0.01, d=10mm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

6.8 Compensation of the subtraction for the A0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a uniform water
layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

6.9 Attenuation curve for a 10 mm thick aluminium plate bordered by an

infinite water. The frequency range is shown is typical for S0 mode
inspection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

6.10 Amplitude compensation in frequency domain. The original signals

are shown on the top left corner. The amplitude of the signal mea-
sured in the liquid loaded plate is compensated in frequency domain
(right). The amplitude compensated signal is compared with the ref-
erence signal obtained from the free plate (bottom left corner). . . . . 106

6.11 S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium water
bilayer (τ = ∞) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate
at 20 and 30◦ C. The values of the corresponding phase velocities at
centre frequency are indicated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

6.12 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of an infinite water
layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

6.13 Uncompensated subtraction for the propagation of the S0 mode in

presence of a thin epoxy layer (τ = 0.01). The maximum residual
is -12.5 dB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

6.14 S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium epoxy
bilayer (τ = 0.01) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate
at 20 and 30 ◦ C. The values of the corresponding phase velocities at
centre frequency are indicated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

14
 LIST OF FIGURES

6.15 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin epoxy
layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

6.16 Uncompensated subtraction for the propagation of the A0 mode in

presence of a thin epoxy layer (τ = 0.01). The maximum residual is
-21 dB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

6.17 A0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium

epoxy bilayer (τ = 0.01) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the
free plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C. The values of the corresponding phase
velocities at centre frequency are indicated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

6.18 Compensation of the subtraction for the A0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin epoxy
layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

6.19 Pitch-catch inspection of an aluminium plate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

6.20 Schematic of a piezoelectric transducer encapsulated with waterproof

silicone. The electrical insulator avoids electrical contact between the
transducer and the plate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

6.21 Aluminium plate instrumented with transducers on 3 adjustable height,

point supports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

6.22 Cross section of the experimental setup immersed in a water tank. . . 116

6.23 Leakage phenomenon in a plate immersed by water. Energy radiates

in the surrounding fluid creating a leaky bulk wave at a characteristic
angle θ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

6.24 Comparison of a current signal measured from the immersed plate

with the reference signal recorded from the free plate at the same tem-
perature. The dashed line represents the first arrival of the water
surface reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

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 LIST OF FIGURES

6.25 Amplitude ratio between current signal measured from the immersed
plate and baseline. Multiple reverberations are responsible for peaks
and troughs in the actual trend. Running averages can be used to
smooth the curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

6.26 Zoomed view of area enclosed in the dashed rectangle of figure 6.25. . 119

6.27 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of an infinite water
layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

6.28 Top view of the aluminium plate coated with a thin epoxy layer. The
transducers (dotted circles) are bonded to the back surface of the plate. 122

6.29 Comparison of a current signal measured from the plate coated with a
thin epoxy layer with the reference signal recorded from the free plate
at the same temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

6.30 Amplitude ratio between current signal measured from the plate coated
with an epoxy layer and baseline. Multiple reverberations are respon-
sible for peaks and troughs in the actual trend. Running averages can
be used to smooth the curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

6.31 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin uniform
epoxy layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

6.32 Non uniform viscoelastic layer on an aluminium plate. The area en-
closed in the dashed square represents the adhesive patch removed
from the former uniform layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

6.33 Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin non uni-
form epoxy layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

16
 LIST OF FIGURES

7.1 Detailed view of the adhesive joint in the experimental setup. . . . . . 131

7.2 Top view of the plate with bonded stringer. The transducers are op-
erated in pitch-catch mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

7.3 Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the 3D FE model. Optimal

Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temperature change, achieving a max-
imum residual level of -37 dB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

7.4 Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the 3D FE model. In the pres-

ence of 1.5 ◦ C temperature change, the maximum residual is always
lower than -40 dB. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temper-
ature change, achieving a residual level of -37 dB. . . . . . . . . . . . 134

7.5 Amplitude of the residual as function of the temperature difference

between baseline and current signal for the FE model of a free plate
and the FE model of a plate with bonded stringer. . . . . . . . . . . . 135

7.6 Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the first series of experiments

with the bonded stringer. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 0.5 ◦ C
temperature change, achieving a maximum residual level of -36 dB. . 136

7.7 Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the first series of experiments

with the free plate. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temper-
ature change, achieving the target residual level. . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

7.8 Maximum residual in the subtraction as function of the temperature

difference between baseline and current signal for the free plate. Opti-
mal Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temperature variation, achieving
the target residual level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

7.9 Amplitude of the residual as function of the temperature difference

between baseline and current signal for the free plate and the plate
with bonded stringer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

17
 LIST OF FIGURES

7.10 Compensation by Optimal Baseline for experiment with the bonded

stringer. Optimal Baseline can achieve a maximum residual of -28.5
dB. The temperature of the baseline and current signals was 15 ◦ C. . 140

7.11 Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the second series of experiments

with the bonded stringer. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 1.5 ◦ C
temperature change, achieving a residual level of -38 dB. . . . . . . . 141

7.12 Amplitude of the subtracted signal on a dB scale relative to the am-

plitude of the first arrival for the plate with bonded stringer. Optimal
Stretch is able to achieve a residual level of -41 dB for the entire
time trace in the presence of 1 ◦ C temperature change. A maximum
residual close to the target is achieved for 1.5 ◦ C temperature change. 142

7.13 Performance of the compensation strategy for the undamaged struc-

ture. A maximum residual of -55 dB was achieved. . . . . . . . . . . 144

7.14 Drilled hole in the region of the bond, simulating an artificial defect.
The hole is placed at 130 mm from the bottom side of the plate. . . . 145

7.15 Performance of the compensation strategy for the damaged structure

with a 5 mm diameter drilled hole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

7.16 Pitch-catch inspection using the transducers pair 1-2. Amplitude of

the residual in the subtraction for different hole diameters compared
to the residual for the undamaged structure. Increasing the defect size
is responsible for higher residual level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

7.17 Pitch-catch inspection using the transducers pair 3-4. Amplitude of

the residual in the subtraction for different hole diameters compared
to the residual for the undamaged structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

18
List of Tables

5.1 Diameter of a through-thickness hole corresponding to a -30 dB re-

flector in a steel plate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

19
Nomenclature

cgr Group velocity

cph Phase velocity
cH 2 O Bulk velocity in water
d Plate thickness
D Propagation distance
f Frequency
∆f Frequency step
F·d Frequency-thickness product
G Propagator function
t Time
T Temperature
W Wiener filter

Greek letters:
α Coefficient of thermal expansion
λ Wavelength
δ Dirac delta function
η Dynamic viscosity
κ Coefficient of change in phase velocity
ω Angular frequency
τ Ratio of liquid thickness to plate thickness
θ Leakage angle

Acronyms:
AE Acoustic Emission
ARMA Auto Regressive Moving Average
DTLTI Discrete Time Linear Time Invariant
FWHM Full Width Half Maximum
continue on next page

20
continue from previous page
LTI Linear Time Invariant
MED Minimum Entropy Deconvolution
MLD Maximum Likelihood Deconvolution
NDE Non Destructive Evaluation
NDT Non Destructive Testing
PSD Power Spectrum Density
RMS Root Mean Square
SHM Structural Health Monitoring
SMLR Single Most Likely Replacement
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

21
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Motivation

The main objective of Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is the detection and char-
acterization of defects that may compromise the integrity and the operability of a
structure. Conventional inspection can be expensive and time consuming and, very
often, the normal service of complex structures may be significantly affected. In the
last few decades the possibility of assessing continuously the integrity of complex
structures has fostered intense research in the field of Structural Health Monitoring
(SHM) and several SHM approaches based on different inspection techniques have
been proposed [1]. The basic concept of SHM consists in inspecting a structure
using permanently attached or embedded sensors.

It is evident that a reliable SHM system can potentially alter the way complex
structures are operated and maintained, because an optimal functionality can be
guaranteed minimizing the time in which the structure is out of service and re-
ducing significantly plant outage, as well as the costs associated with conventional
inspection. SHM can also be useful in estimating the remaining life of components
and can be used to assess whether their replacement is needed. Hence SHM appears
extremely attractive for a wide number of engineering applications ranging from
the aerospace industry (e.g. health monitoring of the fuselage of aircraft while in

22
 1. Introduction

service) to the chemical and power generation industries (e.g. inspection of storage
tanks, pressure vessels and pipelines). Figure 1.1 shows some possible engineering
applications for SHM.

Figure 1.1: Aerospace, oil and gas industry, chemical and power generation plants are
potential fields of application for SHM.

The feasibility of an SHM methodology is strongly dependent on the possibility of

effectively inspecting the structure from only a few locations. Furthermore, it is
crucial that the data recorded can be reliably interpreted to make damage detection
possible. In addition, the development of a reliable SHM technology poses new chal-
lenges in several different fields, such as development of smart materials, integration
of sensors with the structure to be inspected, acquisition and transmission of large
amounts of data [1, 2].

Ultrasonic guided waves offer the possibility of inspecting large areas from a small
number of sensor positions and guided wave inspection is now an established ap-
proach in NDE. In addition, it has been demonstrated that acoustic emission signals
in typical aircraft structures are a combination of the fundamental A0 and S0 modes
and that long propagation distances can be achieved [3, 4]. Guided wave inspection
is therefore attractive for the development of an SHM system for the inspection
of complex structures. However, guided wave inspection of complex structures is
difficult as the reflections from different features overlap. Hence the ultrasonic time
traces become very complicated and damage detection is a difficult task (e.g. the
reflection from the damage site can be masked by reflections coming from benign
features).

23
 1. Introduction

The main objective of this work is to enhance the detectability of defects in complex
structures and in order to make damage detection possible two different approaches
have been considered. In the first part of this project the performance of deconvolu-
tion has been evaluated. Deconvolution aims to enhance the resolution of ultrasonic
time traces in order to distinguish different wave packets for achieving damage de-
tection. Subsequently, considering that deconvolution, although very promising,
shows some important limitations for SHM applications, the need for an alternative
approach arose. Therefore considering that recent progress has been made in the
application of a Subtraction approach for SHM [5], this method was investigated.
The goal of Subtraction is to detect the presence of damage by comparing ultrasonic
signals recorded in the structure in service with reference signals obtained when the
structure was undamaged. Subtraction performance can be affected by environmen-
tal conditions, such as temperature variations. Compensation techniques have been
proposed [6, 7] to overcome the effects of temperature changes and in this work the
performance of these techniques will be evaluated also in presence of other changes.

1.2 Thesis outline

The structure of this thesis broadly follows the sequence in which research was
conducted during this work.

Chapter 2 provides background information on the field of guided wave SHM and
different methodologies are discussed. In particular, the concepts of single unit and
sparsely distributed arrays are illustrated and several applications of these two ap-
proaches found in literature are introduced. Subsequently the desirable requirements
for robust signal processing of complicated ultrasonic time traces are described.

In Chapter 3 the Deconvolution approach is introduced and a review of the most

commonly used techniques is presented. Our attention is mainly devoted to the
Wiener filter and Single Most Likely Replacement (SMLR) algorithms. These two
techniques have been extensively applied for the solution of inverse problems in
different fields. Hence these two approaches will be considered for the evaluation of

24
 1. Introduction

the Deconvolution approach for SHM.

The potential and limitations of the Deconvolution approach for SHM are presented
in Chapter 4. The performance of the Wiener filter and SMLR is evaluated on the
detection of a small signal in typical configurations for damage detection in SHM.
The effects of phase shift on deconvolution performance are also evaluated.

Chapter 5 describes the Subtraction approach for SHM and the detrimental issues for
the performance of this method are briefly introduced. Temperature Compensation
techniques are introduced and a review of their applications is presented.

In Chapter 6 the effects of liquid loading on subtraction is considered. Firstly,

numerical simulations on fluid-solid bilayers were carried out to compare the effects
of the presence of a thin liquid layer with the effects of temperature change in a
free plate. Subsequently, Temperature Compensation techniques were used in the
presence of liquid loading and it is shown that subtraction can be used to compensate
for uniform liquid loading. Experimental work was conducted to study the case of
an aluminium plate bordered by an infinite water layer and the case of an aluminium
plate coated with a thin layer of viscoelastic material.

The performance of the Subtraction approach with signals recorded in structures

comprising materials with different temperature responses is evaluated in Chap-
ter 7. An FE model of an aluminium plate with an epoxy bonded stringer has
been designed and the different temperature responses of aluminium and epoxy
have been taken into account in evaluating the performance of Temperature Com-
pensation techniques. A stringer has been bonded to an aluminium plate via high
temperature curing adhesive in order to evaluate experimentally the performance of
subtraction on a real structure with different temperature responses of materials.

Finally the major outcomes of the present thesis are presented in Chapter 8, where
general conclusions are drawn and suggestions for future work are outlined.

25
Chapter 2

An introduction to Structural
Health Monitoring

2.1 Overview

In the last few decades Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has attracted con-
siderable attention with the increasing need for the development of systems able
to monitor continuously the structural integrity of complex structures. Damage
detection in the structure by visual inspection or by conventional nondestructive
techniques can be prohibitive for many reasons, such as the inaccessibility of some
areas. In addition, conventional nondestructive techniques can be quite demanding
in terms of the time required for the inspection which results in a prolonged period
in which the structure to be monitored is not available. This problem is particularly
important in the aerospace industry and chemical and nuclear plants. To address
these issues considerable effort is currently focused on the development of convenient
SHM equipment that can effectively detect the occurrence of damage in the struc-
ture and can provide information regarding the location and the severity of damage
and possibly about the remaining life of the structure. An SHM system, able to con-
tinuously assess the health of a structure, can potentially change the way in which
safety critical structures are monitored and maintained over their lifetimes, reduc-

26
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

ing significantly the duration of the period in which the structure to be inspected
is out of service. Therefore the development of an efficient SHM system is crucial
for the opportunity of maintaining a continuous assessment of the integrity of the
structure, in order to facilitate the detection of critical defects and the observation
of the growing of pre-existing cracks, originally below the critical size. The purpose
of this Chapter is to specify the main features of a guided wave SHM system and the
requirements to make this kind of equipment competitive with traditional inspection
methods. The concept of SHM can be applied to several industrial fields; without
loss of generality we will be especially oriented to the description of a monitoring
system for structures of interest in aerospace industry. The issues related to the
integration of an SHM system with the aircraft structure will be discussed next.

2.2 Aircraft design and Structural Health Moni-

toring

A typical example of a complex structure of interest for SHM is shown in fig-

ure 2.1 [3]. This structure can be regarded as a schematic approximation of a
real fuselage of an aircraft and presents a high density of different structural fea-
tures. In particular the fuselage of an aircraft is characterized by the presence of
ribs and stiffeners which constitute the fundamental elements of the framework of
the aircraft. We can observe also the presence of drilled holes and other structural
features that further complicate the geometry of the structure.

A very good summary of the issues related to the design of an aircraft with respect to
its operational environment and the integration of an SHM system can be found in
Boller [2]. Here it is sufficient to stress that the main prerequisite in structural design
is represented by the capability of the structure to withstand the operational loads
over its design life. To account for the negative effects of missing knowledge about
material properties, manufacturing technology and operational loads an increase in
inspection effort is required. On the basis of the geometry of the damage observed,

27
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

Figure 2.1: Schematic representation of an airframe structure [3].

it is possible to estimate the fatigue life using fracture mechanics models combined
with standard loading sequences. However, this procedure is efficient only when
the critical fatigue locations are well known. In addition nondestructive evaluation
can have a significant impact on operational cost, due to the periods in which the
aircraft is out of operation. Therefore it is very important to achieve automation and
integration of sensing elements with the structural components. Furthermore robust
signal processing is required for the correct interpretation of the signals recorded by
an SHM system. This is the reason why several studies in SHM are currently focused
in the smart materials research field and in devising convenient techniques suitable
for the signal processing.

Taking advantage of the unceasing improvements in sensor technology, signal pro-

cessing and smart materials, an SHM system for aircraft could be able in the future
to make NDT techniques an integral part of the structure to be monitored, reducing
significantly the cost of man-powered inspection [2]. The fundamental principle of
such an SHM system is to have sensors placed on the more critical areas of the
structure under inspection. The sensors will evaluate the integrity of the structure

28
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

in a nondestructive fashion and if the information gathered is conveniently processed

it is possible to decide whether the severity of damage is such as to compromise the
operability and the integrity of the structure.

According to their operational strategy SHM systems can be divided in two main
groups that in the following will be termed passive SHM and active SHM systems.
A passive SHM system is based on detecting changes in a chosen property of the
structure in a passive way. Typical examples are given by the detection of strain
fields induced by crack growth, of changes in the vibration characteristics, or of
cyclically-operating structures due to growth of defects. The main difference between
a passive and an active SHM system is represented by the fact that in the latter
the sensors are directly excited and the excitation is therefore transmitted to the
structure. The response of the structure to this excitation represents the information
to be measured and evaluated in order to obtain information regarding the integrity
of the structure. An example of this approach is provided by the vibration based
techniques in which the structure is excited with a pulse and the vibration modes are
evaluated by response measurements in the structure with accelerometers placed at
strategic positions [8]. The two different approaches for the design of a Structural
Health Monitoring system will be further discussed in the following sections. In
particular the next section will describe briefly the application of passive systems
for SHM and subsequently our attention will be concentrated on the application of
active systems for the monitoring of complex structures.

2.3 Passive systems for Structural Health Moni-

toring: Acoustic Emission

Among the passive SHM systems, Acoustic Emission (AE) represents the most ex-
tensively used technique for defect detection on complex structures [9]. The basic
idea is that crack propagation and the growth of a pre-existing defect, including
corrosion [10], generates waves which can propagate in the structure and can be

29
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

received by sensors located several metres away from the source with sufficient am-
plitude. The successful reception of these waves by sparsely distributed sensors
shows the signals are propagating across several features in the structure; hence a
study of acoustic emission is also a good starting point for better understanding of
the issues related to an active guided wave SHM system. In particular, fundamen-
tal work which describes the propagation of guided waves in plates is reported by
Gorman [11]. In this work acoustic emission signals were conveniently simulated
experimentally both in an aluminium plate and in a composite plate. The velocity
of the waves propagating in the structure were comparable with the theoretical val-
ues for the fundamental flexural mode (A0 ) and the fundamental extensional mode
(S0 ). In particular, the results showed good agreement for the S0 mode and some
discrepancy for the A0 mode, especially for the composite plates. This is essentially
due to the fact that the A0 mode is dispersive at low frequencies and especially in
composite structures. The phenomenon of dispersion is the dependence of phase
velocity on frequency and it is in general responsible for an increase in the time
duration of a signal and therefore in a more difficult detection of different echoes
in a time trace. A typical example of the dispersion curves for phase and group
velocity is shown in figures 2.2a and 2.2b respectively. The dispersion curves have
been obtained using the software DISPERSE [12].

Figure 2.2: Dispersion curves for a steel plate. a)Phase Velocity, b)Group Velocity.

Another study on the propagating modes observed in AE has been presented by

Dalton et al. in [3]. The results of this work confirmed the prediction made by
Gorman, observing that generally a combination of the fundamental symmetric and

30
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

anti-symmetric S0 and A0 modes represents typical AE signals. Experiments were

undertaken on a 1.2 mm thick aluminium plate and signals were generated in a
similar fashion as in [11]. The authors also identified the frequency range where the
energy of the signals is concentrated. For both modes, the peak energy of the signal
is centred around 65-70 kHz. This work also demonstrates that acoustic emission
signals can effectively propagate long distances through aircraft structure and there-
fore are attractive for potential use in SHM. Several applications using the principle
of the AE technique based on guided wave analysis have been considered. An ex-
ample of AE systems incorporating guided wave analysis signal processing can be
found in [13]. An AE system which can detect impact of high speed debris on the
space shuttle wing leading edge was developed recently by NASA [14]. AE analy-
sis has been used successfully in a wide range of applications including: detecting
and locating faults in pressure vessels or leakage in storage tanks or pipe systems,
monitoring welding applications and detection of corrosion patches. One of its ad-
vantages is represented by the possibility of observing the damage processes during
the entire load history. Although potentially attractive and widely used for investi-
gation of complex structures, AE presents some relevant drawbacks which restrain
its application in SHM. In particular it is important to stress that AE is highly sensi-
tive to noise or background noise interference, which are especially severe in aircraft
applications [15]. More importantly, many damage types, such as failure in ductile
materials, give very low sound emission, making impractical reliable application of
the AE technique [9]. In addition commercial AE systems cannot estimate quanti-
tatively the severity of the damage in the structure; hence other NDE methods are
required for a complete examination of the structure under inspection in order to
provide quantitative results.

31
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

2.4 Active systems for Structural Health Moni-

toring: Guided wave SHM systems

Among the active SHM systems used to evaluate complex structures the most stud-
ied are those based on vibration mode analysis and on the use of sound waves (either
guided waves or bulk waves) [2]. Both use sensors to transmit an excitation to the
structure and to gather information on the integrity by analyzing the response.
Since ultrasonic guided waves can propagate for long distances they offer the possi-
bility of inspecting large areas from a small number of sensor positions. The main
idea is to measure and evaluate the reflections of these waves from features or from
defects through convenient signal processing techniques making possible the loca-
tion of defects and the assessment of the effective integrity of the structure. The
sensors employed in guided wave-based systems are generally used both as emitters
and receivers of sound waves. The inspection strategies for SHM are based on the
conventional NDT techniques of inspection in pitch-catch mode or pulse echo mode.
Different concepts of sensor arrays have been proposed and some examples will be
discussed in the following sections. There are several cases of successful guided wave
inspection systems developed for the inspection of structures that are characterized
by their relative simplicity and low feature density, such as pipes, rails, plates and
small structures, which will be discussed in the next sections. These systems allow
the operator to detect the location of damage in the structure. Although these
structures are fairly simple, they can be considered a good idealisation for the de-
sign of an SHM system which could be also employed for the inspection of complex
structures.

2.4.1 Single mode transduction for an active Guided wave

SHM system

The choice of which guided wave mode to use in any inspection system and over what
frequency range is of crucial importance. In particular when the feature density is

32
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

quite high as in an airframe (figure 2.1), the classical strategy is to increase the
inspection frequency so that the wavelength is reduced, in order to obtain discrete
echoes from successive features. Initial work on this strategy has been conducted
at Imperial College [4] and unfortunately it has been demonstrated that the modes
propagating in typical aircraft structures in the high frequency range (high order
modes, see figure 2.2) are very complex and that it was not possible to obtain
reliable propagation across a succession of typical stiffeners and joints. However,
it has been shown that acoustic emission signals propagate long distances through
aircraft structure and are usually a combination of A0 and S0 Lamb waves in the
relatively low acoustic emission frequency regime below the cut-off frequency of the
A1 mode. Therefore the low frequency region appears the more suitable for the
excitation of an SHM system. Hence the choice of the excitation is restricted to
three possible modes (S0 , SH0 and A0 ). The S0 mode has been employed [16]
to detect corrosion patches and is attractive from the point of view of having low
attenuation in structures in contact with liquid. However, the S0 mode suffers
from an increasingly long wavelength at low frequencies, and hence lower defect
resolution. The slower SH0 mode has a correspondingly shorter wavelength, but
is difficult to excite in a simple fashion for SHM applications. The A0 mode is
commonly regarded as being highly attenuated in structures in contact with liquid
and therefore of limited applicability for long range testing. However, there is a low
frequency regime where it is not attenuated by surrounding liquid because its phase
velocity is too low to allow energy leakage. In addition, the wavelength for the A0
mode in the region of interest is always lower than the wavelengths of the S0 and
SH0 modes and therefore the A0 mode can still offer reasonably high resolution in
detection capability. An SHM system operating at low frequencies will be excited by
transducers by applying localized forces in the same direction as the characteristic
displacement of the mode to be excited. When an harmonic point force is applied
to the surface of the structure, guided waves will be produced and will propagate in
circular wave-fronts centred in the transducers.

33
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

2.4.2 Guided wave SHM arrays

SHM systems based on guided waves can be divided in two main groups with re-
spect to the concept of transducer arrays adopted. The two groups can be termed
as (i) single unit arrays, (ii) sparsely distributed arrays. Single unit arrays contain
a relatively large number of individual transducers in a single housing and typically
each element is used as a transmitter and receiver. If the response at each ele-
ment is measured when each element in turn is switched as a transmitter, focusing
techniques can be used to propagate a beam in each direction around the array, as
reported in [17]. Several projects have been conducted on the development of single
unit arrays for SHM and some of them will be discussed in the next section. The
second conceptual design for SHM arrays is represented by a distributed sparse ar-
ray of simple elements. According to this approach, point source transducers will be
distributed throughout the structure, in order to create a network of simple elements
permanently attached to the structure. The advantages of this approach compared
with the previous one can be observed in figures 2.3a and 2.3b.

Figure 2.3: a)Single unit array, b)Distributed sparse array.

A sparsely distributed array is able in principle to detect the presence of a crack

regardless of its geometry and relative position with respect to the elements of the
array. Damage location can be achieved through triangulation, since theoretically
the information from three independent sensors regarding the arrival time of the re-
flected wave from the crack is required. In addition, information from more sensors
can be combined to improve damage location; an example is reported in [18] where
Beard and Chang report how to efficiently combine the information from 9 sensors

34
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

for reliable detection of damage in a filament wound composite tube. In contrast, a

permanently attached single array would encounter detection problems for defects
lying along certain orientations (e.g. parallel to the direction of propagation of the
guided waves), or in the case of a deployable single array several different inspection
positions would be required in order to identify the presence of a defect; a sparsely
distributed array would allow several different sensors to receive signals from a single
transmitter, so there would be a combination of transmitter-receiver for every crack
orientation. However, since the amplitude of the reflections coming from a defect
is dependent on the angle of incidence of the guided waves, it is still possible to
have detection problems, especially in correspondence of those angles of incidence
for which the reflectivity is null. In addition, the performance of distributed sparse
arrays can be strongly dependent on the environmental conditions, such as temper-
ature variations and surface conditions of the structure under inspection. There are
other practical advantages in using a sparsely distributed array for SHM instead of
a single unit array. An element in a sparsely distributed array is a single channel de-
vice which requires relatively straightforward electronics compared to the electronics
needed by a multi-element deployable array. In addition, for the coverage of a given
area the number of distributed sensor elements required is lower than the number
of elements required in a single array unit. As reported in [17], damage localisation
with a single array unit is necessarily based on beam steering, which requires the
array to be several wavelengths in diameter and to contain a minimum number of
elements per wavelength and consequently the exciting and receiving routines and
the correct phasing between the transducers can become extremely complex.

2.4.3 Single unit arrays for SHM

Several studies have been carried out on SHM systems based on guided waves using
arrays of transducers assembled in a single unit, which is supposed to be attached
to the structure when periodical inspection is required. Intense work has been con-
ducted in the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) group at Imperial College on the
inspection of pipes and rails [19–21], which can be considered as mono-dimensional

35
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

structures from the guided wave point of view. These studies have resulted in
the development of equipment commercially used in different industrial fields. The
research activity of the NDT group has also led to the development of single unit
arrays for the inspection of large plate-like structures. An example is reported in [17]
where the authors describe the design of a novel electromagnetic acoustic transducer
(EMAT) array and discuss issues related to mode selectivity, the design and the lay-
out of the elements and the instrumentation required. The array was realized using
non-contact pancake coil point-source EMATs, disposed on two concentric circles;
the inner circle contains 16 transmitter and 32 receivers are placed on the outer
circle. The data received are simultaneously processed using a phased addition al-
gorithm [22]. The time taken to perform a test, including acquisition, processing
and data transfer was less than one minute. The array was tested experimentally
on several plates with different thicknesses, surface conditions and artificial defects.
The sensitivity of the equipment allowed the authors to detect different morphologies
of defects and the results demonstrate the feasibility of using a guided wave EMAT
array for rapid inspection of large areas of steel plate structures. More recently
another prototype of a guided ultrasonic wave array has been developed as result of
the efforts of the NDT group at Imperial College [23]. In this work the description
of the entire process of design, construction and testing of the single unit array has
been reported. The proposed array consists of 32 transducers for the excitation and
the measurement of the fundamental A0 mode. The transducers are placed on a
ring inside a compact housing which also hosts the required electronics. Unlike the
array described in [17] this system has been designed in order to be permanently
attached to the structure. The A0 mode is excited in the low frequency region, in
particular in the 0.5 MHz·mm to 1.2 MHz·mm range. Although the A0 mode is
strongly dispersive at these frequencies (figure 2.2), it has the advantage of being
characterized by a short wavelength which is desirable for improving the resolution
and the sensitivity of the system to defects. The problem of dispersion can be over-
come by means of a convenient signal processing technique, such as the dispersion
compensation approach described by Wilcox in [24]. Dispersion compensation was
used in conjunction with a phased-addition algorithm in order to process the data

36
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

of the array in the wavenumber domain. The array was tested on a 5-mm thick steel
plate for the detection of various artificial defects. Although, due to limitations of
transducer performance, the overall dynamic range was limited to 27 dB, the defects
were clearly visible and the work conducted indicates how further investigations on
transducer design and manufacturing can potentially lead to an improvement of the
dynamic range, thus resulting in a better detection of small defects. Other groups
have been extensively working on projects similar to the single units previously
described. An example is reported in [25] where a compact sensor configuration
comprising a single transmitter and multiple receivers has been proposed for SHM
of large isotropic plate structures. The receivers are arranged in a circle, while the
transmitter is placed in the centre of the array. The signal processing is similar
to the approach proposed in [23]. A prototype has been experimentally tested to
reconstruct the profile of circular holes drilled in plates, obtaining good agreement
between the position of the reconstructed hole and its actual location. Another
example of a single unit array for SHM is reported in [26]. It is based on the “differ-
ence of time of flight” technique and it has been employed for the detection of linear
cracks in plates. A deployable grid of piezoelectric transducers in a square configu-
ration is used to scan the plate to identify the location of a crack. On the basis of
the time of flight technique, elliptical loci of possible crack positions are determined
and the position of the crack can be approximately estimated by the intersection
of at least three ellipses. Once the position of the crack has been detected, length
and orientation can be estimated from measurements of the energy of the reflected
signal from the crack, moving the grid of sensors in the area where the damage has
been detected.

2.4.4 Distributed sparse arrays for SHM

Whereas activity in the development of single unit array is a well established research
field in SHM, the development of a sparse distributed array of simple elements for
SHM represents a relatively new area of investigation and poses new challenges in
terms of miniaturization and integration of the sensor elements with the structure

37
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

and in terms of efficient signal processing techniques able to treat the amount of
data recorded by the sensors. A feasibility study [27] about the possibility of using
a distributed array of guided wave sensors to monitor an entire structure has been
conducted at the University of Bristol. A distributed array was created by bonding
15 piezoelectric transducers to a 1500 × 750 × 3 mm aluminium plate. A refer-
ence data set was collected from all 210 possible pairings of transmit and receive
sensors and by means of a simple imaging algorithm a map of the reflected energy
amplitude as a function of position on the structure was obtained. Immediately
after the reference data was collected, an artificial defect was introduced into the
structure and a second set of data was recorded and processed in the same manner
to obtain a second image. Coherent noise, due to a combination of reflections from
the plate edges and the presence of multiple wave modes, was observable in both
images. Therefore it was not possible to distinguish the reflection from the defect
in the second image. However, subtraction of the reference image from the second
image yields a new image with a clear indication of the defect at its correct location.
The defect signal amplitude and level of coherent noise (around -40 dB) represent
reasonable values for a guided wave inspection system. This work clearly demon-
strates the potential of the proposed technique, but also indicates some of the major
issues that must be addressed for the technique to be reliably applied to real struc-
tures. For instance, signals of unknown origin were observed, despite the experiment
being conducted under laboratory conditions and on a very simple structure. These
signals complicate further the interpretation of the data and can cause false alarms
in the integrity assessment of a real structure. Another major issue is represented
by sensor density, that in this experiment was higher than reasonable values for
practical applications. Therefore it is important to decrease the number of sensors
required while maintaining acceptable standards of sensitivity and coverage.

An interesting work on quantitative optimization of the number of sensors and their

location in an ultrasonic guided wave network is reported in [28]. The authors
demonstrated that there is a trade-off between the overall network performance,
number of sensors and the performance of each individual sensor. Specifically, the
probability of mis-detection decreases with the number of transducers and the trend

38
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

is affected by the individual sensor performance. Once the optimal performance

for each transducer has been specified, the total number of transducers in the net-
work and their placement can be obtained. Another recent piece of work on sparse
array approach for SHM of critical structures is reported in [29]. In particular,
the authors propose a method to detect and approximately locate damaged regions
by analyzing signals recorded from a permanently mounted array of transducers.
Subsequently, follow-up inspections can be performed using an external ultrasonic
transducer to scan the suspected damaged areas; the external transducer is acting
as receiver while the in situ sensors are the emitters. This method can be imple-
mented in many cases also with the structure in service. In addition it simplifies the
scanning hardware requirements and provides sensitivity comparable with conven-
tional ultrasonic inspections. Another study of spatially distributed array for in situ
location of defects in large plate-like structures has been proposed by Michaels [30].
The approach proposed is based on the use of broadband Lamb waves and in the
continuous monitoring of the received signals, in order to achieve damage location.
In particular several signals were recorded for different frequencies and for all the
possible transmitter-receiver pairs; the signal were conveniently combined for gen-
erating several images for the same structural state. The combination of several
images result in an improved damage detection. Another piece of work conducted
by Michaels [31] is based on the generation of two dimensional images of plate-like
structures by means of tomographic and phased array methods. The images are
obtained combining the signals recorded by a sparse array of distributed ultrasonic
transducers. This approach has been used for damage detection problems in alu-
minium plates by comparing the image obtained for the undamaged plate with the
image obtained after small drilled holes have been introduced as artificial defects.
An approach based on the use of guided wave tomographic techniques and perma-
nently installed transducers has been proposed by Gao et al. for the SHM of an
aircraft wing [32]. In this work 8 piezoelectric sensors were placed on a circle on an
aircraft wing and the area inside the circle was continuously monitored. With this
approach it was possible to detect the presence and the progression of an artificial
defect introduced in proximity of one of the rivets. Another example of guided wave

39
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

system for SHM of an aircraft wing is reported by Zhao et al. in [33]. In this work
it is observed that although large area inspections are difficult due to strong atten-
uation, it was possible to achieve the approximate location of cracks and corrosion
using small piezoelectric discs attached in some parts of the wings in order to create
relatively sparse arrays. The localisation of the defects was obtained by means of
correlation analysis based on the assumption that the probability of a defect oc-
currence is related to the changes observed in the time trace recorded by a pair of
transducers.

Significant effort has been also devoted to the integration of SHM system with
the structure to be inspected. An interesting work, proposed by Giurgiutiu [34],
is based on the use of piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) that can be di-
rectly mounted on the surface of plate-like structures or even embedded between
layers of composite structures. These transducers were used in both pitch-catch
and pulse-echo configurations to generate/receive Lamb wave modes and were used
successfully for crack detection also on a real aircraft panel [35]. An important
step in the integration of SHM system with complex structure is represented by the
SMART layer developed by Acellent Technologies Inc. in collaboration with Stan-
ford University [36]. The layer can be mounted on existing structure or integrated
into composite structures providing built-in nondestructive assessment of the inter-
nal and external integrity of the structure. The SMART layer consists of a network
of piezoelectric elements supported on a flexible printed circuit substrate. In this
way a whole array of sensors can be embedded in the structure and issues related
to the integration of the monitoring system are significantly reduced. In addition,
by exploiting the flexibility of the printed circuit technique, a large variety of size,
shapes and complexity are possible for the SMART layer. Basic shapes include a cir-
cular and three-dimensional shell [37]. Furthermore the printed circuits guarantee a
very good integration because they are able to deform with the structure. Following
the pioneering work on the SMART layer, an interesting project for the development
of a hybrid piezoelectric-fibre optical diagnostic system for aerospace structures has
been proposed by Qing et al [38]. A more complex SMART layer, containing a
network of piezoelectric elements and fibre gratings, is used in the same fashion as

40
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

the system described in [36] to evaluate the integrity of metallic and complex struc-
tures. Piezoelectric actuators input a controlled excitation to the structure and fibre
optical sensors are used for monitoring the corresponding structural response. With
this approach decoupling between input and output signals can be achieved, since
the piezoelectric transducers use electrical channels and the fibre optical sensors use
optical means. This equipment can be used to perform in situ detection of structural
defects and damage including delaminations and corrosion.

2.5 Signal processing for Structural Health Mon-

itoring

From what has been previously reported we can deduce that SHM is an attrac-
tive research field of continuously growing importance and it can potentially modify
the way in which complex structures are designed, operated and maintained during
their lifetimes. We observed that ultrasonic guided waves offer the possibility of
inspecting large areas from a small number of sensor positions, since they can prop-
agate over long distance. Therefore guided waves represent a promising means for
the inspection of complex structures and their characteristics have been extensively
studied in conventional nondestructive evaluation. However, inspection of complex
structures is difficult as the reflections from different features overlap. Estimating
the number and amplitude of the wave packets contained in ultrasonic time traces is
therefore crucial for the development of a successful guided wave inspection system,
in order to enable damage to be detected and located by identifying changes in the
measured signal over time. Therefore an appropriate and robust signal processing
tool for Structural Health Monitoring must be able to resolve closely spaced events
and to distinguish reflections due to the presence of a defect from reflections caused
by structural features. Other desired requirements for signal processing algorithms
to be applied in SHM, can be briefly listed as follows [39]:

• Ability to reduce the noise on the damage estimate;

41
 2. An introduction to Structural Health Monitoring

• Capability of enhancing the SNR in the data, for instance removing distortion
introduced by the measurement channel;

• Robustness to modelling error, since material properties, noise characteris-

tics and other variables may be only approximately known and therefore the
algorithms should be able to cope with the related uncertainties;

• High flexibility and easy implementation for handling the signal processing of
large amounts of data recorded at sensors embedded in the structure.

The main objective of this work is to devise suitable signal processing techniques
that can be effectively used to retrieve useful information about the integrity of a
complex structure monitored by a sparse distributed array of piezoelectric sensors.

Several methods have been proposed as potential candidates for SHM. In this work
we will examine the performance of two possible methods: Signal Deconvolution
and Signal Subtraction.

The first approach has been extensively applied for the solution of inverse problems
in different fields, such as geophysical prospecting, oil exploration and seismology.
Due to the similarities between the problems tackled in these fields with the typical
problems encountered in guided waves inspection, Signal Deconvolution appears as
a promising approach for SHM and its performance with ultrasonic signals will be
evaluated in Chapter 4.

Signal Subtraction relies on the possibility of gathering information about the in-
tegrity of a structure from the observation of changes in the measured ultrasonic
signals over time. The simple subtraction of a baseline obtained from the undamaged
structure from a signal recorded from the structure in operating conditions should
provide in principle a reliable means for detecting the appearance of a defect. How-
ever, several issues (such as changes of environmental conditions and temperature
variations) prevent Subtraction approach from being efficiently employed for SHM
in the simple and intuitive manner previously described. The application of this
approach to SHM will be considered in Chapter 5.

42
Chapter 3

Literature Review on
Deconvolution techniques

3.1 Introduction

Several physical phenomena can be described by the methods of Linear Time In-
variant (LTI) systems theory. When the LTI theory is applicable, the underlying
physical process is usually described as the response of an LTI system to some phys-
ical source excitation. The corresponding mathematical model is composed of an
input (the source excitation), an impulse response (the LTI system function), and an
output (the physical process) [40]. The process of convolution transforms the input
into the output by the LTI impulse response. The convolution process is described
by the following convolution integral:
Z +∞
y(t) = h(τ )x(t − τ )dτ (3.1)
−∞

which is usually written briefly as:

y(t) = h(t) ∗ x(t) (3.2)

where the symbol ∗ indicates the convolution operation between h(t) and x(t). Equa-
tion 3.1 can be used to express how the input x(t) is transformed into the output

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 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

y(t) by means of the impulse response h(t). For instance in a typical nondestruc-
tive evaluation problem, the recorded ultrasonic time trace y(t) is the result of the
convolution process between the input signal x(t) and the impulse response h(t) of
the structure under inspection.

Ultrasonic time trace Impulse response Input signal

= ∗

y (t ) = h(t ) ∗ x(t )

Figure 3.1: Convolution process in nondestructive evaluation.

Let us now consider the inverse problem of trying to evaluate h(t) when x(t) and
y(t) are known. From equation 3.2 we observe that the convolution of y(t) with a
function q(t):

y(t) ∗ q(t) = h(t) ∗ x(t) ∗ q(t) (3.3)

would be equal to h(t) if

x(t) ∗ q(t) = δ(t) (3.4)

In the previous equation δ(t) is the Dirac delta function. If equation 3.4 is satis-
fied, then equation 3.3 gives h(t) and problem of the determination of the impulse
response can be solved. The function q(t) is called a deconvolution filter, since it
unravels the input x(t) from the output y(t). Deconvolution plays an important
role in the identification of physical systems. This problem is concerned with the
development of robust and stable algorithms in order to produce accurate deconvo-
lution filters. Several deconvolution techniques have been proposed in the literature
in order to tackle this problem, especially in geophysical exploration, oil and gas
industry and seismology. For any process of deconvolution we need to consider a
physical model that takes into account both known and unknown factors. An exam-
ple of the application of model based filtering techniques in NDE has been proposed

44
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

by Challis et al. for measuring the acoustic impedance of adhesive and for detect-
ing void-disbond in adhesive joints [41]. The main purpose of this Chapter is to
provide an overview of the most popular deconvolution approaches that have been
proposed in the literature and that have been considered suitable for solution of
inverse problems in different fields.

3.2 Causality, Stability and Minimum phase prop-

erties

A Discrete Time Linear Time Invariant (DTLTI) system is characterized by its

impulse response h(n), where n is the discrete index for the variable time. The
corresponding z-transform, indicated in the following by H(z), represents the system
transfer function [40]. We assume that h(n) is a causal sequence and therefore
h(n) = 0 for n < 0. In addition, we assume that H(z) can be described as an
Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) system:

B(z)
H(z) = (3.5)
A(z)

where B(z) and A(z) are polynomials in the negative powers of z given by:

B(z) = b0 + b1 z −1 + · · · + bM z −M (3.6)

A(z) = a0 + a1 z −1 + · · · + aN z −N (3.7)

with M ≥ 0 and N > M .

It is possible to demonstrate that h(n) is a stable and causal sequence if the cor-
responding transfer function H(z) has no poles outside or on the unit circle in the
complex z-plane. Therefore all the zeros of the A(z) must lie inside the unit cir-
cle [42]. We can observe at this point that the location of the zeroes of the B(z)
does not have to be specified for the stability of H(z). However, the location of the
zeroes of B(z) is important for the definition of another property often encountered
in deconvolution and inverse problems, the concept of minimum phase. A DTLTI is

45
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

called minimum phase if its transfer function H(z) has no zeroes outside or on the
unit circle in the complex z-plane. From what has been previously stated and con-
sidering equation 3.5, we can observe that if a system H(z) satisfies the minimum
phase property, then the inverse system H −1 (z) has no poles outside or on the unit
circle and therefore is stable and causal.

3.3 Least squares deconvolution

Least squares deconvolution is a well established approach for signal processing of

seismic reflection data and it has been extensively applied to improve the temporal
resolution and to remove short-period reverberations in geophysical recorded time
traces [43, 44]. The origin of this approach goes back to the pioneering work of Nor-
bert Wiener who developed a statistical process to separate signals from noise [45].
The process was originally known as smoothing or prediction filtering. The inverse
process of prediction filtering was formerly called decomposition and later deconvo-
lution [46]. The approach based on the Wiener filter has also been termed predictive
deconvolution and it constitutes the keystone of many current deconvolution meth-
ods. The application of the least-squares deconvolution approach consists of the
design of a convenient Wiener filter which attempts to shape the raw data into the
desired output by minimizing the mean squared error. As reported by Peacock and
Treitel in their fundamental work [47], the Wiener filter has been widely used to
deconvolve reverberating pulse trains in a series of spike-like impulses (reflectivity).
More generally it is possible to consider the Wiener filter as a suitable method for
removing repetitive events having specified periodicity and for the suppression of
rather complex reverberation patterns. A more exhaustive discussion of the general
properties of the digital Wiener filter has been provided by Robinson and Treitel
in [48]. This method is based on the design of a deconvolution filter able to min-
imize the mean squared error between the desired output and the actual output
of the filter. Once the expression of the least squares error has been formulated,
it can be minimized by setting its partial derivatives equal to zero with respect to
the unknown filter coefficients. These equations, also known as Wiener-Hopf equa-

46
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

tions, can be efficiently solved by means of the iterative Levinson algorithm [49].
A more detailed mathematical description of the prediction filtering will be given
in Chapter 4, where the formulation in both time and frequency domains will be
derived. At this point it is sufficient to stress the two fundamental hypotheses of
this approach: the underlying reflectivity is assumed to be random and white, and
the input wavelet is assumed to be minimum phase. Several studies have been
conducted on the evaluation of least squares deconvolution for geophysical applica-
tions and as observed in [50], standard Wiener deconvolution proved to be robust
in terms of performance under a variety of different input wavelets and signal dis-
tortions, although the performance can be significantly degraded if the input signal
is not minimum phase [50, 51]. A detailed study on the accuracy of the Wiener
filter for enhancing the resolution of seismic events is reported in [52], where the
effects of noise on bandwidth and temporal resolution are also taken into account.
The applicability of the Wiener filter as a suitable method for the solution of in-
verse problems has been evaluated in a wide range of applications. In particular the
Wiener filter has often been employed for the improvement of blurred images. An
example of this application can be found in [53] where the authors described how
the Wiener filter can be used for the restoration of degraded images, through an
iterative estimation of their autocorrelation matrix. In addition, issues related to
the convergence of the iterative process are considered and a possible approach to
ensure the convergence of the iterative process is also presented. The Wiener filter
in combination with regularization techniques has been applied to the enhancement
of astronomical images as reported in [54]. An example is reported in [55] where
a study of different parametric versions of the Wiener filter is considered for image
restoration in astronomical applications. The Wiener filter has also been used in
the speech enhancement as reported in [56]. In this work both the iterative and non
iterative formulations of the Wiener filter have been considered as suitable means for
the estimation of speech signals in noisy environments. In addition, generalizations
of the Wiener filter taken from the context of image restoration have been proposed
for speech enhancement. Recently a non iterative method based on the Wiener fil-
ter has been proposed for improvement of speech signals in noisy environments [57].

47
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

This approach employs a time-varying parameter for the suppression of the noise;
in this way it is possible to suppress those components of the frequency spectrum of
the signal where speech is not likely to be present and to enhance the components
of the spectrum where speech signal is predominant. The formulation of the Wiener
filter in the frequency domain has also been proposed for nondestructive evaluation.

An interesting application for the estimation of the scattering amplitude of flaws

by removing the effect of the measurement system in the presence of noise can be
found in [58]. The potential of Wiener filtering for image processing applications in
NDE is described in [59] where the limitations and the problems that can occur have
also been considered. A possible drawback, essentially due to the implicit cyclical
assumption of the FFT algorithm, is the edge effect which can corrupt the edge of
the image being processed. Another problem is represented by the introduction of
ripples that can mask subtle features present in the image. More recently Honarvar
et al. [60] proposed an interesting application of the Wiener filter in combination
with Autoregressive (AR) spectral extrapolation for improving the resolution of
ultrasonic time traces. A brief description of the AR spectral extrapolation and its
applications for NDE is given in the next section.

3.4 Autoregressive spectral extrapolation

Autoregressive spectral extrapolation has been used in several studies in combination

with different deconvolution techniques, in order to improve the performance of the
inversion process. Some applications in ultrasonic NDE can be found in [61, 62]; in
particular it has been observed that using AR spectral extrapolation can improve
significantly the performance of the Wiener filter in ultrasonic applications [63].
The combination of AR spectral extrapolation and Wiener filter has been used by
Honarvar et al. [60] for resolving overlapping echoes and for improving the resolution
of ultrasonic time traces with low signal to noise ratio. It has been observed that
the application of the autoregressive spectral extrapolation enhances significantly
the results obtained by the Wiener filter, providing a better time resolution of the

48
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

deconvolved signal. The method of the AR spectral extrapolation is based on the

following principle: once the deconvolved signal is obtained, it is assumed that the
part of the deconvolved spectrum with high signal to noise ratio can be represented
by an AR process [64]; the remaining part of the spectrum is therefore extrapolated
on the basis of this assumption, starting from the frequency window where the signal
to noise ratio is high. This procedure provides a broadband spectrum that should
be reasonably flat and, therefore, representative of an impulse response consisting of
a number of delta functions. However, some limitations of this approach need to be
considered. The performance of this method is dependent on the order of the AR
model used for the interpolation of the part of the deconvolved spectrum with high
signal to noise ratio; in addition the detrimental effects of the frequency window
chosen for the extrapolation of the spectrum can be significant and they cannot be
easily compensated. These limitations as well as the difficulties introduced by the
arbitrary selection of some parameters involved in the AR spectral extrapolation
can limit significantly the practical application of this approach [60].

3.5 Maximum likelihood deconvolution

Maximum Likelihood Deconvolution (MLD) represents a promising approach to de-

convolution. This method was developed by J. M. Mendel and co-workers in the
early 1980s for geophysical applications. This approach can estimate simultaneously
an input wavelet as well as statistical parameters and detect spike locations, provid-
ing the estimation of the reflectivity sequence. With respect to the input wavelet,
it is important to observe that the assumption of minimum phase is not required.
This technique is based on a state variable model for the noisy data and a sparse
spike-train model for the sequence of reflectors to be detected. As reported in [65]
the estimation of the unknown parameters is obtained by means of suitable detec-
tors in the framework of a Bayesian approach. The inverse problem is formulated
as an estimation problem where on the basis of the “a priori” information available
a likelihood function is obtained and the estimation of the unknown variables is
achieved by maximizing the likelihood function with respect to the unknown vari-

49
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

ables. The Single Most Likely Replacement (SMLR) [66], which will be described
more in detail in Chapter 4, represents the fundamental detector for MLD. This de-
tector is designed to estimate iteratively a sequence of event locations, in such a way
that a likelihood function always increases. On the basis of this method, successive
improvements have been considered in order to enhance its performance and some
examples are reported in [67]. In this paper two detection algorithms are proposed
in order to correct problems sometimes observed in deconvolution by SMLR, such as
splitting of the estimated event or slight shifting of the estimated events. By means
of the application of these more advanced detectors in different configurations, a
better estimation of the reflectivity can be achieved, reducing also the occurrence of
false alarms (location of events in wrong position). The SMLR algorithm has been
the key technique for the development of other MLD detectors and a comparative
study of some procedures based on the SMLR algorithm can be found in [68]. In
addition, other techniques based on MLD have originated from the SMLR and some
examples can be found in [69]. More recently, Kaaresen has developed an algorithm
which allows more complicated transitions than SMLR. By means of this method
an initial configuration is iteratively improved through a number of small changes
in the set of positions where events are expected [70]. This method has been pro-
posed for non destructive evaluation of layered media containing a limited number
of abrupt impedance changes [71].

3.6 Minimum entropy deconvolution

Minimum entropy deconvolution (MED) is one of the most recent approaches to the
deconvolution problem and has been proposed by Wiggins [72] with the purpose of
separating the different components of a signal. The advantages claimed for this
method are that MED does not need strong hypotheses over the components and it
is based on the concept of simplicity of the output. The degree of simplicity is mea-
sured by the varimax norm introduced in [73], which can be considered as a measure
of “spikiness” of a time trace; in fact its maximum value for any time series is 1 and
occurs only when the time series consists only of a single spike. On the basis of the

50
 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

varimax norm an iterative algorithm is derived for the computation of a deconvo-

lution filter. The method does not require any phase assumptions about the input
signal and searches for a deconvolved output which consists of the smallest number
of large spikes consistent with the input data. An improvement to this method has
been proposed by Ooe and Ulrych [73]. They observed that the efficiency of MED
can be improved when an exponential transformation is incorporated into the al-
gorithm. This is particularly true when the input traces contain additive noise. In
this case the noise suppression characteristics of MED are considerably enhanced by
the exponential transformation, and the identification of smaller spikes is enhanced.
This paper also presents a kurtosis criterion of simplicity instead of the varimax
norm introduced by Wiggins. A different approach has been suggested in [74] where
on the basis of the geometrical analysis of the varimax norm a new criterion (the
D-norm) for simplicity is assumed. One of the most remarkable characteristics of
this criterion is that on its basis a non iterative algorithm for the computation of the
deconvolution filter can be obtained. Wang et al. [75] proposed a faster and more
efficient algorithm called D-norm. They pointed out that for the MED method the
result can be dependent on the initial value of the iterative method and the filters
are not unique. The D-norm criterion, on the other hand, provides a unique solu-
tion and can be very useful in overcoming the problem of the non-unique solution
of MED. The possibility of employing the MED approach to deconvolve time traces
containing phase shifted wavelets has been examined in [76] where the design of a
MED filter has been used in combination with a seismic model based on the con-
volution of a complex reflectivity (in order to take in account the phase shift) and
the analytic representation of the input wavelet. As observed by Wiggins in [77]
MED has not found many applications due to difficulties caused essentially by the
nature of the varimax function or other similar nonlinear norms and by the excessive
sensitivity of the estimated deconvolution filter to the probability distribution of the
underlying random series.

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 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

3.7 Iterative deconvolution

Iterative deconvolution techniques have been proposed in the literature for many
applications in signal processing, based on the method described in [78]. The most
important advantages of iterative deconvolution are represented by:

• A priori knowledge of the statistics of the data is usually not required;

• Constraints can be easily incorporated into the algorithm;

• The iterative process can be ended when a certain error criterion is accom-
plished.

An iterative approach to deconvolution of seismic time traces has been proposed

by LaCoste in [79]. In this paper the author introduces a successive approximation
method that operates in the time domain and is based on a simple procedure based
on the design of zero-phase shift filters. Such filters have the same phase shift for all
frequencies and their weighting coefficients are symmetrical with respect to time. In
each iteration the effect of the filter is to multiply each frequency component by the
corresponding gain factor for that particular frequency, without affecting the phase.
Under these assumptions, an estimation of the deconvolved signal can be obtained
via successive approximations and the iterative procedure can be terminated when
any undesired frequencies begin to appear. Another technique used in geophysical
applications is reported in [80], where the authors present an iterative method,
based on successive substitutions to design a stable filter in time domain. The same
technique has been used later in [81] where the authors compared the results to the
corresponding results of the Wiener filter, observing that the latter produces more
unwanted high frequency noise in the deconvolved signal.

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 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

3.8 LP -norm deconvolution

LP − norm deconvolution has been proposed as a possible alternative approach to

inverse filtering for geophysical applications. It is based on the general idea of find-
ing the parameters that provide the best linear curve fit for a generic set of data,
according to a criterion that minimizes the error between the actual data and the fit.
The deconvolution problem is usually solved within iterative constrained minimiza-
tion schemes for statistical distributions of noise and reflectivity. Depending on the
value of P , it is possible to distinguish different methods. According to Debeye et
al. [82], for practical applications the range of the possible LP − norm deconvolution
methods is narrowed to the following three possibilities:

• P = 1 (L1 − norm, least absolute value)

• P = 2 (L2 − norm, least squares)

• P = 1 and P = 2 (mixed scheme)

The first approach (P = 1) is one of the most widely used and an interesting
application is reported in [83]. In this work the authors show that, given a wavelet
and a noisy time trace, an estimation of the spike train can be obtained using the
L1 − norm or, alternatively, it is possible to extract the original input wavelet from
a received time trace when the spike train is known. Different techniques, based on
linear programming procedures, have been proposed to solve problems in the frame
of the L1 − norm and some examples can be found in [84, 85]. Barrodale et al. [86]
compared the performance of L1 and L2 schemes for a deconvolving seismic trace
by extracting spikes one at time in different configurations. The authors observed
that the L1 − norm generally performs better than the L2 − norm and they also
implemented a fast algorithm for the L1 − norm approach. In [82] it is reported that
under the assumptions of sparsely distributed reflectivity and Gaussian noise the
mixed scheme L1 −norm (reflectivity) L2 −norm (noise) performs the best and that,
in general, the maximum likelihood estimate of reflectivity, for a range of density
functions of reflectivity and noise, can be obtained by means of the corresponding

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 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

LP − norm scheme. In [82] it is also observed that the performance of LP − norm

deconvolution can also be limited by the data bandwidth and sometimes only the
well separated events are resolved.

3.9 Deconvolution approach for phase shifted sig-

nals

In geophysical applications, it is usually assumed that the received signal is rep-

resented by the convolution of an input wavelet with a series of real impulses. In
other words it is assumed that the received signal is composed of scaled versions of
the original wavelet. This assumption breaks down when the input wavelet is phase
shifted after reflection from boundaries or structural elements. Little attention has
been given to the issue of phase shift of the input signal and its effects on signal
deconvolution. The problem of estimating the arrival time of phase-shifted pulses
for geophysical problems has been considered by Levy et al. in [87]. The authors ob-
serve that the estimation of the arrival time of pulses which have been significantly
phase shifted can be very difficult due to the strong differences between the altered
waveform and the original input wavelet. Based on the deconvolution approach
described in [88] the authors address the deconvolution of pulses which have under-
gone a frequency independent phase shift. The approach proposed, termed analytic
deconvolution, is based on the analytic formulation of the convolution process de-
scribed by equation 3.2. In particular the received signal will be the real part of the
convolution between a complex reflectivity sequence and the analytic representation
of the input wavelet. The deconvolution is carried out in the frequency domain by
means of an inverse analytic filter, whose expression is similar to the formulation of
the non optimal Wiener filter. By means of this technique it is possible to estimate
the arrival times of the phase shifted pulses contained in the received signal and to
determine the phase of each reflector.

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 3. Literature Review on Deconvolution techniques

3.10 Summary

The solution of inverse problems represents a key issue in many fields and several
deconvolution techniques have been proposed in the literature as possible means for
the estimation of unknown quantities in the solution of inverse problems. In this
Chapter we have described the most popular deconvolution techniques in a brief
survey that does not claim to be exhaustive. Due to the strong similarities between
the typical problems of nondestructive evaluation and the problems encountered
in geophysical prospecting and oil exploration, it seems convenient to evaluate the
applicability of the Deconvolution approach for SHM applications.

The performance of the Deconvolution approach for SHM is evaluated in the next
Chapter, where two of the methods previously introduced will be examined:

• Wiener filter (Least squares deconvolution)

• SMLR algorithm (Maximum likelihood deconvolution)

The Wiener filter has been recommended as the most successful technique used in
oil exploration and geophysical applications and the possibility of employing this ap-
proach for deconvolution of ultrasonic signals in SHM will be evaluated. In addition,
SMLR algorithm has also been considered, due to the promising results obtained
with this technique in detecting strongly overlapped wave packets in ultrasonic sig-
nals.

55
Chapter 4

Deconvolution Approach for

Structural Health Monitoring

4.1 The Deconvolution approach

The development of a robust SHM system is one of the most challenging problems
currently tackled in the research field of nondestructive evaluation. A very impor-
tant task assigned to a guided wave SHM system is the capability of detecting the
presence of damage even in configurations where the corresponding reflection is over-
lapping with reflections coming from benign structural features. To illustrate the
grade of complexity that it is reasonable to expect in a typical SHM problem we
can consider the time trace shown in figure 4.1. Two piezoelectric transducers were
attached to the plate and operated in pitch-catch mode [89]. The input signal was
a 5 cycle Hanning windowed toneburst, 20 kHz centre frequency and the A0 mode
was generated. The monitoring time was chosen in order to record the multiple
reflections coming from the edges of the plate. The time trace is complicated by the
presence of strongly overlapping echoes. Although this time trace has been recorded
on a simple plate, it is very complicated and can be considered representative of the
typical signals that would be recorded in the inspection of a complex structure.

In conventional nondestructive evaluation the presence of a defect can be detected

56
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

because different wave packets in the ultrasonic signals are well separated and it is
possible to discriminate between structural features and defects without a baseline
(signal obtained when the structure was not defective). However, standard NDT
techniques cannot be successfully applied in SHM since signals in complex structures
are strongly overlapping.

11
Amplitude
LinearAmplitude
Linear

-1
-1
0 Time [ms] 5

Figure 4.1: Time trace recorded in a 1000 × 1000 × 5 mm aluminium plate.

The idea suggested by the deconvolution approach is to compress the temporal

duration of individual pulses in order to make it possible to separate them in time.
This approach is very attractive because in principle defect detection can be achieved
without baseline information using triangulation.

Figure 4.2a illustrates schematically the pitch-catch inspection of a plate; the reflec-
tion coming from a defect can be masked by the multiple reflections from structural
features. Figure 4.2b shows how deconvolution could enhance significantly the reso-
lution of the original time trace, making it possible to determine the amplitudes and
the arrival times of the wave packets contained in the original time trace. Therefore
the integrity assessment of the structure becomes easier because the presence of a
defect would produce an additional reflection which appears as an extra spike in
the deconvolved signal. The benefit of the deconvolution depends on the sharpness
of the spikes or resolution. This approach will be effective only if the maximum
achievable resolution represents a significant improvement with respect to the orig-
inal data. The feasibility of deconvolution is affected by two main factors: (i) noise

57
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Crack

Receiver

Transmitter

1 1

Linear Amplitude
Linear Amplitude

Deconvolution

-1 -1
0 Time [ms] 2 0 Time [ms] 2

Figure 4.2: a) Pitch catch inspection of a plate. The typical recorded signal contains
strongly overlapping echoes. b) Ideal deconvolution: the wave packets of the received signals
have been compressed to sharp spikes, allowing the identification of the different echoes.

and (ii) complexity of the reflection coefficient from structural features. These two
aspects will be discussed separately as they are independent of each other.

4.2 Mathematical Model for Deconvolution Ap-

proach

A simple model for the received ultrasonic signal is required in order to study the
deconvolution approach and it will be derived in the following. Under the assumption
of uncorrelated noise and considering the convolution model introduced in section 3.1
the received ultrasonic time trace can be represented in the time domain as:

s(t) = s0 (t) ∗ g(t) + n(t) (4.1)

where s(t) is the received time trace, s0 (t) is the input wavelet, n(t) is the noise and
g(t) is the propagator function which defines the response measured at the receiver
location due to an impulse at the position of the transmitter. The propagator which
corresponds to the result of deconvolution in figure 4.2b provides the arrival times
of all the individual wave packets contained in the received signal s(t). According

58
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

to the convolution theorem [64] convolution in the time domain is equivalent to

multiplication in the frequency domain and vice versa, therefore equation 4.1 can
be written in the frequency domain as:

S(ω) = S0 (ω)G(ω) + N (ω) (4.2)

where S(ω), S0 (ω), G(ω) N (ω) are the Fourier Transforms of the corresponding
quantities previously defined in the time domain. Equation 4.2 is very important
because inverse problems are usually tackled in the frequency domain and the es-
timation of an unknown quantity can be obtained by means of convenient inverse
filtering. From equation 4.2 it is possible to observe that in a noise free case, infinite
bandwidth deconvolution for the estimation of the propagator simply corresponds to
spectral division in the frequency domain between the received time trace S(ω) and
the input signal S0 (ω). However, due to the presence of noise, the design of a stable
inverse filter or inversion algorithm is required in order to estimate the propagator in
practical SHM applications. Several deconvolution methods have been proposed for
the solution of inverse problems; the first approach that we evaluated is the optimal
Wiener filter, as it represents the most well established technique for digital inverse
filtering [44, 45].

4.3 The Wiener filter approach for deconvolution

The Wiener filter is based on the minimization of the mean square error between
the estimated signal and the actual signal, providing the optimal trade-off between
bandwidth and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) [49]. The Wiener filter in the frequency
domain is given by:
PG (ω)S0? (ω)
W (ω) = (4.3)
PG (ω)|S0 (ω)|2 + PN (ω)
where PG (ω) PN (ω) are the the Power Spectrum Densities (PSD) of the propagator
G(ω) and noise N (ω) respectively and S0∗ is the complex conjugate spectrum of the
input wavelet. The previous expression can also be written as:
S0? (ω)
W (ω) = (4.4)
|S0 (ω)|2 + Q(ω)

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 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

where
PN (ω)
Q(ω) = (4.5)
PG (ω)
It is important to note that the propagator G(ω) and therefore PG (ω) are unknown
and thus an estimation of PG (ω) and PN (ω) is required for the determination of the
factor Q(ω). Depending on how the estimation of Q(ω) is achieved, two different
forms of the Wiener filter are obtained: the non optimal and the optimal formula-
tions; the differences between the two formulations will be discussed in the following.
Once the Wiener filter has been designed, the estimated propagator, indicated in
the following by Ĝ(ω), will be determined in the frequency domain as:

Ĝ(ω) = W (ω)S(ω) (4.6)

The time domain representation of Ĝ(ω), which is easier to interpret for the evalu-
ation of structural integrity, can be obtained by means of the inverse Fourier Trans-
form.

4.3.1 Non optimal Wiener Filter

In this formulation the factor Q(ω) is assumed to be a constant, Q, that can be

estimated from the variance of the noise. Q is an offset factor that is used in order
to avoid ill conditioned division in the determination of the filter and to minimize
the distortion caused by high frequency noise [90]. The chosen value will affect the
performance in terms of noise suppression and exploitable bandwidth and, therefore,
the resolution of the filtered signal. The value of Q is sometimes determined ex-
perimentally by means of a trial and error procedure: small values of Q would lead
to poor noise suppression, whereas large values yield filtered signals with high SNR
but with significant blurring and poor resolution [90]. Other authors have suggested
a different criterion for choosing the constant Q [58]:

Q(ω) = const ≈ 10−2 |S0 (ω)|2max (4.7)

The same value is suggested also in [60] where the factor Q is termed noise desen-
sitizing factor.

60
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

4.3.2 Optimal Wiener Filter

In the optimal formulation the factor Q(ω) is assumed to be a function of frequency.

In order to design the optimal Wiener filter it is necessary to estimate PG (ω) and
PN (ω). PN (ω) can be estimated from the variance of the noise and PG (ω) can be
obtained via an iterative procedure:

1. Obtain a propagator estimate G(ω) via the non optimal Wiener filter; an initial
guess PG1 (ω) is then:

PG1 (ω) = G(ω)G∗ (ω) (4.8)

PN (ω)
2. Therefore Q1 (ω) = 1 (ω)
PG
and the Wiener filter is:

S0? (ω)
W 1 (ω) = (4.9)
|S0 (ω)|2 + Q1 (ω)

3. The new estimate of the propagator G(ω) is:

Ĝ1 (ω) = W 1 (ω)S(ω) (4.10)

4. Ĝ1 (ω) can be used to update the estimation of PG (ω), giving PG2 (ω)

5. Iteration of the steps 1-4 yields an optimal estimation of PG (ω).

This procedure has been used in several applications; see e.g. [53], where a detailed
study on the convergence of the iterative process is also presented. In general few
iterations are needed for the convergence of the process [53]. Some results of the
application of the optimal Wiener filter to typical SHM problems are shown in the
following sections. It is obvious that the two formulations of the Wiener filter are
equivalent in noise free conditions. In this case deconvolution is equivalent to simple
spectral division.

61
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

4.4 A typical problem in Structural Health Mon-

itoring

A typical test problem in SHM is the detection of a small signal from damage in
the presence of a large reflection from a nearby feature. Figure 4.3 shows a simple
example of this problem using synthetic data generated in Matlab containing two
strongly overlapping wave packets obtained by the convolution of an input wavelet
with two Dirac delta functions (the second signal is 10% of the magnitude of the
first); the two reflections are not resolvable. This configuration is representative
of typical detection problems in NDE. In our initial numerical examples only one
mode is propagating, whereas in real guided wave SHM applications more modes are
likely to be present. This simplified case is therefore a first test of the deconvolution
approach: if the technique is promising in the simple case, more complex cases would
then be considered.

R1
Strong
1 Input wavelet Reflector Received signal

∗ R2 -20dB =
0
0 [kHz] 100 Reflector

5 cm
Convolution

Figure 4.3: Generation of strongly overlapping signals. The two reflections are not
resolvable.

The wavelet of figure 4.3 is a broadband signal with its centre frequency at 20 kHz,
which is typical for excitation of A0 mode [89]. The expression for the wavelet is
given in equation 4.11.

s0 (t) = −1360t exp−500t +0.5 sin(33.3πt) exp−15.3t (4.11)

where the time t is expressed in ms [44]. However, inspection systems use narrow-
band inputs. The effect of noise when the bandwidth of the input signal is reduced
is addressed in the following section.

62
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

4.5 Effect of noise on deconvolution performance

The presence of noise does not allow the propagator function to be estimated by
the spectral division between the received signal and the input wavelet. Therefore
the detrimental effect of noise needs to be investigated in order to evaluate the
deconvolution performance. In this section we compare the performance of the
optimal Wiener filter for the same level of noise when two different input wavelets
have been used (broadband and narrowband inputs).

4.5.1 Broadband Input wavelet: performance of the optimal

Wiener filter

In order to evaluate the performance of the optimal Wiener filter with a broadband
input wavelet, white Gaussian noise was added to the synthetic data of figure 4.3;
the SNR (relative to the largest amplitude in the signal) being 40 dB, which is a
realistic noise level for SHM applications. The sampling frequency for the synthetic
data was 1 MHz.
Received signal Deconvolved signal
0.4
1 R1
Linear amplitude
Linear amplitude

3.5 μs
OPTIMAL
WIENER
FILTER
0.1 R2
SNR = 40 dB
-1 -0.4
0 Time [ms] 2 0 Time [ms] 2

Figure 4.4: Broadband input wavelet: detection of a small reflection by means of the
optimal Wiener filter.

The results shown in figure 4.4 clearly demonstrate the capability of the Wiener
filter to enhance the resolution of overlapping echoes. The two wave packets are
not resolvable in the original time trace, whereas the corresponding amplitudes and
arrival times are clearly identified in the deconvolved signal; high temporal resolution
is achieved, the Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the deconvolved spike being
3.5 µs. The FWHM is defined as the difference between the two times on either side

63
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

of the peak at which the amplitude is half its maximum value. Convergence of the
iterative process described in section 4.3.2 was achieved after 50 iterations.

4.5.2 Hanning windowed toneburst: effect of limited band-

width on temporal resolution

Since excitation signals provided by transducers in an SHM system are narrow-

band for practical reasons (e.g. for limiting the dispersion of the input signal and
for avoiding the presence of multiple modes), the effects of limited bandwidth on
temporal resolution must be evaluated. A typical input signal used in NDE and
SHM applications is the Hanning windowed toneburst [91]. Figure 4.5 shows that
the spectrum of the Hanning windowed toneburst is similar to that of the broad-
band wavelet at low frequencies, but has much less energy at higher frequencies.
Therefore, considering the same level of noise, it is reasonable to expect a decrease
in temporal resolution compared to the results obtained with the broadband input
wavelet because the exploitable bandwidth of the deconvolved signal is significantly
reduced. Figure 4.6 shows that the small reflection is not easily resolvable and its
amplitude is comparable to the side lobes of the first reflection. The FWHM of the
spike is increased from 3.5 to 18 µs, which corresponds to 24 % of the FWHM of
the envelope of the original wavelet. Convergence of the iterative process was again
achieved after 50 iterations, as in the test shown in figure 4.4.

3 cycle Hanning toneburst Spectrum comparison Broadband wavelet

Hanning
Broadband

0
0 [kHz] 100

Figure 4.5: Comparison between Hanning toneburst and broadband input wavelet.

64
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Received signal Deconvolved signal

1 1

Linear Amplitude
Linear Amplitude
R1

18 µs
18 µs
OPTIMAL
WIENER R2
FILTER 0.1
0.1
SNR
SNR==40
40dB
dB
--1
1 -0.4
-0.4
0 Time [ms] 2 0 Time [ms] 2

Figure 4.6: Hanning toneburst: detection of a small reflection by means of the optimal
Wiener filter.

4.6 Effect of phase shift on deconvolution perfor-

mance

Reflection from structural features can produce phase shifts in the input signal, so it
is important to evaluate the influence of phase shift on deconvolution performance.
This issue has not been studied in depth in the past and it has been addressed only
in a few papers [76, 87]. First we will consider the case in which the phase shift is
constant and frequency independent (e.g. reflection from the free edge of plate for
the anti-symmetric A0 mode at low frequencies [92]); subsequently we will consider
the more general case in which the phase shift is a function of frequency [93]).

4.6.1 Frequency independent phase shift. Reflection from

the free edge of a plate

The estimation of the arrival time of a wavelet which has been significantly phase
shifted is difficult due to the alteration of the wavelet shape [94]. Figure 4.7 shows
the effect of a π/2 rad phase shift on a 3 cycle Hanning toneburst.

This example is important for SHM because when the low-frequency anti-symmetric
A0 mode is reflected at the free edge of a plate, the reflected signal exhibits a fre-
quency independent π/2 rad phase shift [92]. The problem of a frequency inde-
pendent phase shift for deconvolution in reflection seismology has been addressed
in [87]. When an input wavelet s0 (t) is phase shifted by a frequency independent

65
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Input signal Reflected signal

1 1
π/2 rad

Linear amplitude
Linear amplitude
phase shift

PHASE
SHIFT

-1 -1
0 Time [ms] 0.2 0 Time [ms] 0.2

Figure 4.7: Wavelet modification caused by a π/2 rad phase shift on a 3 cycle Hanning
toneburst (the propagated distance for the reflected signal is 50 mm).

angle, α, the phase shifted wavelet s(t) can be written as a linear combination of
s0 (t) and its corresponding Hilbert Transform [94]:

s(α, t) = s0 (t) cos α + s˜0 (t) sin α (4.12)

where s˜0 (t) represents the Hilbert Transform of the original wavelet s0 (t). The case
when s0 (t) = δ(t) where δ(t) is the Dirac delta function and α = π/2 is particularly
important. Here equation 4.12 gives:
1
s(α, t) = s˜0 (t) = (−π t)−1 = − (4.13)
πt
since the hyperbola (−π t)−1 is the Hilbert Transform of the Dirac delta function.
The Hilbert Transform can be interpreted as a quadrature filter which is responsible
for a π/2 phase shift [95]. The signal (−π t)−1 is non causal and it is also the result
that would be obtained in attempting the ideal deconvolution of a signal with infinite
bandwidth that has undergone a frequency independent π/2 rad phase shift in noise-
free conditions. It is important to stress that in this case deconvolution by means of
the Wiener filter is equivalent to simple spectral division in the frequency domain.
Therefore, even under these ideal conditions the presence of the phase shift results in
resolution degradation as shown in figure 4.8 (the result is no longer a simple Dirac
delta function). It is important to observe that the absence of causality stems from
the idealization of the system, as discussed for the reflection of acoustic waves [94].
In a real experimental test where causality is respected, significant further distortion
of the reflected signal would be observed.

This result is clearly unsatisfactory and an alternative solution has been suggested
in [87]. This approach is based on the analytic formulation of the Wiener filter and

66
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Reflected signal Deconvolved signal

1
π/2 rad

Linear amplitude
phase shift

Linear amplitude
WIENER
FILTER

-1
0 Time [ms] 0.2 0 Time [ms] 0.2

Figure 4.8: Deconvolution of π/2 rad phase shifted signal.

on the introduction of a complex model for the reflectors (where each reflector is
characterized by amplitude and phase). The signal s(α, t) is expressed as:

s(α, t) = s0 (t) cos α + s˜0 (t) sin α = Re {sˆ0 (t) exp(iα)} (4.14)

where Re indicates the real part of a complex number and sˆ0 (t) is the analytic
representation of the input wavelet given by [95]:

ŝ(t) = s0 (t) − is˜0 (t) (4.15)

Equation 4.14 is important because it allows us to express a constant, frequency

independent phase shift in a simple way by multiplying the analytic formulation of
the original wavelet by a complex number. According to this approach it is possible
to retrieve the arrival time, amplitude and phase shift α of the signal. The result
in a noise-free case is represented by perfect deconvolution. Therefore a zero width
spike located at the exact arrival time of the phase shifted signal would be obtained
and the exact phase shift α would also be retrieved [87].

4.6.2 Frequency dependent phase shift. Plane strain model

for a plate with a rib

In order to evaluate the performance of deconvolution on a system that is more

representative of a typical complex structure for SHM, a plane strain FE model has
been designed to simulate a 5 mm thick steel plate with a rib. Figure 4.9 shows a
schematic of the model.

67
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

5 mm

Stiffening Rib
Monitoring
12 mm
point

5 mm Steel plate P

300 mm 300 mm

Figure 4.9: Plane strain model of a steel plate with a rib.

The rib is 12 mm long which is equivalent to a quarter of the wavelength at the

centre frequency of the excitation used. The model has been meshed with CPE4R
elements from the ABAQUS element library. The input signal is a 5 cycle Hanning
windowed toneburst, 20 kHz centre frequency and it is applied to all the nodes at
the left edge of the plate in order to generate the A0 mode. The received signal is
the signal reflected from the rib and recorded at the monitoring point P, as shown in
figure 4.9. Figure 4.10 shows the reflected signal from the rib and the original input
wavelet. Once the reflection coefficient has been estimated, it is possible to obtain
the ideal (noise-free) deconvolved signal by means of the Inverse Fourier Transform.

Input signal Reflected signal

1 0.5

125 μs 135 μs
Linear Amplitude

Linear Amplitude

-1 -0.5

Figure 4.10: Input and reflected signals from the rib for the incident A0 mode.

Figure 4.11 shows the result of the deconvolution of the reflected signal. The spec-
trum of the reflection coefficient has been band pass filtered to include only the
40 dB bandwidth of the excitation signal. Figure 4.11 shows that the resolution
of the deconvolved signal is very poor and little benefit is obtained from decon-
volution. The FWHM for the deconvolved signal is 100 µs, which corresponds to
approximately 75 % of the FWHM of the envelope of the reflected signal.

68
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Reflection coefficient (R) Ideal deconvolved signal

1 0.5

Linear Amplitude
100 μs

Linear Amplitude
Inverse Fourier
Transform

0
12 Frequency [kHz] 28 -0.5

Figure 4.11: Reflection coefficient from a rib. Ideal deconvolution.

4.7 Combined effect of noise and phase shift

Before we consider a test in which the detrimental effects of noise and phase shift on
deconvolution performance are simultaneously taken into account, it is convenient
to highlight the two main results achieved so far:

• Noise reduces the resolution of the deconvolved signal because it is responsible

for a decrease of the exploitable bandwidth of the signal;

• Phase shift is responsible for a further reduction in resolution because it alters

the original shape of the input signal. Although frequency independent phase
shifts can be overcome, no significant benefit is obtained for the more general
case of frequency dependent phase shift.

Since the performance of the Wiener filter is strongly affected by the presence of
noise and phase shift, it is important to investigate an alternative approach for
deconvolution. Maximum likelihood approach has performed very well in decon-
volving noisy signals without phase shifts, yielding zero width spikes with a better
resolution than the optimal Wiener filter. We therefore investigated adopting this
approach and in particular the Single Most Likely Replacement (SMLR) algorithm
for the deconvolution of noisy signals when phase shifts are also present. The SMLR
algorithm will be briefly introduced next.

69
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

4.7.1 Introduction to the SMLR algorithm

The Maximum Likelihood (ML) approach [65] has been applied to the solution of
several inverse problems, especially in seismology and oil exploration [66, 96]. Max-
imum Likelihood techniques are claimed to be able to resolve closely spaced events
and to efficiently handle backscatter effects and reflections from small features. In
order to assume a Maximum Likelihood approach to the deconvolution problem it
is necessary to consider the following steps:

• Specify a probability model for the measured output;

• Determine an expression for the likelihood function;

• Maximize the likelihood function with respect to the unknown parameters of

the function in order to find the corresponding maximum likelihood estimators.

The SMLR is an iterative search detector originally developed for deconvolution

of geophysical time traces [97]. This approach is based on the specific convolution
model introduced in [66]. According to this model the propagator g(t) introduced in
equation 4.1 is modelled as a Bernoulli-Gaussian sequence [97]. As a consequence,
the propagator will be expressed as the following product model:

g(t) = r(t)q(t) (4.16)

where the function r(t), containing the amplitude information, is a white Gaussian
sequence and q(t) is a Bernoulli sequence (random sequence of 0 and 1) for which
q(t) = 1 corresponds to the presence of a wave packet. Event detection consists of
finding the maximum likelihood estimation of the sequence q(t) and the amplitude
estimation of the events is provided by the maximum likelihood estimation of the
sequence r(t). In the estimation of the number of wave packets contained in a time
trace, the SMLR algorithm will first solve the event detection problem determining
the best estimate of the sequence q(t) by means of an iterative process that will
be briefly outlined below. Once the event detection problem has been solved the
sequence of the amplitude of the detected wave packets can be estimated in a closed

70
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

form solution [97]. In order to estimate the sequence q(t), the SMLR algorithm
compares the likelihood of an initial sequence qi (t) with only a limited number
of the 2N possible test sequences qpos (t) in each iteration (N is the length of the
data to be processed). Specifically, it is assumed that each qpos (t) differs from qi (t)
at only one location, so that there are only N possible test sequences for a given
reference sequence. Beginning with some initial reference sequence qi (t) = q 0 (t)
the SMLR detector computes N likelihood ratios corresponding to the N different
qpos (t) sequences. Among these, the sequence which maximizes the likelihood ratio
will be used as the reference sequence qi (t) = q 1 (t) for the next iteration [98]. If,
after K iterations a reference sequence qi (t) = q K (t) is more likely than any of
the corresponding qpos (t) sequences, the iterative search terminates and q K (t) is the
final detected sequence. Figure 4.12 shows an example of a reference sequence and
corresponding test sequences for the simple case when N = 4 and qi (t) contains only
two non zero elements. The SMLR detector is similar to the CLEAN algorithm, a
deconvolution technique widely used in astronomical applications, especially in high
resolution interferometry [99].

1
Reference sequence
0
1
Test sequence 1
0
1
Test sequence 2
0
1
Test sequence 3
0
1
Test sequence 4
0

Figure 4.12: Reference and test sequences for the SMLR algorithm.

71
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

4.7.2 Performance of SMLR algorithm on a typical problem

in SHM

SMLR performance has been evaluated on the signal shown in figure 4.6. Figure 4.13
shows that that SMLR technique is able to correctly estimate the arrival times
and amplitudes of the two wave packets contained in the original time trace. The
amplitude of the second signal has been estimated with an error of less than 2%
with respect to the actual value. The arrival times have been exactly estimated and
each wave packet is represented by a zero width spike in the deconvolved signal.
The performance of the SMLR in detecting the presence of the small reflection is
significantly better than Wiener filter performance. Figure 4.13 shows that SMLR
is potentially suitable for the deconvolution of ultrasonic time traces. However,
satellite or split spikes are sometimes seen [63], especially when the arrival time
of the wave packet to be detected does not correspond to an integer number of
time steps. Furthermore, this approach is computationally intensive; the maximum
number of data points that it was possible to process with Matlab simulations on a
normal desktop computer was approximately 300.
1 1
Linear Amplitude
Linear Amplitude

SMLR

SNR = 40 dB 0.098
-1 0
0 Time [ms] 2 0 Time [ms] 2

Figure 4.13: Typical problem in SHM. Deconvolution of two strongly overlapping signals
(SNR = 40 dB). Detection and estimation of arrival times and amplitudes by means of
SMLR algorithm.

Having shown that SMLR performs better than the Wiener filter on simple overlap-
ping signals without phase shifts, it is important to investigate how the performance
of the SMLR algorithm is affected by a constant frequency independent phase shift.
The deconvolution of a noisy signal which has undergone a frequency independent
π/2 rad phase shift has been considered. This test is also important because the
effects of noise and phase shift on deconvolution performance are simultaneously

72
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

taken into account. The performance of the SMLR algorithm will be evaluated
when random Gaussian noise (SNR = 40 dB) is added to the phase shifted signal
already considered in figures 4.7 and 4.8. Figure 4.14 shows that the deconvolution
of the phase shifted signal is represented by several spikes, so the gains of figure 4.13
are lost. The reason for this is that the iterative process described in section 4.7.1
corresponds to an attempt to match the phase shifted signal with the original input
wavelet. Since the two waveforms are significantly different due to the phase shift
(see figure 4.7), the SMLR is not able to correctly match the phase shifted signal
with the original input wavelet and this results in split spikes and incorrect ampli-
tude estimation in the deconvolved signal. It therefore appears that SMLR is very
sensitive to changes in the form of the wavelet and this makes it unattractive for
deconvolution in SHM.
1 1
π/2 rad
Linear Amplitude

Linear Amplitude
phase shift

SMLR

-1 -1
0 Time [ms] 0.2 0 Time [ms] 0.2

Figure 4.14: Received signal with a π/2 rad frequency independent phase shift, SNR =
40 dB. Detection and amplitude estimation by means of the SMLR algorithm.

4.8 Summary

The possibility of employing deconvolution in Structural Health Monitoring appli-

cations in an attempt to increase the temporal resolution of ultrasonic time traces
has been evaluated. A significant improvement in resolution is achieved by using the
Wiener filter when the input signal is broadband. However, it has been seen that the
detection capability of the Wiener filter is strongly dependent on the bandwidth of
the input signal and on the SNR. Phase shifts caused by structural features are also
crucial in affecting deconvolution performance. Frequency independent phase shifts
can be accommodated by employing the analytical form of the Wiener filter, though

73
 4. Deconvolution Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

at the expense of a decrease in temporal resolution. No significant improvement

in temporal resolution is obtained for reflections from features such as ribs where
reverberations can occur. The SMLR method gives better temporal resolution than
the Wiener filter on signals without phase shifts. Specifically, very good results have
been obtained in the detection of a small signal overlapping a large one. However,
SMLR is very sensitive to the exact form of the input wavelet and does not perform
well with phase shifts. It is therefore concluded that, although promising results
have been obtained in different configurations by the Wiener filter and SMLR algo-
rithm, deconvolution is unlikely to be useful in practical SHM applications where
limited bandwidth signals are employed and different wave packets will have differ-
ent phase shifts. An alternative method for SHM is baseline subtraction, but it is
essential to account for changes in environmental conditions between the baseline
and the current signals. This approach will be introduced in Chapter 5.

74
Chapter 5

Subtraction Approach for

Structural Health Monitoring

5.1 Background

In conventional guided wave inspection the presence of a defect can be detected

because different wave packets in the ultrasonic time traces are well separated and
it is possible to discriminate between structural features and defects. Guided wave
inspection has been successfully applied in several industrial applications to approx-
imately one dimensional structures (relative to the wavelength), characterized by
their low feature density (e.g. pipes and rails) [21]. The reliable inspection of these
one dimensional structures can be effectively achieved because echoes from struc-
tural features are in general well separated and therefore the presence of defects can
easily be detected by the appearance of extra reflections or by observing changes in
the reflections coming from structural features. If these assumptions are satisfied,
this method can be effectively employed for the integrity assessment of the struc-
ture. However, adopting this approach for the inspection of a complex structure
like the one shown in figure 2.1 would be impractical because the reflections from
different features are strongly overlapping making it impossible to observe changes
in the signal coming from a single reflector.

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

An alternative approach for complex structures is to subtract a baseline obtained in

the undamaged structure from the current signal [5]. The subtraction approach relies
on the hypothesis that the recorded signal is stable if damage is not present [100].
If it were possible to achieve perfect subtraction between the current signal and the
baseline signal, the presence of a defect could be deduced from the observation of
changes in the residual of the subtraction, as shown in figure 5.1.

Crack

Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

Baseline signal Current signal Subtracted signal

Figure 5.1: Ideal Baseline subtraction for SHM. The subtraction of the baseline from
the current signal leads to a subtracted signal from which the presence of a defect can be
determined.

In a real inspection problem, where perfect subtraction is not achievable, the occur-
rence of a new defect or the growth of a pre-existing defect can be detected only
when the amplitude of the reflection coming from a damage location is sufficiently
higher than the residual after subtraction in the absence of damage. In order to be
able to detect the presence of small defects, a residual level of -40 dB is considered
a desired target to be achieved for an undamaged structure [100]. The reason for
this is that defects of interest in large area inspection are responsible, in general,
for reflections of approximately -30 dB [93,101]; therefore, achieving a residual level
of -40 dB at the receiver location ensures a 10 dB margin that makes it possible to
detect the presence of the defect. Following the approach proposed by Diligent et
al. in [101], it is possible to determine approximately the diameter of a through-
thickness circular hole that is responsible for a -30 dB reflection compared to the
amplitude of the incident S0 mode in a steel plate for a given distance between the
centre of the hole and the receiver location. Table 5.1 shows the hole diameters
obtained for typical values of the frequency-thickness product used in the inspection
of plates with the S0 mode for two centre of hole to transducer distances (d1 = 0.5m
and d2 = 1m, respectively).

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Table 5.1: Diameter of a through-thickness hole corresponding to a -30 dB reflector in a

steel plate.

Frequency-thickness [MHz·mm] Hole diameter [mm] Hole diameter [mm]

d1 = 0.5m d2 = 1m
0.1 7 14
0.5 1.4 2.8
1 0.7 1.4

5.2 Detrimental factors for subtraction performance

Several factors are responsible for making it impossible to achieve perfect subtrac-
tion, even in an undamaged structure. The main factor that will be considered here
is the effect of temperature change. Signal subtraction of ultrasonic time traces
is strongly affected by temperature variations because temperature changes modify
the mechanical properties of the material and therefore the velocity of propagation
of the guided waves. As a result significant time shifts can be observed between
signals measured in the same structures at different temperatures and this leads to
a significant residual in the subtraction. Other issues that need to be considered as
detrimental for a subtraction approach for SHM are:

• Loading conditions;

• Instrumentation drift;

• Boundary conditions;

• Structural changes;

• Other environmental conditions.

However, a complete discussion of these issues goes beyond the scope of this work.
A more detailed explanation of the effects of temperature on signal subtraction is

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

given in section 5.3. Subsequently, methods designed for overcoming the detrimental
effects of temperature changes on subtraction will be introduced in section 5.4.

5.3 Effect of temperature changes on signal sub-

traction

An important study on the effects of temperature variations on diffuse ultrasonic

waves has been conducted by Weaver and Lobkis [102]. In this work it is shown that
the main effect of a temperature change is a stretch or a compression of the ultrasonic
signal. Temperature changes also affect the shape of the time traces, because the
original shape of the pulses can be distorted. In order to gain a better insight
on how guided wave signals are affected by temperature variation, it is possible
to follow the approach proposed in [5]. Let us consider two Hanning windowed
tonebursts s0 (t) and s1 (t) that have propagated for a distance d with velocity v in
the same structure at two different temperatures, the temperature difference being
δ T . The signals s0 (t) and s1 (t) can be considered as the baseline and the current
signal, respectively. Due to temperature change, the arrival times of the two signals
will differ by δ t. Our aim is to relate the difference in the arrival time of the two
waveforms to the change in temperature of the structure δ T . Partial differentiation
d
of t = with respect to both d and v yields
v
δt 1 δd d δv
= − 2 (5.1)
δT vδT v δT
Considering that
δd
= αd (5.2)
δT
where α is the coefficient of thermal expansion and that
1 δv κ
= =γ (5.3)
vδT v
κ being the coefficient of change in phase velocity with temperature and v the phase
velocity, the relationship 5.1 can be written as
d
δ t = (α − γ)δ T (5.4)
v
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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Since γ is generally significantly greater than α, from the previous equation we can
observe that the main contribution to the time shift due to temperature variations
is given by the change in the wave velocity. Furthermore, the time shift is directly
proportional to the propagation distance and since the propagation velocity v ap-
pears in the denominator of equation 5.4, faster modes would be less affected than
the slower ones. The subtraction of the two signals can be expressed as

s1 (t) − s0 (t) = u0 h(t)[sin ω(t + δ t) − sin ω t] (5.5)

where u0 is the amplitude of the signals s0 (t) and s1 (t) and h(t) is the Hanning
window function [103]. If the time shift δ t is small enough for the small angle
approximation to be valid, it is possible to demonstrate that the maximum residual
εmax is given by

εmax = |s1 (t) − s0 (t)|max = 2π f u0 δ t (5.6)

where f is the excitation frequency. Figure 5.2 illustrates the time shift due to
temperature variation for a 5 cycle Hanning toneburst. Equation 5.6 suggests that
the residual in the subtraction is proportional to time shift (and therefore to the
temperature difference) and to the excitation frequency and amplitude of the signals.
v
However, considering that λ = the combination of equations 5.4 and 5.6 yields
f
d
εmax = 2π u0 (α − γ)δ T (5.7)
λ
The last equation shows that the residual is proportional to the number of wave-
d
lengths that signals have propagated and not simply to the inspection frequency.
λ
The residual would be simply proportional to the frequency only when the velocity
is constant with frequency (e.g. non-dispersive modes) [103].

5.4 Temperature compensation techniques

Methods designed for the mitigation of the temperature effects on the performance
of SHM systems have been studied in the past and some examples can be found
in [104, 105]. The possibility of employing suitable signal processing techniques to

79
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

δt
s0 (t )
s1 (t )
u0

ε max

Figure 5.2: Schematic of the time shift and maximum residual in the subtraction for a
5 cycle Hanning toneburst.

compensate for the effects of temperature variations on ultrasonic time traces is

extremely important for making the subtraction approach feasible for SHM appli-
cations, and much research has been recently conducted in this field. In this section
we will discuss first the Optimal Baseline [100] and Optimal Stretch methods [6].
Subsequently an approach similar to the Optimal Stretch technique, namely the
method of the Local Temporal Coherence [7] will be described. Optimal Baseline
and Optimal Stretch are the temperature compensations techniques that have been
used for the application of the subtraction approach. A brief description of the
signal processing used in this work is given in the next subsection.

5.4.1 Signal processing for the subtraction approach

In order to achieve damage detection it is crucial to minimize the residual in the

subtraction between the current signal measured from the structure in service and a

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

reference signal obtained from the undamaged structure. In this work, a combination
of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch has been considered and the overall signal
processing can be written as follows:

• Firstly the Optimal Baseline method has been used in order to select the best
matching baseline among the available reference signals of the undamaged
structure. The optimal baseline is the reference signal for which the subtrac-
tion from the current signal yields the residual with the minimum Root Mean
Square (RMS);

• Subsequently the Optimal Stretch technique has been applied in order to fur-
ther reduce the residual of the subtraction between the current signal and the
optimal baseline;

• Distance amplitude correction has been applied to the residual obtained after
using the temperature compensation techniques in order to compensate for
beam spreading.

Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch will be described in the next subsections as
they represent the crucial part of the subtraction approach. A brief description of
the distance amplitude correction algorithm is given here [106]. Let R(t) be the
envelope of the residual, normalized to the amplitude of the first arrival, that has
been obtained after application of the temperature compensation techniques. The
distance amplitude correction is carried out as follows:
s
t
Rdac (t) = · R(t) (5.8)
p/cgr

where Rdac is the envelope of the residual compensated for beam spreading, p is the
distance between transmitter and receiver and cgr is the group velocity at the centre
frequency of the guided wave mode taken into account.

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

5.4.2 Optimal Baseline method

The Optimal Baseline approach is based on the possibility of comparing the current
signal with each one of the available baselines recorded over a wide range of operating
conditions [5]. This technique relies on the hypothesis that when two ultrasonic time
traces are recorded in the undamaged structure in similar environmental conditions,
a low level of residual would be achieved in the subtraction. The detection of
damage in the structure would be possible if the reflection from a defect location is
responsible for a signal whose amplitude is above the residual level. The main aim of
this approach is to extract the optimal baseline from the set of available baselines in
order to achieve efficient subtraction with the current signal. The optimal baseline
is the time trace that is responsible for the minimum residual in the subtraction
from the current signal. It is intuitive that for reliable applications, this method
requires a large number of baselines covering all the environmental conditions that
are likely to be experienced by the structure in service. For instance, limiting our
attention to the effects of temperature variations, baselines must be recorded with
a temperature step of less than 1 ◦ C [100].
Linear amplitude

Max residual = -38 dB

Figure 5.3: Optimal Baseline subtraction for SHM. The temperature difference of the
two time traces is 0.1 ◦ C. The maximum residual is -38 dB [103].

Figure 5.3 shows the result of subtraction after selection of the optimal baseline

82
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Figure 5.4: Amplitude of the subtracted signal on a dB scale relative to the amplitude of
the first arrival in figure 5.3 [103].

for the time trace obtained from a 1000 × 1000 × 5 mm steel plate, inspected in
pitch-catch mode [103]. The temperature difference between the baseline and the
current signal was 0.1 ◦ C and a maximum residual level of -38 dB relative to the
first arrival was achieved, very close to the target residual level previously defined.
This result confirms that very small temperature gaps among the recorded baselines
are required in order to achieve good subtraction performance. Figure 5.4 shows the
residual level in the subtracted signal compared to the amplitude of the first arrival
on a dB scale.

5.4.3 Optimal Stretch method

In section 5.3 we have observed that temperature variations affect the velocities of
guided waves propagating in a structure. This is responsible for pulses arriving later
or earlier in time and therefore for a time delay between a current signal and a refer-
ence signal, recorded at two different temperatures. In addition, from equation 5.4
it is observed that the effects of temperature variations increase with propagation
distance. Therefore the subtraction of the reference signal from the current signal

83
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

can lead to a large residual, especially in the later parts of the time traces. Stretch
methods for compensating this effect are based on the idea of stretching or compress-
ing either the baseline or the current signal in order to achieve a best match between
the two signals to be subtracted. The compensation methods can be applied in the
time domain [107] or in the frequency domain [6]. However, perfect compensation
cannot be achieved because the frequency content of the signals is altered, since
compensation is responsible for dilation or compression of the wave packets as well
as the corresponding arrival times. The technique that we will consider is similar to
the approach described in [6], where the compensation was carried out in the fre-
quency domain. Let us consider the spectra of two signals that have been recorded
at two different temperatures. In order to compensate for the effects of temperature
change, the frequency step ∆f of the second signal is increased or reduced until a
minimum in the residual of the subtraction of the two signals is achieved. At each
frequency the spectrum of the second signal is multiplied by the ratio between the
spectrum of the first signal and the second one. This operation is required for cor-
recting distortion effects in the spectrum, as explained in [6]. Iterating the process
just described yields the Optimal Stretch between the two spectra, that corresponds
to obtaining the minimum residual in the subtraction of the two signals in the time
domain. Optimal Stretch requires only one baseline measurement, in contrast with
the Optimal Baseline method of section 5.4.2.

An application of the Optimal Stretch method is reported in [103], where the perfor-
mance of this technique was evaluated for a temperature difference of 5 ◦ C between
the current signal and the baseline. The reference signal was measured at 21.5 ◦ C
and the current signal was recorded at 26.5 ◦ C from the same steel plate discussed
in section 5.4.2. Figure 5.5 shows that the uncompensated subtraction between the
two time traces yields a very high error, the maximum residual relative to the first
arrival being -10 dB. However, when the reference signal is stretched by using the
Optimal Stretch method, a significant improvement can be achieved, as shown in
figure 5.6. After compensation the maximum residual relative to the first arrival was
reduced to -38 dB, value very close to the target residual of -40 dB. The residual
level in the subtracted signal compared on a dB scale to the amplitude of the first

84
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Linear amplitude

Max residual = -10 dB

Figure 5.5: Uncompensated subtraction with a 5 ◦ C temperature difference. The maxi-

mum residual is -10 dB [103].
Linear amplitude

Max residual = -38 dB

Figure 5.6: Optimal Stretch subtraction for SHM. The temperature difference of the two
time traces is 5 ◦ C. The maximum residual is -38 dB [103].

arrival is shown in figure 5.7.

85
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Figure 5.7: Amplitude in dB scale of the subtracted signal relative to the amplitude of
the first arrival in figure 5.6 [103].

5.4.4 Local Temporal Coherence method

It has been already observed in section 5.3 that the time shift of two waveforms
recorded at different temperatures is linear dependent on the propagation distance
and that larger time shifts are expected for pulses arriving at later times (sec-
tion 5.4.3). The Local Coherence, that can be calculated from the cross correlation
between the two waveforms, is a means to estimate the slope of the linear rela-
tionship between the time delay of the two waveforms and the arrival time of the
individual pulses [7]. Once this slope has been estimated, it is possible to stretch
the selected baseline in order to minimize the mean squared error in the subtraction
from the current signal.

5.4.5 Combination of compensation techniques

We can observe that Temperature Compensation techniques rely on the selection of a

reference signal (Optimal Baseline method) or on signal stretch (Optimal Stretch and

86
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

Local Temporal Coherence methods). It is reasonable to combine baseline selection

and stretch in order to improve the overall performance of the compensation [7].
For instance using Optimal Stretch can increase the maximum temperature gap
at which the baselines need to be recorded. As a consequence, the acquisition
of the baselines becomes more feasible and the size of the set of reference signals
can be significantly reduced [103]. Some applications of temperature compensation
techniques are presented in the next section.

5.5 SHM applications of Temperature Compen-

sation Techniques

The temperature compensation techniques previously described appear very attrac-

tive for reducing the residual of the subtraction between two waveforms. Significant
progress has been recently made in using temperature compensation techniques for
typical detection problems in SHM. In this section an overview of experimental
work on the application of compensation techniques for the subtraction approach is
presented.

Interesting work on the feasibility of subtraction approach for SHM can be found in
[100], where the Optimal Baseline method has been applied to reduce the detrimental
effects of coherent noise on subtraction. In this work a method based on image
subtraction was tested for the detection of a simulated defect in an aluminium plate,
instrumented with three piezoelectric transducers operated in pitch-catch mode.
The presence of the simulated defect was detected by simple subtraction of the
images obtained combining the datasets taken immediately before and after the
introduction of an artificial defect, represented by a small steel ball bearing attached
to the plate [100]. However, it was observed that after increasing the time interval
between the acquisition of the two datasets, significant noise was found after the
subtraction. It was demonstrated that this problem was caused by the variations of
temperature and the Optimal Baseline method was employed in order to improve the

87
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

result of the subtraction. A reduction of the residual in the subtraction was observed
both for the A0 and S0 modes. In subsequent work, the influence of the size of the
baseline set on the error in the subtraction was investigated and it was observed that
increasing the range of conditions covered by the baseline set can be very beneficial
for subtraction performance [108]. This study confirms that the Optimal Baseline
can significantly improve the temperature stability of a subtraction approach for
SHM. Moreover, by combining Optimal Baseline and a localization algorithm it was
possible to localize simulated damage in presence of temperature variations with
good accuracy. The Optimal Baseline method has also been used in [5], where a
detailed study of the requirements for a sparse sensor array system for SHM has
been presented. It has been observed that by using this approach, the residual in
the subtraction can be reduced to -40 dB and, in addition, the number of sensors
required per unit area can be decreased.

Important work on the evaluation of the performance of Temperature Compensa-

tion techniques is reported in [109]. In this paper, the methods previously discussed
in this Chapter have been compared with simple subtraction in the inspection of
an aluminium plate, instrumented with 6 piezoelectric transducers acting in pitch-
catch mode and optimized for the excitation of the S0 mode. Several heating cycles
were applied to the plate and damage was introduced by drilling a small hole in the
area covered by the transducers. Compensation techniques enabled reliable dam-
age detection by observing changes in the residual. It was observed that for small
temperature variations, Optimal Stretch provides good compensation; however, for
large temperature changes, the frequency distortion (section 5.4.3) may be signifi-
cant, leading to large residuals after subtraction. Similar considerations are reported
in [110], where it was observed that the best performance of subtraction is achieved
by selecting the best matching baseline from the set of the available reference signals
and then applying stretch to improve the matching of the two signals. Therefore the
combination of Optimal Stretch and Optimal Baseline can be extremely beneficial.
The combination of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch has been used in [103]
and this strategy was tested for the compensation of temperature effects on signals
measured on plate-like structures and in an airframe panel. This strategy was able

88
 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

to achieve a residual level of -38 dB relative to the first arrival when the temperature
difference between the current signal and the optimal baseline was 0.5 ◦ C. Another
interesting application of the combination of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch
is reported in [111], where this approach has been used for the inspection of a con-
tainer panel both with the A0 and S0 modes. Low residual after subtraction was
observed and it was possible to detect the presence of a small drilled hole, introduced
to simulate damage, by observing an increase in the residual at the expected arrival
time.

The method introduced in 5.4.4 has been used for detecting the presence of damage
in aluminium plates by observing the variation in the mean squared error of the sub-
traction between the current signal and the optimal baseline [112]. For instance in
one of the tests reported in this paper, a notch was introduced into the specimen and
an increase in the mean squared error in the subtraction was observed compared to
the error measured when the structure was undamaged. An imaging method based
on the Local Temporal Coherence has been effectively used for damage localiza-
tion in plates and is reported in [113, 114]. An aluminium plate was inspected in
pitch-catch mode using six transducers with broadband excitation; the time traces
recorded by all the possible transmitter-receiver combinations were combined in or-
der to create images of the plate. After baseline images had been obtained, a small
hole was drilled into the plate in order to simulate damage. Subsequently a notch
starting from the left side of the hole was introduced to simulate a crack. The
presence of the hole was clearly identified by subtraction, after the optimal baseline
data set from the undamaged structure was selected. On the other hand, when the
baseline data set was recorded with a mismatch of 2 ◦ C from the current data set
damage detection was not possible. After introduction of the notch it was observed
that the area of damage localized by the imaging algorithm was shifted to the left of
the centre of the hole. These results are important because damage localization was
achieved in presence of temperature changes and in a typical SHM configuration.
Furthermore, these tests confirm how the availability of a good matching baseline
among the reference signals is crucial for efficient subtraction.

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 5. Subtraction Approach for Structural Health Monitoring

5.6 Summary

The Subtraction approach is an attractive method for SHM of complex structures

and Temperature Compensation techniques can be used to overcome the negative
effects of temperature variations. Specifically the combined use of Optimal Baseline
and Optimal Stretch appears promising for efficient compensation of temperature
effects on ultrasonic time traces. However, the effects of other detrimental issues
need to be investigated in order to provide a more complete evaluation of the poten-
tial of a Subtraction approach for SHM. The presence of liquid loading, for instance
is a typical condition to be expected in many situations when the structure is in
service. The effects of the presence of liquid loading will be discussed in chapter 6
and they will be compared to the effects of temperature change. The performance
of the combined use of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch will be therefore
evaluated in the presence of uniform liquid loading on plates. Subsequently the
performance of temperature compensation on structures comprising materials with
different temperature responses will be evaluated in chapter 7.

90
Chapter 6

Effects of Liquid Loading on

Subtraction approach

6.1 Background

Variations in environmental and operational conditions can be extremely detrimental

for damage detection because the recorded ultrasonic time traces can change and
therefore the capability of detecting the presence of damage can be significantly
jeopardized especially in complex structures [115]. The inspection of structures
in the presence of liquid loading is a typical problem to be considered for SHM:
fuel tanks, pipelines and several other components in chemical and nuclear plants
are just an example of the importance of considering the presence of liquid for
the reliable SHM of complex structures for industrial applications. In all these
systems the presence of liquid plays a key role in the boundary conditions that
need to be considered for an effective application of the Subtraction approach. For
instance, in a huge storage tank the liquid level may vary according to operational
conditions and the physical properties of the liquid are also temperature dependent.
In addition, the signals recorded by an SHM system in complex structures can be
affected by the occasional presence of liquid loading in several operating conditions.
For instance rain, grease and loss of coolant and fuel can be responsible for total

91
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

or partial coverage of large plate-like structures with a thin liquid layer. Although
the effects of temperature changes have been investigated and various compensation
techniques have been proposed (Chapter 5), less attention has been devoted to the
effects of liquid loading on subtraction techniques. In this Chapter our aim is to
establish whether temperature compensation techniques are also able to cope with
the changes caused by liquid loading, in order to specify under which conditions
the subtraction approach can be applied also in the presence of liquid loading. In
order to provide some fundamental information, the effects of liquid loading on the
propagation of guided waves in plates will be briefly outlined in section 6.2.

6.2 Guided waves in bilayered plates

The problem of liquid loading is difficult to express in a mathematical context be-

cause several factors (such as physical properties of the fluid, location of the fluid on
the structure and corresponding extent) should be taken into account [116]. In our
study we will consider a simple system represented by a fluid-solid bilayer, as shown
in figure 6.1, where a uniform liquid layer is covering the top surface of an aluminum
plate. The system is completely characterized when the material properties of the
plate and the fluid are known, as well as the ratio τ of liquid layer thickness to the
plate thickness.

τd
Liquid layer

d
Aluminium plate

Figure 6.1: Schematic of an aluminium-water bilayer. τ is the ratio of liquid thickness

to plate thickness.

The presence of a layer of fluid coupled with a plate increases the complexity of the
modes that can propagate inside the structure. Specifically this is caused by the fact
that the propagating guided modes in the bilayer are the result of the interaction
between the modes propagating in the free plate and the modes propagating in the

92
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

liquid layer [117]. In other words the coupling between the fluid and the free plate
is responsible for a continuous transition of the propagating wave mode through the
modes characteristic of the fluid layer and those of the free plate as the frequency
increases. This phenomenon is called “mode jumping” and it has been observed
in higher order modes also by Yapura and Kinra in [118], where the equation for
determining the dispersion curves for a fluid-solid bilayer has been obtained from the
Navier’s displacement equations of motion. The numerical results for an aluminium-
water bilayer are presented and the transition of the guided wave mode from the
liquid branch to the plate branch is studied in detail.

In order to study the effect of the liquid loading on subtraction techniques it is

important to consider how the dispersion curve of the free plate is modified due to
the presence of the liquid layer because this will affect the propagation characteristics
of the individual pulses and therefore the error in the subtraction. An interesting
study has been reported in [118] for an aluminium-water bilayer. It is observed
that in a configuration characterized by τ = 0.125 in the low frequency region the
dispersion curves for the modes propagating in the bilayer are almost identical to
those corresponding to the fundamental A0 and S0 modes propagating in the free
plate. This is important because it suggests that the characteristics of the wave
propagation in the free plate are not strongly affected by the presence of thin liquid
layers in the frequency region of interest of Structural Health Monitoring.

Another interesting piece of work on guided wave propagation in bilayers is reported

in [119], where the dispersion equations for an aluminium plate surrounded on both
sides by a viscous liquid are presented and solved numerically. In particular, two
different configurations are examined:

• plate bordered with viscous fluid layers;

• plate bordered with semi infinite viscous fluid layers.

It is observed that in both cases the phase velocity of the guided wave modes is
mainly determined by the loading effect due to the presence of the liquid, whereas

93
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

the effect of the viscosity is negligible. The attenuation in the presence of thin layers
for the A0 and S0 modes is affected by the viscosity, whereas when semi infinite layers
are considered the attenuation is mainly caused by radiation to of energy towards
the fluid (leaky Lamb wave [119]).

6.3 Parameters affecting guided wave propagation

in a fluid-solid bilayer

The propagation of the guided waves in the presence of a uniform liquid layer is
mainly affected by the physical properties of the liquid and the geometric parameters
of the bilayer considered. Considering the system shown in figure 6.1, the most
important factors to be considered are:

• F·d, Frequency-thickness product of the plate [MHz·mm]

• τ , ratio of liquid thickness to plate thickness

• D, propagation distance, expressed as number of wavelengths [nλ]

• η dynamic viscosity of the liquid [Pa·s]

In our work we will consider separately the propagation of the fundamental S0 and
A0 modes in a bilayer in different configurations. The simulation of the signals
has been obtained using the software DISPERSE [12]. Our objective is to estimate
the error in the subtraction between the signals measured in the fluid loaded plate
and in the free plate, respectively. For this purpose it is important to compare
the dispersion curve of the unloaded plate with the dispersion curve of the bilayer
obtained by loading the free plate with a uniform thin liquid layer. Firstly, the case
in which the liquid in the bilayer is a thin water layer will be examined. Let us
consider the propagation of the S0 mode in a 10 mm thick aluminium plate loaded
with a uniform water layer (τ = 0.01). Figure 6.2a shows the dispersion curve
for the S0 mode in the aluminium water bilayer compared to the corresponding

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 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

dispersion curves for the unloaded plate, both at 20 ◦ C. The two curves are close
to each other and it is not possible to observe the velocity difference on this scale.
Therefore the difference ∆v between the phase velocity in the free plate and the
phase velocity in the bilayer is plotted in figure 6.2b. It has to be noted that the
maximum difference is approximately 18 m/s, which corresponds to approximately
0.32 % of the maximum phase velocity in figure 6.2a.

5500
Phase velocity [m/s]

T=20 °C

Bilayer
Free plate

3000 a)

18
Δv [ms]

0
b)
0 Frequency thickness [MHz·mm] 3

Figure 6.2: a)Comparison of the dispersion curve for an aluminium-water bilayer and a
free aluminimim plate. b)Difference between the two phase velocities. The plate thickness
is 10 mm and τ = 0.01.
.

The attenuation of S0 mode in the bilayer is negligible, as both aluminium and

water have very low attenuation at these frequencies; hence the signals recorded

95
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

in the unloaded plate and in the bilayer can be directly compared to evaluate the
performance of subtraction approach in presence of a thin liquid layer on plate-
like structures. The considerations made so far are also valid for the A0 mode
propagating in aluminium water bilayers. In the next section the effects of liquid
loading on subtraction will be compared with the effects of temperature variations
for the two fundamental modes.

6.4 Comparing Liquid Loading to Temperature

changes

Since the compensation techniques introduced in Chapter 5 have been proposed

mainly for the compensation of temperature variations, it is interesting to compare
the effects of liquid loading on simple subtraction with the effects of a typical tem-
perature change. In this work the effects of a uniform liquid layer will be compared
with the effects of a 10 ◦ C temperature change for a free plate, in order to assess
whether temperature compensation techniques can also be used to compensate for
the presence of uniform liquid loading. When temperature change is considered the
baseline signal and the current signal will be the time traces recorded in the free
plate at 20 ◦ C and at 30 ◦ C, respectively. When the presence of a fluid is taken into
account, the baseline will be, as before, the signal recorded in the the free plate at
20◦ C, whereas the the current signal will be the time trace recorded in the fluid-solid
bilayer at the same temperature of 20 ◦ C. In order to directly make a comparison
between the effects of liquid loading and temperature change, an aluminium-water
bilayer is now considered. The parameters defined in section 6.3 need to be pro-
vided in order to completely characterize the fluid-solid bilayer for the S0 and A0
modes. In particular, the values of frequency-thickness product considered for the
two modes are typical for practical guided-wave nondestructive evaluation [91]. In
the following the results of the subtraction in the presence of liquid loading are
compared to the results obtained in presence of a 10 ◦ C temperature change.

96
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

6.4.1 S0 mode in Aluminium-water bilayer

For the propagation of the S0 mode, a 10 mm thick aluminium plate is considered and
for this plate thickness a typical inspection frequency is 100 kHz and therefore the
frequency-thickness product is Fd = 1 MHz·mm; the propagation distance is D=20λ
which at the frequency-thickness product considered corresponds to approximately 1
m. The thickness of the uniform water layer is 0.1 mm (τ = 0.01) and the viscosity of
the water is η = 10−3 Pa·s. A number of different thicknesses of the liquid layer were
also considered and it was observed that the resultant velocity change is insensitive
to the thickness of the liquid layer; therefore the results that will be shown are
approximately general for any thickness of the liquid layer. The input signal is a 5
cycle Hanning windowed toneburst at 100 kHz centre frequency. The geometry of
the unloaded plate and of the bilayer can be easily defined in DISPERSE, as well
as the mechanical properties of the aluminium at 20 and 30 ◦ C. A lossless liquid
layer is modelled in DISPERSE as an isotropic solid, characterized by the density
and the bulk compression wave speed. Subsequently, it is possible to simulate the
propagated signals in each system for a given propagation distance, by using the
appropriate function in DISPERSE [120].

Figure 6.3a shows the result of the uncompensated subtraction between the current
signal and the baseline for the case when a 10 ◦ C temperature change is considered
for the S0 mode. The result for the uncompensated subtraction in the bilayer for
the same propagation distance (D=20λ) is shown in figure 6.3b.

In the case of the temperature variation the maximum residual compared to the
current signal level is -11 dB which is significantly higher than the target level
of -40 dB, discussed in Chapter 6. However, it has been demonstrated that by
using temperature compensation techniques the target residual level can be achieved.
Considering the bilayer we can see that the maximum residual in the subtraction is
-28.5 dB, which is significantly lower than that for a 10 ◦ C temperature change.

Figure 6.4 shows the dispersion curve for the unloaded plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C and
for the bilayer at 20 ◦ C, zoomed around the centre frequency of the input signal (0.1

97
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1
a)
ΔT = 10o C

Linear amplitude
Current signal
Residual
-1

1
b)
τ = 0.01
Linear amplitude

-1
0 Time [ms]

Current signal
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

Figure 6.3: a) Uncompensated subtraction for a 10 ◦ C temperature change for the S0

mode. The maximum residual is -11 dB. b)Uncompensated subtraction with liquid loading.
The maximum residual is -28.5 dB.

MHz).

The dispersion curve for the bilayer is closer to the corresponding curve for the free
plate at 20 ◦ C than the dispersion curve for the free plate at 30 ◦ C. Specifically
the difference between the values of phase velocity for the bilayer and the free plate
at 20 ◦ C is 1 m/s, which corresponds to a percentage variation of -0.018 %. The
percentage variation for the phase velocity at centre frequency for the free plate
from 20 to 30 ◦ C is -0.24 %.

98
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

5310

Phase velocity [m/s]

5274
5273

5261

Free plate 20 oC

Bilayer 20 oC
Free plate 30 oC
5230
0.99 0.1 Frequency [MHz] 0.11

Figure 6.4: S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium water
bilayer at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C. The values
of the corresponding phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated.

6.4.2 A0 mode in Aluminium-water bilayer

The propagation of the A0 mode in a 5 mm thick Al plate is considered and for this
plate thickness a typical inspection frequency is 20 kHz and therefore the frequency-
thickness product is Fd = 0.1 MHz·mm; the propagation distance is D=20λ which
at the frequency-thickness product considered corresponds to approximately 1 m,
similar to the absolute propagation distance for the S0 mode. The parameter τ has
the same value considered for the S0 mode. The input signal is a 5 cycle Hanning
windowed toneburst at 20 kHz centre frequency.

Figure 6.5 illustrates the comparison of the uncompensated subtraction in the pres-
ence of 10 ◦ C temperature change with the corresponding subtraction in the bilayer
for the A0 mode. Again the values of the maximum residual are higher than the
target residual level, -16 dB and -19 dB respectively. The maximum residual of
the subtraction for the A0 mode in the bilayer is comparable to that of a 10 ◦ C
temperature change.

99
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1
a) ΔT = 10o C

Linear amplitude
Current signal
Residual
-1

1
b)
τ = 0.01
Linear amplitude

Current signal
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1.5

Figure 6.5: a) Uncompensated subtraction for a 10 ◦ C temperature change for the A0

mode. The maximum residual is -16 dB. b) Uncompensated subtraction with liquid loading.
The maximum residual is -19 dB.

Figure 6.6 shows the dispersion curve for the unloaded plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C and for
the bilayer at 20 ◦ C, zoomed around the centre frequency of the input signal (20kHz);
the values of the phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated. Due to the high
dispersion of the A0 mode in the low frequency region, it is difficult to observe
the relative velocity difference on this scale. The difference between the values of
phase velocity for the free plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C is 1.2 m/s, which corresponds to a
percentage variation of -0.13 % (rather similar to the corresponding value for the S0
mode). The phase velocity in the bilayer at centre frequency is closer to the value
at 30 ◦ C in the free plate.

100
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1000

Free plate 20 oC

Bilayer 20 oC
Free plate 30 oC
Phase velocity [m/s]

952.2 951.4

951

900
18 20 Frequency [kHz] 22

Figure 6.6: A0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium water
bilayer at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20 and 30◦ C. The values
of the corresponding phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated.

6.5 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Opti-

mal Stretch with liquid loading

It is interesting to study whether the residual levels observed in figures 6.3b and 6.5b
for the bilayer can be reduced using temperature compensation techniques. Our
approach for the compensation of the effects of liquid loading on subtraction is
based on the combined use of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch [103, 109].
A wide set of baselines for different temperatures has been obtained in the range
20-30 ◦ C for the unloaded aluminium plate and subsequently the Optimal Baseline
and Optimal Stretch methods have been applied in order to find the best matching
baseline and to further improve the result of the corresponding subtraction from the
current signal. The baselines have been obtained simulating the propagated signal
for different temperatures by varying density, shear and longitudinal velocities of
aluminium as a function of temperature. These physical properties were obtained
from data on the variation of elastic constants with temperature for monocrystalline

101
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

aluminium found in [121]. The physical properties were derived for each temperature
in the range 20-30 ◦ C with a temperature step of 0.1 ◦ C. The values were used as
input in DISPERSE to obtain the phase velocity versus frequency dispersion curves
at different temperatures.

Figure 6.7 shows that the optimal baseline for the S0 mode has been found at the
temperature of 21.1 ◦ C. Therefore the temperature of the optimal baseline is only
1.1 ◦ C above the temperature of the current signal recorded in the bilayer. This
result was expected considering that in figure 6.4 the dispersion curve in the bilayer
is very close to the dispersion curve of the free plate at 20 ◦ C. The phase velocity
for the free plate at the temperature of the optimal baseline at centre frequency is
5273.06 m/s whereas the corresponding phase velocity for the bilayer at 20 ◦ C is
5272.98 m/s. The corresponding percentage variations with respect to the phase
velocity at centre frequency of the free plate at 20 ◦ C are -0.023 % and -0.025 %,
respectively. The subtraction between the current signal measured in the bilayer
and the optimal baseline yields a maximum residual of -37.5 dB. After application
of Optimal Stretch, the result is further improved and the residual is reduced to -43
dB.

The result for the A0 mode is shown in figure 6.8. The maximum residual after
Optimal Baseline is -39 dB, very close to the target residual level. The target
residual level is achieved after using Optimal Stretch and the maximum residual
level is reduced down to -45 dB. The optimal baseline has been found at 27.5 ◦ C.
This result is expected, since the residual in the subtraction from the reference
signal at 20 ◦ C is significantly higher than that observed for the S0 mode. The
phase velocity for the free plate at the temperature of the optimal baseline at centre
frequency is 951.3 m/s whereas the corresponding phase velocity for the bilayer at
20 ◦ C is 951.4 m/s. The corresponding percentage variations with respect to the
phase velocity at centre frequency of the free plate at 20 ◦ C are -0.094 % and -0.084
%, respectively.

These results suggest that Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch, although designed
to compensate for temperature variations, can be used to compensate very satisfac-

102
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Linear amplitude
T=20 °C
T=20 °C Optimal
T=21.1 °C
Baseline
Residual = -37.5 dB
Current signal
Current signal
Residual
Residual
-1
-1

11 Optimal
Stretch
T=20 °C
T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Current
Currentsignal
signal Residual = -43 dB
Residual
Residual
-1
-1
00 Time [ms]
Time [ms] 0.5
0.5

Figure 6.7: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a uniform water layer, τ = 0.01, d=10mm.

torily for the presence of a uniform thin liquid layer. The target of a residual level
of approximately -40 dB has been achieved for the propagation of both the two
fundamental S0 and A0 modes for very simple signals for a propagation distance of
approximately 1 m.

6.6 Infinite water layer on an aluminium plate

Having shown that temperature compensation techniques can be applied for improv-
ing the result of subtraction also in presence of a thin liquid layer, it is reasonable
to consider the same approach for the case of a plate bordered on one side with an
infinite liquid layer. Due to the strong attenuation experienced by the A0 mode in
presence of liquid, the fundamental antisymmetric mode is not suitable for practical
inspection applications in presence of liquid [122]. Therefore only the propagation
of the S0 mode will be considered for the case of an aluminium plate surrounded
by an infinite water layer. This configuration can be considered representative of
the inspection of fuel tanks in several industrial applications. The fluid-solid bilayer

103
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Linear amplitude
T=20 °C

Optimal
T=27.5 °C
Baseline
Current signal Residual = -39 dB

Residual

-1

1 Optimal
Stretch

T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -45 dB
Current signal

Residual

-1
0 Time [ms] 1.5

Figure 6.8: Compensation of the subtraction for the A0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a uniform water layer.

considered has the same parameters defined in the subsection 6.4.1, except that now
τ = ∞. Figure 6.9 shows the attenuation curve for the typical frequency product
range for S0 mode inspection. The attenuation at F = 0.1M Hz is approximately 6
dB/m, significantly higher than the case of a thin water layer. A simple method to
compensate for the attenuation of the S0 mode is given in subsection 6.6.1.

6.6.1 Amplitude compensation for the S0 mode

When guided waves are propagating in a medium surrounded by an infinite liquid

layer, part of the energy radiates into the surrounding fluid and due to this leakage
significant attenuation of the amplitude of the propagating mode is observed [123].
Therefore amplitude compensation is required in order to effectively apply the Sub-

104
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

20

Attenuation [dB/m]

0
0.05 0.1 Frequency [MHz] 0.15

Figure 6.9: Attenuation curve for a 10 mm thick aluminium plate bordered by an infinite
water. The frequency range is shown is typical for S0 mode inspection.

traction approach. Once the current signal and the baseline signal have been ob-
tained by DISPERSE as described in section 6.4, the amplitude compensation of
the current signal is carried out in the frequency domain. Figure 6.10 illustrates our
amplitude compensation approach.

In the top left corner the reference signal and the current signal are shown. Let
ρ1 (ω) and ρ2 (ω) be the amplitude of the spectra of baseline and current signal,
respectively (right hand side of figure 6.10). We can observe that higher frequencies
are more attenuated; the reason for this is that increasing the frequency for the S0
mode corresponds to increasing the out of plane displacements and therefore more
energy is radiated towards the liquid layer [124]. The amplitude compensation of
the current signal is obtained by simple multiplication of each frequency component
ρ1 (ω)
by the ratio . The phase of the current signal is left unchanged. Subsequently
ρ2 (ω)
the current signal compensated for amplitude is obtained in time domain by means
of the Inverse Fourier Transform. The amplitude compensated current signal is
compared with the reference signal in the bottom left corner of figure 6.10.

105
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1
Loaded plate Loaded plate
Free plate Free plate

Linear amplitude
1
Fourier
Transform

Linear amplitude
-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

1 0
Loaded plate 0 200
Frequency [kHz]
Free plate
Linear amplitude

Inverse Amplitude
Fourier Compensation
Transform

-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

Figure 6.10: Amplitude compensation in frequency domain. The original signals are
shown on the top left corner. The amplitude of the signal measured in the liquid loaded
plate is compensated in frequency domain (right). The amplitude compensated signal is
compared with the reference signal obtained from the free plate (bottom left corner).

6.6.2 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch

with liquid loading: Infinite water layer

Figure 6.11 shows the dispersion curve for the S0 mode for an aluminium plate
bordered with an infinite water layer at 20 ◦ C compared with the dispersion curves
for the unloaded plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C. The dispersion curves are zoomed around the
centre frequency of the input signal (0.1 MHz). The dispersion curve for the infinite
bilayer is very close to the curve for the free plate at 20 ◦ C, as already observed
for the aluminium water bilayer characterized by τ = 0.01. This suggests that the
application of the Optimal Baseline method would yield a similar result in terms of
the temperature of the best match.

Amplitude compensation was carried out by comparing the signal in the bilayer
with the signal in the free plate at 20 ◦ C. Subsequently it is possible to subtract the
two signals in the bottom left corner of figure 6.10 and the compensation approach

106
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

5310

Phase velocity [m/s]

5274
5272.5

5261

Free plate 20 oC

Bilayer 20 oC
Free plate 30 oC
5230
0.99 0.1 Frequency [MHz] 0.11

Figure 6.11: S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium water
bilayer (τ = ∞) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20 and 30◦ C. The
values of the corresponding phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated.

described in section 6.5 has been adopted for reducing the amplitude of the residual.
Figure 6.12 shows the result of the application of the compensation strategy. After
Optimal Baseline the maximum residual is -39.5 dB. The best matching baseline
signal was the time trace recorded at 21.5 ◦ C. This temperature is very close to the
temperature of the optimal baseline found in the case of a bilayer characterized by
τ = 0.01. Applying Optimal Stretch it is possible to further reduce the maximum
residual down to -45 dB.

6.7 Subtraction approach in presence of an epoxy

layer

In this section we will consider the case in which the fluid in the bilayer of figure 6.1
is a viscoelastic material. In particular we will consider the case of an aluminium
plate bordered by a thin layer of epoxy. For the epoxy layer a hysteretic structural

107
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

T=20 °C

Linear amplitude
Optimal
T=21.5 °C
Baseline
Residual = -39.5 dB
Current signal
Residual

-1
1 Optimal
Stretch
T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -45 dB

Current signal
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

Figure 6.12: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of an infinite water layer.

damping model has been used with the longitudinal and shear damping coefficients
equal to 0.01 and 0.1 np/λ, respectively [125]. This situation can be considered
as a first approximation to the very similar case of painted plate-like structures in
aerospace applications. We will evaluate the performance of Optimal Baseline and
Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin layer of epoxy (τ = 0.01) and for a propagation
distance D=20λ, the value of F·d characterizing the bilayer being equivalent to that
used previously for S0 and A0 , respectively.

6.7.1 Performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch

with a thin epoxy layer

Figure 6.13 shows the result for the uncompensated subtraction for the S0 mode
between the current signal recorded in the bilayer and the baseline recorded in the
free plate, both at 20 ◦ C. The maximum residual is -12.5 dB which is comparable

108
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

to the corresponding residual for a 10 ◦ C temperature change.

T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Current signal
Residual

-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

Figure 6.13: Uncompensated subtraction for the propagation of the S0 mode in presence
of a thin epoxy layer (τ = 0.01). The maximum residual is -12.5 dB.

Figure 6.14 shows the dispersion curve for the bilayer at 20 ◦ C compared with the
dispersion curves for the unloaded plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C, zoomed around the centre
frequency of the input signal. It is possible to observe that the dispersion curve of
the bilayer is closer to the curve of the free plate at 30 ◦ C than to the curve at 20 ◦ C.
This suggests that the temperature of the best matching reference signal obtained
by the Optimal Baseline method will be close to 30 ◦ C.

The application of the compensation strategy is shown in figure 6.15. After using the
Optimal Baseline method the residual is reduced to -38 dB and the temperature of
the optimal baseline is equal to 27.5 ◦ C. The phase velocity for the free plate at the
temperature of the optimal baseline at centre frequency is 5264.9 m/s whereas the
corresponding phase velocity for the bilayer at 20 ◦ C is 5264.7 m/s. The correspond-
ing percentage variations with respect to the phase velocity at centre frequency of
the free plate at 20 ◦ C are -0.178 % and -0.182 %, respectively. After application of
the Optimal Stretch method the residual is further reduced to -45 dB.

109
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

5310

Phase velocity [m/s]

5274

5264.5
5261

Free plate 20 oC

Bilayer 20 oC
Free plate 30 oC
5230
0.99 0.1 Frequency [MHz] 0.11

Figure 6.14: S0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium epoxy
bilayer (τ = 0.01) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C.
The values of the corresponding phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated.

Figure 6.16 shows the result for the uncompensated subtraction for the A0 mode.
The maximum residual in the uncompensated subtraction is equal to -21 dB, which
is lower than that for a 10 ◦ C temperature change. Figure 6.17 shows the dispersion
curve for the bilayer at 20 ◦ C compared with the dispersion curves for the unloaded
plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C. Figure 6.18 shows the result of the application of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch to the uncompensated data. The optimal baseline
was found at 26 ◦ C and the residual level after Optimal Baseline was -38.5 dB. The
phase velocity for the free plate at the temperature of the optimal baseline at centre
frequency is 951.48 m/s whereas the corresponding phase velocity for the bilayer at
20 ◦ C is 951.5 m/s. The corresponding percentage variations with respect to the
phase velocity at centre frequency of the free plate at 20 ◦ C are -0.076 % and -0.073
%, respectively. The residual level was further reduced to -45.5 dB after application
of Optimal Stretch.

It is important to observe that both for S0 and A0 modes the target residual level
can be achieved and the temperature of the optimal baseline is in the range 20-30 ◦ C.

110
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1
T=20 °C

Linear amplitude
Optimal
T=27.5 °C
Baseline
Current signal Residual = -38 dB
Residual

-1
Optimal
1
Stretch
T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -45 dB

Current signal
Residual

-1
0 Time [ms] 0.5

Figure 6.15: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin epoxy layer.

T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Current signal
Residual

-1
0 Time [ms] 1.5

Figure 6.16: Uncompensated subtraction for the propagation of the A0 mode in presence
of a thin epoxy layer (τ = 0.01). The maximum residual is -21 dB.

111
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1000

Free plate 20 oC

Bilayer 20 oC
Free plate 30 oC
Phase velocity [m/s]

952.2 951.5

951

900
18 20 Frequency [kHz] 22

Figure 6.17: A0 mode. Comparison of the dispersion curve for the aluminium epoxy
bilayer (τ = 0.01) at 20 ◦ C with the dispersion curves for the free plate at 20 and 30 ◦ C.
The values of the corresponding phase velocities at centre frequency are indicated.

These results confirm that Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch can potentially
also be used to compensate for detrimental effects that are not directly related to
temperature variations.

6.8 Experimental work

Experimental tests have been carried out to validate the numerical results previously
presented. Firstly, the situation of an aluminium plate immersed in a water tank
will be considered, in order to simulate a plate surrounded by an infinite liquid layer.
Subsequently the case of a thin uniform layer of epoxy will be examined. The results
of these experiments are shown in the next sections.

112
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

1
T=20 °C

Linear amplitude
Optimal
T=26 °C
Baseline
Current signal Residual = -38.5 dB
Residual

-1
Optimal
1
Stretch
T=20 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -45.5 dB

Current signal
Residual

-1
0 Time [ms] 1.5

Figure 6.18: Compensation of the subtraction for the A0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin epoxy layer.

6.9 Experiment with an infinite water layer

6.9.1 Experimental setup

The setup for this experiment was a 300 × 300 × 5 mm aluminium plate. Two
piezoceramic PCM51 disc transducers for the excitation of the S0 mode were at-
tached to the plate and operated in pitch-catch mode, as shown in figure 6.19. The
input signal was a 5 cycle Hanning windowed toneburst, 150 kHz centre frequency.

In order to keep each transducer electrically insulated from the plate, two thin
plastic strips obtained from a 100 µm thick transparency film are used as spacers
and inserted between each piezoelectric disc and the plate. The top surface of the
strips was covered by a copper adhesive tape (60 µm thick); in this way it was
possible to apply the electrical voltage which drives each transducer to its top and
bottom surfaces, avoiding electrical contact between the transducers and the plate.

113
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

0.23 L

0.3 L
Receiver
L

Transmitter
0.35 L

0.27 L

Figure 6.19: Pitch-catch inspection of an aluminium plate.

Once the transducers were wired, they were covered with a thin waterproof silicone
layer to avoid contact between the transducer and the water. Figure 6.20 shows a
schematic of the transducer used in this experiment.

W
Water prooff Encapsulation
E l i
Copper tape
60 μm PZT transducer
100 μm
Adhesive El t i l Insulator
Electrical I l t
Adhesive
Aluminium plate

Figure 6.20: Schematic of a piezoelectric transducer encapsulated with waterproof sil-

icone. The electrical insulator avoids electrical contact between the transducer and the
plate.

114
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

6.9.2 Measurement procedure

In the first stage of the experiment, the aluminium plate instrumented with the
piezoelectric transducers was placed on 3 adjustable height, point supports in an
oven, where the temperature was slowly increased starting from room tempera-
ture, in order to allow the recording of reference signals with small temperature
gap (the temperature differences between baselines was never greater than 0.2 ◦ C).
Figure 6.21 shows the position of the 3 point supports. Two thermocouples were
connected to the plate in proximity of the transducers in order to continuously
monitor the temperature during the acquisition of the baselines and no significant
gradients were observed during the baselines acquisitions.

Figure 6.21: Aluminium plate instrumented with transducers on 3 adjustable height,

point supports.

In the second stage of the experiment, the plate and the 3 adjustable height point
supports were immersed in water in a cylindrical tank (diameter=660 mm, height=510
mm). The plate was placed equidistant from the bottom of the tank and from the
free surface of the water, which was at 260 mm from the bottom of the tank (fig-
ure 6.22.

Let L be the side length of the square plate and cgr the group velocity of the S0
mode at the frequency of 150 kHz. The time it takes the guided waves to travel two
plate transits in the aluminium plate is given by

2L
tAl = (6.1)
cgr

115
 Water level
6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Water – free surface

105 mm Aluminium plate 260 mm

Tank

Figure 6.22: Cross section of the experimental setup immersed in a water tank.

During this time, the distance travelled by the leaky wave in the water is given by

dH2 O = tAl cH2 O (6.2)

where cH2 O is the bulk velocity in water. Substituting the corresponding values for
cgr and cH2 O a value of dH2 O ' 160 mm is obtained. Figure 6.23 shows the leakage
phenomenon for a plate immersed in water.

Water – free surface

Reflection from
the free surface
Leaky wave

θ
Transmitter Receiver

5 mm Aluminium plate

300 mm

Figure 6.23: Leakage phenomenon in a plate immersed by water. Energy radiates in the
surrounding fluid creating a leaky bulk wave at a characteristic angle θ.

The leakage angle θ can be found from the Snell’s law and for the case of 5 mm
thick aluminium plate immersed in water is
cH 2 O
θ = arcsin ' 16◦ (6.3)
cph

116
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

where cph is the phase velocity of the S0 mode at the frequency of 150 kHz. From
equation 6.2 and considering figure 6.23 we can deduce that the minimum water
level such that no reflection from the free surface of water is obtained before the
time tAl is

dH2 O
H= ' 80 mm (6.4)
2

The geometry of the experimental setup ensured that the reflections coming from
the free surface of the water and from the tank were always received after the guided
waves had propagated for two plate transits in the aluminium plate. In other words,
the plate is surrounded by an equivalent infinite water layer for a propagation time
corresponding to two plate transits. During the experiments, the temperature was
monitored as during the baseline acquisition and the water was manually stirred to
ensure that uniform temperatures were achieved in the tank before the acquisition
of the signal.

6.9.3 Results

Figure 6.24 shows a time trace recorded in the plate immersed in the tank compared
with a reference signal taken when the plate was in the oven at the same temperature
of 31.5 ◦ C.

The signal recorded in the water is attenuated compared to the baseline. The
attenuation expressed in nepers as a function of time can be easily obtained and
is represented by the solid grey curve in figure 6.25. The arrival time of the first
pulse is indicated by the dashed vertical line; the part of the trend before this time
corresponds to the ratio of the two parts of the original time traces where only noise
is present. By comparison the attenuation trend obtained in DISPERSE for the S0
mode propagating in a 5 mm thick aluminium plate bordered on its top and bottom
surface by an infinite water layer is also shown (dashed black line in figure 6.25).

The actual amplitude ratio curve shows multiple peaks and troughs, caused by
the multiple reverberations that are occurring in the plate and are responsible for

117
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Linear amplitude

Baseline
Current signal
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 6.24: Comparison of a current signal measured from the immersed plate with
the reference signal recorded from the free plate at the same temperature. The dashed line
represents the first arrival of the water surface reflection.

interference between different wavepackets. By smoothing the original curve using a

running average method it is possible to observe that the smoothed trend (solid black
curve) shows a good agreement with the dispersion curve obtained with DISPERSE
for the S0 mode (dashed black line) in the part of the time trace immediately after the
arrival time of the first pulse (area enclosed in the dashed rectangle of figure 6.25).
For clarity a zoomed view of this area is shown in figure 6.26.

However, in the remaining part of the time trace the two trends are significantly
different due to the fact that overlapping of multiple reflections is occurring. Since
energy is coming back from the edges rather than propagating away as assumed
in DISPERSE, the actual attenuation is lower than the attenuation predicted by
DISPERSE for the S0 mode. This issue prevents amplitude compensation from
being efficiently applied to the entire time trace.

In order to verify the numerical results previously presented in section 6.6.2, only
the first arrival due to the direct propagation of the S0 mode from the transmitter

118
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Arrival time of the first pulse

0
Amplitudde ratio [Neeper]

First arrival of the Amplitude ratio

water surface reflection Amplitude ratio smoothed
-7 Disperse
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 6.25: Amplitude ratio between current signal measured from the immersed plate
and baseline. Multiple reverberations are responsible for peaks and troughs in the actual
trend. Running averages can be used to smooth the curve.

-0.2
Amplitude ratio [Neper]

Amplitude ratio
Amplitude ratio smoothed
Disperse

-0.9
0.045 Time [ms] 0.09

Figure 6.26: Zoomed view of area enclosed in the dashed rectangle of figure 6.25.

119
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

to the receiver will be considered. The first arrival in the time trace was chopped
because reflections from the edge were received before whole first arrival was ob-
tained. Amplitude compensation was applied to the first arrival using as reference
signal the time trace recorded from the unloaded plate at the same temperature.
Subsequently, Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch were applied to improve the
result of the subtraction between the baseline and the amplitude compensated cur-
rent signal. Figure 6.27 shows the performance of Optimal Baseline and Optimal
Stretch in reducing the residual of the uncompensated subtraction of the reference
signal from the current signal.

T=31.5 °C
Linear amplitude

Optimal
T=33 °C
Baseline
Residual = -29.5 dB

Current signal
Residual
-1

1 Optimal
Stretch
T=31.5 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -40 dB

Current signal
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 0.12

Figure 6.27: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of an infinite water layer.

The optimal baseline was found at the temperature of 33 ◦ C, which was 1.6 ◦ C
higher than the temperature of the current signal. This result confirms the numer-
ical prediction obtained with DISPERSE and presented in section 6.6, where the
temperature of the optimal baseline was 1.5 ◦ C higher than the temperature of the
current signal measured in the bilayer. The maximum residual after application

120
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

of the Optimal Baseline method obtained in the experiment was -29.5 dB. After
application of Optimal Stretch, the residual is further reduced to -40 dB.

6.10 Experiment with a thin uniform viscoelastic

layer

For this experiment a plate identical to that one discussed for the experiment with
the infinite water layer was used. The plate was instrumented with two piezoelec-
tric transducers PCM51 and it was inspected in pitch-catch mode, in a configuration
similar to that shown in figure 6.19. The input signal was a 5 cycle Hanning win-
dowed toneburst, 150 kHz centre frequency. The acquisition of the baselines was
done in the same way described in subsection 6.9.2 and the baselines were recorded
with a temperature gap of 0.1 ◦ C. In order to simulate a plate coated by a thin
layer of viscoelastic material, a layer of uncured HEXCEL Redux 319 R was placed
on the free surface of the plate. Redux 319 R is a supported epoxy film adhesive with
a woven nylon carrier; the thickness of the adhesive layer is approximately 100 µm.
Using epoxy film adhesive is convenient for keeping layer thickness constant.

Since film adhesives require high temperatures (150-250 ◦ C) for the curing process,
it was not possible to consider a similar test with a cured uniform layer of epoxy
adhesive because the piezoelectric transducers would have been damaged by high
temperatures. Therefore it would have been impossible to compare directly current
signals (time traces obtained from the plate with cured epoxy adhesive) with baseline
signals (time traces recorded from the unloaded plate).

Figure 6.28 shows a top view of the aluminium plate coated with the epoxy layer.
The dotted circles represent the two transducers that were attached to the back
surface of the plate.

121
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

0.32 L

Receiver
0.34 L

0.36 L Transmitter

0.3 L Epoxy
layer

Figure 6.28: Top view of the aluminium plate coated with a thin epoxy layer. The
transducers (dotted circles) are bonded to the back surface of the plate.

6.10.1 Results

Figure 6.29 shows a time trace recorded in the plate coated with the adhesive com-
pared with a reference signal taken when the plate was in the oven at the same
temperature. The current signal (measured in the plate coated with the adhesive)
is attenuated compared to the reference signal (measured in the free plate). The
attenuation expressed in nepers as a function of time has been obtained as in sub-
section 6.9.3 and is shown in figure 6.30. The first part of the trend before the
arrival time of the first pulse corresponds to the ratio of the two parts of the orig-
inal time traces where no signal is present. Since the uncured adhesive properties
were unknown it was not possible to predict the attenuation trend in DISPERSE.
The dashed black line shown in figure 6.30 only represents the best linear fit of the
smoothed curve (solid black line).

The current signal was recorded at 28.4 ◦ C and amplitude compensation is the first
step required before applying the temperature compensation strategy. As was done
in subsection 6.9.3 amplitude compensation was applied only to the first arrival. The
amplitude of the current signal was compensated according to the method described

122
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

Linear amplitude

Baseline
Current signal
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 6.29: Comparison of a current signal measured from the plate coated with a thin
epoxy layer with the reference signal recorded from the free plate at the same temperature.

4
Arrival time of the first pulse
Amplitude ratio [Neper]

Amplitude ratio
Amplitude ratio smoothed
Linear trend
-6
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 6.30: Amplitude ratio between current signal measured from the plate coated with
an epoxy layer and baseline. Multiple reverberations are responsible for peaks and troughs
in the actual trend. Running averages can be used to smooth the curve.

123
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

in section 6.6.1 using as reference signal the baseline obtained from the unloaded
plate in the oven at the same temperature. Subsequently, the Optimal Baseline
method was used to select the best matching baseline and Optimal Stretch was
applied to further improve the result of the subtraction.
1

T=28.4 °C
Linear amplitude

Optimal
T=31.3 °C
Baseline
Residual = -26.5 dB

Current signal
-1 Residual

1 Optimal
T=28.4 °C Stretch
Linear amplitude

Residual = -42 dB

Current signal
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 0.1

Figure 6.31: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin uniform epoxy layer.

Figure 6.31 shows the results of the application of the temperature compensation
strategy. After Optimal Baseline the residual level was -26.5 dB and the temper-
ature of the best match was 31.3 ◦ C (almost 3 ◦ C higher than the temperature of
the current signal). The residual level was further reduced to -42 dB by applying
Optimal Stretch. Therefore, it was possible to achieve the target residual level in
the subtraction by using Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch also in presence of
a thin epoxy adhesive layer. However, it has to be stressed that this result was
obtained with only the first arrival of the original time trace. In order to consider
longer signals it is necessary to employ a different approach for amplitude compen-
sation. A possible alternative method could rely on normalising the power content
of the signals in the frequency domain.

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 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

6.11 Experiment with a non uniform viscoelastic

layer

In order to study the performance of the compensation strategy with a non uniform
epoxy layer, a square patch of the adhesive (side length 50 mm, equivalent to 0.17L)
was removed from the central area of the plate between the transducers. The patch
of the adhesive removed is represented by the area enclosed in the dashed square of
figure 6.32.

0.32 L

Receiver
0.34 L

L
0.17 L

0.36 L Transmitter

0.3 L Epoxy
layer

Figure 6.32: Non uniform viscoelastic layer on an aluminium plate. The area enclosed
in the dashed square represents the adhesive patch removed from the former uniform layer.

The current signal obtained from the experimental setup after removing the patch
of adhesive was recorded at 27.8 ◦ C. Amplitude compensation was applied to the
first arrival using as reference signal a time trace recorded from the unloaded at
the same temperature. Subsequently Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch were
applied. Figure 6.33 shows the performance of the compensation strategy. The
Optimal Baseline was found at 29 ◦ C and the maximum residual in the subtraction
was -28 dB. The temperature difference between current signal and optimal baseline
is 1.2 ◦ C, whereas in the case of uniform epoxy layer it was almost 3 ◦ C. This result
is expected because from figure 6.32 it can be seen that removing the square patch

125
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

of adhesive in the area between the two transducers significantly reduces the area
covered by epoxy encountered by the guided waves directly propagating from the
transmitter to the receiver. Hence, the first arrival is less affected by the presence
of the epoxy layer and, as result, the temperature of the optimal baseline is closer
to the temperature of the current signal compared to the configuration of a uniform
epoxy layer. After determining the optimal baseline, the maximum residual in the
subtraction was further reduced to -38 dB (value very close to the target residual
level), by using the Optimal Stretch method.

T=27.8 °C
Linear amplitude

Optimal
T=29 °C
Baseline
Residual = -28 dB

Current signal
-1 Residual

1 Optimal
Stretch
T=27.8 °C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -38 dB

Current signal
-1 Residual
0 Time [ms] 0.1

Figure 6.33: Compensation of the subtraction for the S0 mode. Performance of Optimal
Baseline and Optimal Stretch in presence of a thin non uniform epoxy layer.

6.12 Summary

This Chapter has investigated the possibility of employing Temperature Compen-

sation techniques in presence of liquid loading on plates, in order to study whether
methods developed for temperature compensation can also be used to compensate

126
 6. Effects of Liquid Loading on Subtraction approach

for the presence of liquid loading. The effects of liquid loading have been compared
with the effects of a 10 ◦ C temperature change. Subsequently, Temperature Com-
pensation techniques have been applied in numerical simulations for the fundamental
S0 and A0 modes. The residual in the subtraction for the S0 mode propagating in an
aluminium water bilayer (τ = 0.01) is negligible compared to the residual observed
in the uncompensated subtraction for a 10 ◦ C temperature change. The presence
of a thin epoxy layer is responsible for a higher residual in the subtraction, both
for the S0 and A0 modes. However, numerical simulations show that the compensa-
tion strategy based on the combined use of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch
was able to achieve the target residual level of -40 dB for the subtraction both in
the presence of a thin and of an infinite water layer and in the presence of a thin
viscoelastic layer, represented by a uniform thin layer of not cured epoxy adhesive.

Experiments have been conducted to evaluate the subtraction performance in real

structures in presence of liquid loading. Tests were carried out for an aluminium
plate bordered by an infinite water layer and for an aluminium plate coated with a
thin layer of epoxy. In both series of experiments, a compensation strategy based on
the combined use of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch was used. The temper-
ature of the optimal baseline was in both cases only a few degrees different from the
temperature of the current signal. More importantly, the target residual level was
achieved, confirming that temperature compensation techniques can be applied in
principle also for the compensation of detrimental effects different from temperature
variations. The situation of a non uniform epoxy layer was also considered and an ex-
periment was conducted after removing a square patch of adhesive from the original
uniform epoxy layer. Although Optimal Stretch has not been specifically designed
for being applied to signals recorded in structures with non uniform temperature
coefficient, a maximum residual very close to the target level was obtained.

127
Chapter 7

Effects of different temperature

responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.1 Background

Adhesive joints are extensively used in the aerospace industry and represent a crucial
element for the structural integrity of an aircraft [126]. Several advantages derive
from the use of adhesive joints compared to other fastening techniques. For instance
an adhesive bond ensures a weight reduction in the bonded structure, with respect
to mechanical fastening methods. The application of adhesive joints in several in-
dustrial fields has been continuously growing in parallel with the development of
new polymers and basically all the structural adhesives used in the last few decades
are polymer based [127].

There are three main components in the typical structure of an adhesive joint,
represented by the adherends and the epoxy adhesive that is the bonding element of
the structure. The adhesive is applied in the form of a thin viscoelastic layer in order
to create an intimate contact with both the substrates [127]. Subsequently the bond

128
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

is cured and after the curing process, the epoxy becomes capable of withstanding the
loads imposed by the structure [128]. The adhesive layer in aerospace applications
is typically of the order of 100 µ m thick.

The adhesive layer has different temperature coefficients compared to the material
of the adherends joined in the bond (e.g. thermal expansion, Young’s modulus de-
pendence on temperature). Therefore environmental changes, such as temperature
variations will affect the adherends and the adhesive layer differently and this issue
can be detrimental for the performance of the Subtraction approach applied to sig-
nals recorded from structures where materials with different temperature responses
are present. In this Chapter our aim is to evaluate the performance of the Sub-
traction approach when temperature coefficients are not uniform over the structure
under inspection. Specifically, the performance of the temperature compensation
strategy already presented in the Chapters 5 and 6 will be evaluated both on nu-
merical simulations and experiments. This study is important for specifying the
applicability of the subtraction approach in configurations that can be considered
representative of typical aircraft structures.

7.2 Different temperature responses of materials

and Temperature Compensation techniques

The mechanical properties of the epoxy layer in an adhesive joint can be signif-
icantly different from the properties of the adherends, due to their different na-
ture. For instance, the thermal expansion coefficient for aluminium is approximately
23·10−6 K −1 , whereas the corresponding coefficient for epoxy is typically in the range
40 − 60 · 10−6 K −1 [129]. Therefore the adhesive in a bond will be much more af-
fected than the adherends by the same temperature change. This issue is crucial for
a reliable application of the temperature compensation strategy already considered
in this work.

The Optimal Baseline method is not affected in principle by this issue since the

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 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

strategy behind this method is based on recording baselines at all the possible oper-
ating temperatures of the structure. Nevertheless, it is desirable to reduce the size
of the database by increasing the temperature step between baselines and using the
Optimal Stretch technique to effectively interpolate between the available baselines
(Chapter 5). However, the Optimal Stretch technique implicitly assumes uniform
temperature coefficients of modulus and expansion over the structure. Therefore the
performance of the Optimal Stretch method in structures comprising materials with
different temperature responses needs to be evaluated. Numerical FE simulations
and experimental work were carried out to estimate the maximum temperature vari-
ation that Optimal Stretch can compensate, achieving the target residual level of
-40 dB required for reliable applications of the subtraction approach. This evalua-
tion is crucial for understanding the real effectiveness of the subtraction approach
in structures where materials with different temperature responses are present.

7.3 Experimental setup and 3D FE model

7.3.1 Experimental setup

The experimental setup consisted of a 300 mm long L-shaped stringer bonded in the
middle of a 900 × 300 × 5 mm aluminium plate by a thin layer of HEXCEL Redux
319 R . This is a supported epoxy film adhesive with a woven nylon carrier to ensure
reliable thickness control; the thickness of the adhesive layer is approximately 100
µm. Before the bond was created, the surfaces of the adherends were cleaned with
acetone [130]. The adhesive layer was placed between the plate and the shortest side
of the stringer. Figure 7.1 shows a view of the experimental setup zoomed around
the region of the joint (the dimensions of the stringer are indicated).

In order to create the bond, a steel bar was placed on top of the area of the bond
and the stringer was clamped to the plate using two G-clamps, one placed at each
end of the stringer and the structure was then placed in an oven. The adhesive
was cured at 180 ◦ C for one hour, as required by the technical specifications of

130
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

Stringer

Plate

1 6 mm
1.6

300 mm

Adhesive
28 mm

12 mm 5 mm

Figure 7.1: Detailed view of the adhesive joint in the experimental setup.

the adhesive. After the curing process, the G-clamps were removed and the setup
was left to cool until it reached room temperature. Subsequently, two piezoceramic
PCM51 disc transducers for the excitation of the S0 mode were bonded to the plate
and operated in pitch-catch mode, as shown in figure 7.2.

The input signal was a 5 cycle Hanning windowed toneburst, 150 kHz centre fre-
quency. Two thermocouples were connected to the plate close to the transducers in
order to continuously monitor the temperature during the acquisition of the signals.

131
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

100 mm

Receiver 370 mm
300 mm 360 mm Transmitter

120 mm
Stringer

900 mm

Figure 7.2: Top view of the plate with bonded stringer. The transducers are operated in
pitch-catch mode.

7.3.2 3D FE model

A 3D FE model of the experimental setup has been designed in ABAQUS to sim-

ulate a stringer bonded by a 100 µ m thick epoxy layer to a 900 × 300 × 5 mm
aluminium plate. The model has been meshed with C3D8R elements from the
ABAQUS element library [131]. For the propagation of the S0 mode, a pointlike
source, located at the same position as the transmitter in the experimental setup,
was simulated by applying radial forces to 8 nodes symmetrically placed on a circle
of the same diameter as the transducers used in the experimental setup. In this
way approximately axisymmetric waves propagating outward in all directions were
obtained [132]. The received signal was monitored at the same location as in the
experimental tests and the in-plane displacements were combined to reconstruct the
total in-plane displacement field of the propagating S0 mode at the position where
the receiver is located in the experimental setup. Numerical simulations were carried
out to estimate the maximum temperature difference that could be compensated by
Optimal Stretch. The monitoring time was 1 ms that at the excitation frequency of
150 kHz corresponds to approximately 5.3 m propagation distance for the S0 mode
in the plate. The results of the numerical simulations are summarized in section 7.4.

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 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.4 Results of numerical simulations

In order to evaluate the performance of Optimal Stretch in presence of materials

with non uniform temperature responses, it was assumed that the Young’s modulus
of the epoxy decreased linearly at a rate of 1%/◦ C. This is at the top end of the
variation seen in practice [133]. Subsequently, time traces were simulated at 20◦ C
and upwards in 0.5 ◦ C steps. The mechanical properties of plate and stringer were
set to the corresponding values for the temperatures considered (section 6.5) and
the Young’s modulus of the epoxy has been reduced according to the linear approx-
imation previously described; the Poisson’s ratio of epoxy was assumed constant
at 0.392. The signal at 20 ◦ C was then taken as the baseline and the signals at
higher temperatures were taken in turn as the current signal. The Optimal Stretch
technique was then applied and the amplitude of the residual evaluated. Figure 7.3
shows the performance of Optimal Stretch for 2 ◦ C temperature difference between
baseline and current signal.

1
ΔT = 2o C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -37 dB Current signal

Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.3: Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the 3D FE model. Optimal Stretch can
compensate for 2 ◦ C temperature change, achieving a maximum residual level of -37 dB.

The amplitude of the subtracted signal on a dB scale is shown in figure 7.4 (solid

133
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

grey line) where it is compared with the residual obtained for 1.5 and 3 ◦ C tem-
perature difference (solid black line and dashed black line, respectively). It can be
-30
-34
-38
-37
-42
-42
Amplitude of the residual [dB]
-40
-45

-50

-60

-70 ΔT = 3o C
ΔT = 2o C
ΔT = 1.5o C
-80
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Time [ms]

Figure 7.4: Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the 3D FE model. In the presence of
1.5 ◦ C temperature change, the maximum residual is always lower than -40 dB. Optimal
Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temperature change, achieving a residual level of -37 dB.
.

seen that the Optimal Stretch method is able to achieve the target residual level up
to 1 ms (approximately 5.3 m propagation distance) for 1.5 ◦ C temperature differ-
ence between current signal and baseline. The maximum residual in the subtraction
for a 2 ◦ C temperature difference is -37 dB and it was obtained at 0.6 ms, which
corresponds to approximately 3.2 m propagation distance. Note that for 3 ◦ C tem-
perature difference the maximum residual level is already higher than the target
residual level for the first arrival. The performance of Optimal Stretch was also
tested on a FE model of a free plate with transmitter and receiver located as in the
model of the plate with a bonded stringer. Considering the results obtained in the
FE model of the bonded stringer, numerical simulations for the free plate were run
starting with a temperature gap of 3 ◦ C and upwards in 0.5 ◦ C steps. Figure 7.5
shows the maximum residual up to 1 ms as function of the temperature difference,
∆T , between baseline and current signal for the plate with the bonded stringer and

134
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

the free plate. The maximum residual is increasing with the temperature gap and
for the plate with bonded stringer the maximum residual is -34 dB in presence of a 3
◦
C temperature difference. For the free plate the target residual level was achieved
up to 1 ms for 4 ◦ C temperature change. Note that for the free plate the target
residual level can be achieved for higher temperature gaps than for the plate with
the bonded stringer. The marked points in the graph represent the values obtained
in the numerical simulations; the two curves shown are only indicative of the trend
of the maximum residual as function of the temperature gap between baseline and
current signal. However, the maximum residual obtained is strongly dependent on
the interference between different wave packets and, for this reason, the trends are
not expected to be smooth.

-34
Amplitude of the residual [dB]

Plate with bonded stringer

Free plate

-40
-41

-46
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
ΔT [°C]

Figure 7.5: Amplitude of the residual as function of the temperature difference between
baseline and current signal for the FE model of a free plate and the FE model of a plate
with bonded stringer.

135
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.5 Preliminary experiments: performance of Op-

timal Stretch method

7.5.1 Optimal Stretch performance

The first series of measurements was conducted the day after the stringer was bonded
to the parent plate. The acquisition of the signals was carried out for approximately
10 hours in a room where the temperature was varying in the range 14-16 ◦ C. The
temperature differences between baselines was never greater than 0.2 ◦ C. The signal
at lowest temperature was assumed as a baseline and signals at higher temperatures
recorded in the same dataset were taken in turn as the current signal. Figure 7.6
shows that for 0.5 ◦ C temperature difference between baseline and current signal,
Optimal Stretch achieves a maximum residual of -36 dB, already higher than the
target residual level.

1
ΔT = 0.5o C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -36 dB Current signal

Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.6: Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the first series of experiments with the
bonded stringer. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 0.5 ◦ C temperature change, achieving
a maximum residual level of -36 dB.

136
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

This performance is not very satisfactory, considering that in the numerical simula-
tions Optimal Stretch was able to compensate for a higher temperature difference
between current signal and baseline. A possible explanation for this result is that
irreversible changes in the structure were still occurring due to modifications in the
adhesive layer during the acquisition of the time traces. Since the measurements
were carried out only one day after the stringer was bonded to the plate, it is possi-
ble that changes in the structure of the adhesive bond were happening as result of
the post-curing modifications in the structure of the epoxy.

In order to evaluate the best result achievable by Optimal Stretch in this geometry,
the performance of Optimal Stretch was evaluated on a free aluminium plate (900
× 300 × 5 mm) identical to that one just discussed with two transducers placed
in the same locations as shown in figure 7.2. Hence the performance of Optimal
Stretch in the presence of materials with non uniform temperature responses can be
directly compared with the performance obtained in the same plate geometry and
transducers separation, but with uniform temperature response over the structure.
The acquisition of the baselines from the free plate and the procedure for determin-
ing the Optimal Stretch performance were carried out as for the plate with a bonded
stringer. Figure 7.7 shows the performance of the Optimal Stretch method on the
free plate for a 2 ◦ C temperature difference between the current signal and the base-
line. The maximum residual level was -41 dB. The amplitude of the residual level
on a dB scale is shown in figure 7.8 and it can be seen that the target residual level
is achieved for all the time trace when the temperature gap is 2 ◦ C. A maximum
residual of -38 dB, very close to the target residual level, was achieved even when
the temperature difference between the baseline and the current signal was 2.5 ◦ C.
These results can be considered as the highest performance achievable by the Op-
timal Stretch in this configuration, since it was obtained in a similar geometry and
environmental conditions as in the experiment with the bonded stringer, but with
only one material in the structure. Figure 7.9 shows the maximum amplitude of the
residual up to 1 ms as function of the temperature difference between reference and
current signal for the plate with bonded stringer and the free plate in the range 0.5-2
◦
C. The Optimal Stretch performance is significantly better for the free plate, the

137
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

1
ΔT =2o C

Linearr amplitudee

Current signal
Residual = -41
41 dB Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.7: Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the first series of experiments with the
free plate. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 2 ◦ C temperature change, achieving the
target residual level.

difference between the two trends being -20 dB for a 2 ◦ C temperature difference.

7.5.2 Optimal Baseline performance

Evaluating the performance of Optimal Baseline, although not directly affected by

the presence of materials with different temperature coefficients, is important for
assessing the robustness of the Subtraction approach and is helpful for gaining an
insight regarding irreversible changes occurring in the experimental setup described
in section 7.3.1, due to modifications happening in the adhesive. The performance of
the Optimal Baseline method was evaluated assuming as current signal a time trace
recorded from the experimental setup at 15 ◦ C, whereas the reference signals were
represented by the time traces recorded in a previous dataset with temperatures in
the range 14-16 ◦ C. The temperature gap between baselines was never greater than
0.2 ◦ C. Figure 7.10 shows the performance achieved by the Optimal Baseline method.
The optimal baseline was found at the same temperature as the current signal and

138
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

-30
-41 -38

Amplitude of the residual [dB]

-40

-50

-60

-70
ΔT = 2.5o C
ΔT = 2o C
ΔT = 1.5o C
-80
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Time [ms]

Figure 7.8: Maximum residual in the subtraction as function of the temperature difference
between baseline and current signal for the free plate. Optimal Stretch can compensate for
2 ◦ C temperature variation, achieving the target residual level.

-20

Plate with bonded stringer

Free plate
Amplitude of the residual [dB]

-30

-40

-50
0.5 1 1.5 2
ΔT [°C]

Figure 7.9: Amplitude of the residual as function of the temperature difference between
baseline and current signal for the free plate and the plate with bonded stringer.

139
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

1
ΔT = 0 o C

Linear amplitude

Current signal
Residual = -28.5 dB
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.10: Compensation by Optimal Baseline for experiment with the bonded stringer.
Optimal Baseline can achieve a maximum residual of -28.5 dB. The temperature of the
baseline and current signals was 15 ◦ C.

a maximum residual of - 28.5 dB was achieved in the subtraction. This performance

is lower than that achieved by Optimal Baseline in a more complex structure with
adhesive bonded stringers [103], inspected after irreversible changes had stopped.
This shows that the performance of Temperature Compensation techniques shown
in this section might be negatively affected by changes still occurring in the structure.
The effects of these changes should decrease with time, as will be shown later.

7.6 Second series of experiments on the bonded

stringer

In order to verify whether the performance of Temperature Compensation techniques

was improving with time a second series of measurements was carried one month
after the first series. The results are shown next for Optimal Stretch and Optimal
Baseline, respectively.

140
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.6.1 Optimal Stretch performance

The acquisition of the signals was carried out in the same room where the first
series of measurements was taken, but on this occasion the temperature was varying
in the range 8-10 ◦ C. Two datasets of time traces were recorded on two different
days and the temperature difference between baselines was never greater than 0.1
◦
C for both datasets. The signal at the lowest temperature of the first dataset was
used as the reference signal and the time traces of the second dataset were taken
in turn as the current signal. The Optimal Stretch method was able to achieve a
maximum residual level of -41 dB up to 1 ms in the presence of a 1 ◦ C temperature
change. The performance of Optimal Stretch in compensating for 1.5 ◦ C temperature
change was -38 dB, very close to the target residual level. This result is shown in
figure 7.11. Figure 7.12 shows the amplitude of the residual on a dB scale relative to

1
ΔT = 1.5o C
Linear amplitude

Residual = -38 dB Current signal

Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.11: Compensation by Optimal Stretch for the second series of experiments
with the bonded stringer. Optimal Stretch can compensate for 1.5 ◦ C temperature change,
achieving a residual level of -38 dB.

the amplitude of the first arrival for the cases of 1 ◦ C and 1.5 ◦ C temperature change.
It is important to notice that the target residual level has been achieved over the

141
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

entire duration of the time trace in the presence of 1 ◦ C temperature change; this
is equivalent to a propagation distance of approximately 5.3 m. Hence this result is
comparable with the performance obtained in the FE simulations in the presence of
a 1.5 ◦ C temperature change. In presence of 1.5 ◦ C temperature change a maximum

-30
-38
-41
Amplitude of the residual [dB]

-40

-50

-60

-70
ΔT = 1o C
ΔT = 1.5o C
-80
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Time [ms]

Figure 7.12: Amplitude of the subtracted signal on a dB scale relative to the amplitude
of the first arrival for the plate with bonded stringer. Optimal Stretch is able to achieve
a residual level of -41 dB for the entire time trace in the presence of 1 ◦ C temperature
change. A maximum residual close to the target is achieved for 1.5 ◦ C temperature change.

residual of -38 dB, very close to the target residual level, was achieved over the entire
length of the time trace.

The experimental results shown in this section represent a significant improvement

compared to the results obtained in the first series of experiments, when in the
presence of only 0.5 ◦ C temperature difference the maximum residual achievable by
Optimal Stretch was only -36 dB. Furthermore, it has been verified that the exper-
imental performance of Optimal Stretch in the presence of a 1.5 ◦ C temperature
change is comparable with the result obtained in FE simulations when a 2 ◦ C tem-
perature difference between baseline and current signal and a 2 % reduction in the
Young’s modulus of the epoxy were considered.

142
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.6.2 Optimal Baseline performance

In this test the signals recorded during the first day of measurements were used as
baselines and one of the signals of the second day was used as a current signal. As
in the previous series of experiments, the temperature of the optimal baseline was
found at the same temperature as the current signal. The maximum residual was -37
dB, which is 8.5 dB lower than the result obtained in the first series of experiments.
This result represents a significant improvement of the performance of the Optimal
Baseline method and it suggests that the effects of post-curing modifications in the
adhesive were significantly reduced.

7.7 Temperature compensation strategy and dam-

1
age detection

Temperature Compensation techniques have performed well even in the presence

of different temperature responses of materials over the structure under inspection.
It is important to evaluate the response of the compensation strategy based on
the combined use of Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch to a simulated defect.
Specifically, it has to be verified that the modifications introduced by the presence
of a defect are not removed by the compensation strategy. This is crucial to make
it possible to detect defects in structures with non uniform temperature response.
Considering the experimental setup of the aluminium plate with the bonded stringer,
experiments were conducted to compare the performance of the compensation strat-
egy in the presence of a simulated defect with the performance in the undamaged
structure.
1
The tests in section 7.7 were done in collaboration with Thomas Clarke of the NDT group,
Imperial College London.

143
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.7.1 Compensation strategy performance: undamaged struc-

ture

In order to evaluate the performance of the temperature compensation strategy

in the undamaged structure, the experimental setup was inspected in pitch-catch
mode as described in section 7.3.1. In order to simulate a typical SHM inspection,
the structure was monitored continuously for two days for the acquisition of the
baselines and the time traces were recorded automatically every 20 minutes. The
maximum temperature difference between the reference signals was never greater
than 0.5 ◦ C. Subsequently, another set of time traces was recorded over a period of
one day in order to obtain a set of current signals. The Optimal Baseline method was
used to select the best matching time traces from the set of the available baselines.
Subsequently, Optimal Stretch was applied in order to further reduce the residual
in the subtraction between the current signal and the optimal baseline. Figure 7.13
shows the compensation strategy performance for the undamaged structure. A
maximum residual of -55 dB was achieved.

1
Linear aamplitude

Current signal
g
R id l = -55
Residual 55 dB
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.13: Performance of the compensation strategy for the undamaged structure. A
maximum residual of -55 dB was achieved.

144
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.7.2 Compensation strategy performance: damaged struc-

ture

Before an artificial defect was introduced, a second pair of transducers were bonded
to the structure, in order to consider more transmitter-receiver combinations. Sub-
sequently, the presence of a defect in the structure was simulated by drilling a small
circular hole in the region of the bond. Figure 7.14 shows the positions of the 4 trans-
ducers used in the experiment and the position of the drilled hole in the structure.
The second pair of sensors is represented by the transducers 3 and 4.

50 mm Stringer 100 mm
3 Drilled hole 2
220 mm 370 mm
Receiver
300 mm 360 mm 1
4
130 mm
120 mm 230 mm
60 mm

900 mm

Figure 7.14: Drilled hole in the region of the bond, simulating an artificial defect. The
hole is placed at 130 mm from the bottom side of the plate.

The initial diameter of the hole was 1 mm. Subsequently the diameter was increased
to 3.5 and 5 mm. For each diameter of the hole, time traces were recorded in order to
evaluate the performance of the compensation strategy as the size of the simulated
defect was increased. The time traces recorded in the undamaged structure were
used as a set of baselines and the Optimal Baseline was used to select the best
matching signal, as previously done in subsection 7.7.1. Optimal Stretch was then
used to improve the result of the subtraction between current signal and baseline
and the performance of the subtraction approach was evaluated for the values of
the hole diameter previously indicated. Figure 7.15 shows the performance of the
compensation strategy in the damaged structure when diameter of the drilled hole
was 5 mm and the inspection was carried out using the transducers pair 1-2. The
maximum residual was -25 dB, significantly higher than the corresponding value
obtained in the undamaged structure.

145
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

Linear aamplitude

Current signal
g
R id l = -25
Residual 25 dB
Residual
-1
0 Time [ms] 1

Figure 7.15: Performance of the compensation strategy for the damaged structure with
a 5 mm diameter drilled hole.

Figure 7.16 shows the amplitude of the residual in the subtraction for the transduc-
ers pair 1-2. The residual in the subtraction for each value of the hole diameter is
compared on a dB scale with the residual obtained when the structure was undam-
aged.

It can be seen that the presence of the hole is responsible for an increase in the
residual level at the arrival time corresponding to the expected arrival of the first
reflection from the defect. For instance, the presence of the 1 mm diameter hole is
responsible for a residual level that at the expected arrival time of the first reflection
from the hole is approximately 8 dB higher than the corresponding value for the
undamaged structure. Furthermore, as the diameter of the hole is increased, the
reflection coming from the hole increases as well and this leads to high amplitude of
the subtracted signal. This is also observed in later parts of the time traces as a result
of the shadowing effects caused by the presence of the defect [103]. The presence
of the defect is responsible for alterations in the interference patterns between the
reflections from the edges of the plate and the reflections from the stringer and
therefore for an increased residual level in the subtraction also in the later part of
the time traces when the signal measured in the defective structure is compared with

146
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

20
Expected arrival of first Undamaged
10

B]
mplitudde of thhe residdual [dB
reflection from defect 1mm hole
0 3.5mm hole
5mm hole
-10
10
-55dB
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
Am

-70
-80
80
0 02
0.2 04
0.4 06
0.6 08
0.8 1
Time [ms]
Figure 7.16: Pitch-catch inspection using the transducers pair 1-2. Amplitude of the
residual in the subtraction for different hole diameters compared to the residual for the
undamaged structure. Increasing the defect size is responsible for higher residual level.

the baseline recorded in the undamaged structure. After the 1 mm diameter hole
was drilled, the maximum residual level measured over the entire time trace was -38
dB (17 dB higher than the residual level obtained for the undamaged structure).
After the hole diameter was increased to 3.5 mm and 5 mm, the maximum residual
increased to -23 dB and -20 dB, respectively. The increased residual level indicates
that some change has happened and, therefore, can be useful for damage detection.
These results show that the subtraction approach can achieve damage detection
when the temperature coefficients of expansion and modulus are not uniform in the
structure under inspection.

Experiments have been conducted considering other possible transmitter-receiver

combinations, in order to demonstrate the generality of the results already presented.
It has been observed that the considerations previously made can be considered valid
also for other possible inspection strategies with the sensors used in the experiments.
Figure 7.17 shows the amplitude of the residual in the subtraction for the transducers

147
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

pair 3-4. It can be seen that, even in this pitch-catch configuration of inspection,
the presence of the artificial defect accounts for an increase of the residual level at
the expected arrival of the first reflection from the defect. After the 1 mm diameter
hole was introduced the maximum residual level was -39 dB (16 dB higher than the
residual observed when the structure was without defects). After the hole diameter
was increased to 3.5 mm and 5 mm, the maximum residual increased to -23.5 dB
and -20 dB, respectively. Therefore the maximum values of the residual achieved
for each diameter of the drilled hole are very similar to the corresponding values
obtained in the pitch-catch inspection with the transducers pair 1-2. However, it
has to be observed that the damage detection can be reliable only with a sensible
distribution of the sensors of the array with respect to the defect location.

20
Undamaged
B]

10 Expected arrival of first

dual [dB

reflection from defect 1mm hole

0 3.5mm hole
5mm hole
-10
10
he resid

-55dB
-20
de of th

-30
-40
mplitud

-50
-60
Am

-70
-80
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time [ms]

Figure 7.17: Pitch-catch inspection using the transducers pair 3-4. Amplitude of the
residual in the subtraction for different hole diameters compared to the residual for the
undamaged structure.

148
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

7.8 Summary

This Chapter has investigated the possibility of employing Temperature Compensa-

tion techniques in structures with materials having different temperature coefficients,
in order to verify whether Subtraction approach can be reliably applied also in the
presence of non uniform temperature responses over the structure. Optimal Stretch
is the technique that would be most affected by this issue, since it assumes uni-
form temperature coefficient over the structure under inspection, whereas Optimal
Baseline is not affected in principle by non uniform temperature responses over the
structure. Numerical simulations and experiments have been carried out to assess
the performance of the Optimal Stretch method. The performance of the Optimal
Baseline technique has also been evaluated in the experiments in order to understand
whether irreversible changes over the structure were occurring as a consequence of
modifications in the adhesive during the post-curing.

A typical stringer for aerospace applications was bonded via an adhesive epoxy
layer to a 5 mm thick aluminium plate, in order to evaluate the performance of
Temperature Compensation techniques with ultrasonic signals recorded in a real
structure comprising materials with different temperature responses. Numerical
calculations on a 3D FE model of the experimental setup were also carried out to
simulate the different temperature responses of aluminum and epoxy and to predict
the performance achievable by the Optimal Stretch method for the S0 mode.

It was observed experimentally that the performance of Temperature Compensation

techniques in the experiments conducted immediately after bonding was negatively
affected by irreversible changes occurring in the adhesive bond. The results obtained
in subsequent tests showed a significant improvement both for Optimal Stretch and
Optimal Baseline performance.

It has been shown that Optimal Stretch, although not specifically designed for deal-
ing with signals recorded in structures where materials with different temperature
responses are present, can compensate satisfactorily for temperature variations of
approximately 1.5 ◦ C, achieving the target residual level for efficient subtraction.

149
 7. Effects of different temperature responses in adhesive joints on
Subtraction approach

These results were obtained for large propagation distances, higher than those re-
quired for full coverage of inspected areas in practical SHM applications.

The capability of the Subtraction approach in detecting the presence of an artificial

defect was evaluated and it was shown that, even in presence of materials with
different temperature responses, damage detection was possible because a significant
increase in the residual level of the subtracted signal was observed compared to the
residual level obtained in the undamaged structure.

150
Chapter 8

Conclusions

8.1 Thesis Review

The development of an efficient guided wave SHM system requires robust signal pro-
cessing techniques for the correct interpretation of the complicated ultrasonic time
traces that would be recorded in the inspection of a complex structure. Therefore
the availability of suitable signal processing techniques is crucial for making damage
detection possible and extensive research has been conducted in this field. The main
objective of this thesis has been the investigation of two possible approaches, namely
Deconvolution and Subtraction, for achieving damage detection. Firstly, Deconvo-
lution has been considered as a possible method for enhancing the resolution of
ultrasonic time traces, by reducing the time duration of the individual wavepackets
in a time trace. Subsequently, the Subtraction approach has been considered and
compensation techniques have been used to reduce the residual in the subtraction
between the current signal and the reference signal obtained from the undamaged
structure.

The subject of the research and the framework in which this project is set were
introduced in Chapter 1. A summary of this work and of the results obtained is
given here; for convenience the main findings of this thesis are summarized in the
next section.

151
 8. Conclusions

Chapter 2 described the concept of Structural Health Monitoring, as well as the

impact that SHM can have on the operation and maintenance of complex structures.
The advantages of sparse distributed arrays for SHM are also introduced and the
main requirements for robust signal processing for guided wave SHM were discussed.

The fundamentals of the most widely used deconvolution techniques were briefly
reviewed in Chapter 3. Among the several deconvolution methods proposed in
the literature Wiener filter and SMLR algorithm appeared as the most suitable
techniques for enhancing the resolution of ultrasonic time traces and therefore were
chosen as potential deconvolution methods for SHM.

The performance of Wiener filter and SMLR algorithm was evaluated in Chap-
ter 4. It was demonstrated that the effects of noise on the bandwidth of the input
wavelet and the effects of the phase shift due to interaction of the input wavelet with
structural features are detrimental for the feasibility of a Deconvolution approach
for SHM. With respect to the first issue, the Wiener filter performed well when a
broadband input waveform was used, but the performance was significantly reduced
when a typical narrowband input signal for NDE was considered. The SMLR algo-
rithm was able to achieve perfect deconvolution with a better resolution than the
Wiener filter even with very noisy signals, providing zero width spikes as the result
of the deconvolution. Considering the effects of phase shift, it was observed that
although frequency independent phase shift could be overcome, little improvement
in resolution was obtained using the Wiener filter in presence of frequency depen-
dent phase shift. The application of the SMLR algorithm to the deconvolution of
a frequency independent phase shifted signal showed that this technique is very
sensitive to modifications of the form of the original wavelet. These considerations
suggest that Deconvolution is unlikely to be useful for guided wave SHM appli-
cations, because the relatively narrow bandwidth of the input wavelet and phase
shifts between different reflections would limit significantly the benefits obtained
from deconvolution.

The Subtraction approach was introduced in Chapter 5 and the detrimental effects
of temperature variations had been examined in detail. It has been shown that the

152
 8. Conclusions

residual in the subtraction of two signals recorded at different temperature can be

related to the temperature difference. Subsequently, Temperature Compensation
techniques were introduced and a brief review of their application in SHM was
presented.

In Chapter 6 the effects of liquid loading on Subtraction were evaluated and a com-
parison with the effects of temperature change was made. Numerical simulations
were carried out to compare the effects of liquid loading with the effects of tem-
perature variations. It was shown that Temperature Compensation techniques can
compensate satisfactorily also for the presence of a thin liquid layer. Experiments on
a plate immersed in a water tank and on a plate coated with a thin layer of epoxy
adhesive were conducted, confirming that Temperature Compensation techniques
can be employed in principle to compensate for detrimental effects different from
temperature changes.

In Chapter 7 the performance of the Temperature Compensation techniques were

evaluated in the presence of materials with different temperature responses. Nu-
merical simulations and experimental work were conducted on an aluminium plate
with a stringer bonded by an epoxy adhesive. It was shown experimentally that, al-
though Optimal Stretch assumes uniform temperature responses over the structure,
it was possible to compensate for 1 ◦ C temperature change, achieving the target
residual level for Subtraction. A maximum residual in the subtraction very close
to the target residual level was achieved also up to 1.5 ◦ C temperature change. By
comparison the maximum temperature difference between current signal and base-
line that Optimal Stretch was able to compensate in the same configuration in a
free aluminium plate was 2.5 ◦ C.

8.2 Brief summary of the main contributions

The main contributions and findings of this thesis can be briefly summarized as
follows:

153
 8. Conclusions

• It was demonstrated that the Deconvolution approach, although promising

for enhancing the resolution of ultrasonic time traces in simple configurations,
does not appear suitable for SHM applications since the relatively narrow
bandwidth of the input signal used in SHM and the sensitivity to modifications
of the shape of the input signal (e.g. phase shift) represent strong limitations
to the effectiveness of this approach;

• The effects of uniform liquid loading on a plate were compared to the effects
of temperature change, showing that the presence of a uniform liquid layer on
a plate can be related to an equivalent temperature variation of the free plate;

• Temperature compensation techniques were tested also in the presence of “uni-

form non-temperature effects”. It was demonstrated that these detrimental ef-
fects can also be overcome in principle using compensation methods designed
for temperature changes;

• It was shown that the compensation strategy based on the combined use of
Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch can achieve the target residual level in
the presence of uniform liquid loading. This was verified with simple signals
in numerical simulations and in experimental tests on a aluminium plate im-
mersed in water and on an aluminium plate coated with a viscoelastic epoxy
layer;

• It was shown that Temperature Compensation techniques can also be employed

to improve subtraction performance in structures comprising materials with
different temperature responses. It was possible to compensate for reasonable
temperature changes using only the Optimal Stretch method, achieving the
target residual level of -40 dB for subtraction;

• It was shown that the compensation strategy based on the combined use of
Optimal Baseline and Optimal Stretch can detect the presence of an artificial
defect even in the presence of non uniform temperature responses over the
structure under inspection.

154
 8. Conclusions

Most of these results have been presented at international NDT conferences and
published as proceedings. A paper on the evaluation of Deconvolution approach is
currently in press in Journal of Structural Health Monitoring and papers are being
prepared for submission to refereed journals.

8.3 Future work

Deconvolution performance was shown to be negatively affected by modifications of

the original shape of the input wavelet. Although it was concluded that Deconvo-
lution has limited applicability to SHM, it could be interesting to investigate the
possibility of overcoming the effects of the interaction of the input wavelet with typ-
ical structural features of interest for SHM, to verify whether the results presented
in this work on the application of Deconvolution could be improved.

The Subtraction approach appears promising for practical guided waves SHM ap-
plications. However, the feasibility of this approach depends on environmental con-
ditions and further work is necessary to make this method effectively applicable to
real SHM problems.

With respect to the application of Temperature Compensation techniques to over-

come the detrimental effects of liquid loading, it would be interesting to study some
configurations of non uniform liquid loading on plate-like structures. For instance
partial coverage of plate-like structures with water or other low viscosity liquid is
often encountered in practice and the modeling or the experimental representation
of this kind of problems are not straightforward.

Temperature Compensation techniques performed well also in presence of a vis-

coelastic liquid layer, represented by an uncured epoxy adhesive and the case of a
non uniform adhesive layer was also considered. More investigation can be conducted
on this topic and for instance it would be interesting to study the performance of
Subtraction in the case of partially painted plate-like structures and in presence of
varying thickness of the paint layer. Furthermore the situation of a cured adhesive

155
 8. Conclusions

epoxy (representing the effects of paint) should be considered.

Considering the monitoring of structures with non uniform temperature responses,

the performance of Temperature Compensation techniques could be characterized
in more complex configurations (e.g. more stringers bonded to a plate to simulate
an airframe panel) and in the presence of temperature gradients in the structure.
Furthermore the combined effects of non uniform temperature responses and liquid
loading could be simultaneously taken into account in evaluating the performance
of the Subtraction approach.

156
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