A study on the wave propagation on weld joints by the use of feature-

guided wave mixing

Jaesun Lee1, Mohammed Aslam2
More info about this article: https://www.ndt.net/?id=28151

1 Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National

University, South Korea, jaesun@changwon.ac.kr
2 Postdoc Researcher, Extreme Environment Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Innovation Centre, Changwon National University, South Korea,
aslam@changwon.ac.kr

Abstract

The concentration of the wave energy around certain features such as bends, stiffeners,
and welds in plate-like structures has been identified as feature-guided waves (FGW). In
practice, these features can be useful for assessing defects in or near them. The
propagation characteristics of FGW propagating along a feature such as a welded joint
have been extensively studied. However, most of them are based on the linear acoustic
response of materials that generally results in the amplitude and phase variations of the
input signal. Compared to linear methods, nonlinear ultrasonic techniques have shown
to be effective in characterizing the microstructural changes in engineering materials. In
this paper, a wave mixing method is employed to investigate the nonlinear acoustic
response of FGWs propagating in a welded joint. The dispersion characteristics of weld-
guided modes are first revealed via the eigenfrequency analysis of an unbounded
welded plate by using the finite element method. The nonlinear response of FWGs is
studied through 3D finite element (FE) simulations. A pair of a weld-guided modes of
different frequencies are identified and allowed to mix within the welded joint to
generate second-order harmonic waves. The current study reveals that the mixing of
FGWs could be effectively used for the evaluation of material nonlinearity in welded
joints.

KEYWORDS: Feature Guided Waves; weld joint; wave mixing; Harmonic Generation

1. Introduction
The use of guided waves for ultrasonic inspections of large surfaces is appealing since it
allows for quick scanning from a single transducer location and allows for remote
examination of areas not physically accessible [1]. Several applications, such as pipeline
inspections and rail inspections, have been developed successfully. Efforts are also
being made to apply this concept to inspecting large plate structures, such as storage
tanks, pressure vessels, and aircraft components [2]. However, in certain cases, the
inspection area becomes more complicated due to the additional dimension and the

© 2023 The Authors. Published by NDT.net under License CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://doi.org/10.58286/28151
existence of structural features, such as welds, ribs, or stiffeners resulting in complex
signals [3-5]. The waves propagating along an elastic waveguide with topographic
features of geometry are called feature-guided waves (FGW). Defects present in these
topographic structures can be more accurately inspected with FGWs over a long range.
Linear ultrasonic approaches possess sufficient sensitivity to examine defects that are
the same size or larger than the wavelength. However, it has been demonstrated that
nonlinear ultrasonic waves have greater sensitivity to micro-defects which can be
detected at an early stage [6]. The identification of damage is based on the generation of
higher harmonics or subharmonics in the waves [7,8]. Identifying the causes of
nonlinearity is one of the biggest challenges of the second harmonic generation method
in practice. Several studies have shown that the wave mixing technique overcomes these
limitations [9-11]. Despite this, the nonlinear propagation of FGWs in topographical
waveguides has received little attention. Thus, we propose to study and evaluate
nonlinear acoustic responses of FGWs propagating within a welded joint by a one-way
mixing technique.

2. Finite Element Simulations

2.1 Dispersive nature of FGWs

Various analytical expressions have already been developed for simple geometry such
as rods, pipes, and thin plates. Obtaining exact solutions is more difficult for complex
geometries such as tubes, rails, and layered composites. For obtaining reasonable results
in such situations, numerical methods are commonly used, including finite element
methods (FEM), semi-analytical finite elements (SAFE), and boundary element
methods. For the current study, a FE technique is utilized to extract the modal properties
of an unbounded welded plate. By using periodic boundary conditions, the mass and
stiffness matrices of a FE model of a small section of a structure are employed for
modal analysis. To absorb the leaky waves, absorbing regions are also introduced. 3D
elasticity theory is used in the present FE model to provide an accurate simulation of
complex waveguides. Figure 1 shows the segment of a welded plate used for modal
analysis. The thickness of the plate and the dimension of the weld joint is shown in
Figure 1.
Coupling faces (x-y plane)

Infinite medium

Welded Plate
B

z x A

Infinite medium
0.5mm
3mm
y
500mm 36mm 6mm 36mm 500mm
x
Figure 1. A segment of the welded plate model

2
Elements at faces A and B have identical displacement components at each node of the
boundary. The length of the segment of a welded plate is taken as 60mm. Due to the
imposed boundary condition in FE model, the wavelength (λ) of the propagating waves
is given by, λ=2π/k=L/p, where p=0,1,2,3,... A 10-node quadratic tetrahedron element is
used to mesh the FE model. The mesh size is chosen such that there are at least 15-20
nodes per smallest wavelength to be analysed. Ten number of elements are considered
along the thickness. Special infinite elements are used to simulate the unbounded
domain and the Lanczos technique to extract the eigenvalues. The propagating modes
for each wavelength are obtained and the phase velocity (𝑐𝑝 ) is calculated from the
relation, 𝑐𝑝 = 𝜆𝑓, where 𝜆 is the wavelength and 𝑓 is the corresponding frequency. This
study uses a hyperelastic material (Neo-Hooke) to incorporate nonlinearities in the FE
model. To validate the results obtained using FE method, the solutions are compared
with available results which are obtained using SAFE technique [12]. Figure 2 shows
the comparison between the calculated FGWs phase velocity curves and those obtained
using the SAFE approach. The numerical solutions are consistent with the SAFE
method.

10000
SAFE (12)
3D FEM
7500
SH1
cp (m/s)

F1
5000 L0

SH0
2500 F0

0
0 150 300 450 600 750
Frequency (kHz)
Figure 2. Phase velocity dispersion curves of different FGW modes

2.2 Simulation for FGW mixing

For harmonic components to be accurately measured, it is imperative to select

appropriate excitation frequencies. Furthermore, their amplitudes are typically lower
than fundamentals. Several theoretical developments have been made to select
appropriate frequencies to generate significant secondary waves. Here, the excitation
frequencies are selected as 90 kHz and 235 kHz which is based on phase velocity
matching criteria. Three-dimensional time-step finite element simulations are conducted
to examine FGW mixing phenomena based on the identified weld-guided modes. The
geometry of the welded aluminium plate, excitation point and location sensors used for
simulation is shown in Figure 3. The shaded region represents the absorbing region to
avoid unwanted reflections from the boundaries.

3
 y
z x

Figure 3. The geometry of the welded aluminium plate

Two primary longitudinal modes, 𝑳𝟎 are first excited independently and then
simultaneously. The FFT of sensor signals measured at z = 400mm when 90 kHz and
235 kHz are excited individually, and simultaneously is shown in Figure 4. It is
observed that higher harmonics are seen when FGW modes are excited independently.
However, when modes are simultaneously excited, combinational frequency
components are also noticed (Figure 4b) in addition to higher harmonics. Here, only the
sum-frequency component is monitored, as it is selected based on phase velocity
matching criteria.

-100 90 kHz -100

235 kHz 235 kHz
Power Spectrum (dB)

Power Spectrum (dB)

-120 325 kHz

-120
90 kHz
-140

-160 -140

-180
-160

-200
-180
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
f (kHz) Frequency (kHz)
(a) (b)
Figure 4. FFT of sensor signals when FGW modes are excited
(a) independently, and (b) simultaneously

To confirm that the propagating fundamental and mixed harmonics correspond to 𝑳𝟎

mode, wavenumber versus frequency spectra is plotted and superimposed with the
dispersion curve. From the wavenumber-frequency spectra plot (Figure 5), it is verified
that the primary waves are 𝑳𝟎 modes at 90 kHz and 235 kHz and corresponding
secondary waves are also 𝑳𝟎 mode generated at 325 kHz. Figure 6 shows the variation
of relative nonlinear parameters with respect to propagating distance. It is evident from

4
the figure that the nonlinear parameter increases about linearly with the propagation
distance. This indicates that the mode chosen has a strong nonlinear response.

200 2

Wavenumber (1/m)
150

100
325 kHz

50
235 kHz

0 90 kHz -12
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Frequency (kHz)
Figure 5. Wavenumber vs frequency spectra of measured signals superimposed with the dispersion
curve

1.10
Relative Nonlinearity Parameter

1.05

1.00

0.95

0.90
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Distance (m)
Figure 6. Relative nonlinear parameter with respect to propagating distance

4. Conclusions
The numerical study presented here investigates combinational harmonics generated in
a welded joint by wave mixing between two primary guided waves. The dispersion
characteristics of weld-guided modes are first revealed via the modal analysis of an
unbounded welded plate by using the finite element method. Based on the modal
analysis, a mode pair which satisfies the phase-velocity matching condition is selected
to investigate the nonlinear interaction of two primary FGWs propagating in the same
direction. The numerical results reveal that the combinational harmonics generated due
to FGW mixing can be effectively used to characterize microstructural changes in and
around the weld joints.

5
Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant
funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2019R1A5A8083201, No.
2022R1I1A3069291).

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