Steel and Composite Structures, Vol. 50, No.

1 (2024) 89-105
https://doi.org/10.12989/scs.2024.50.1.089 89

Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based

nondestructive debonding detection for steel-concrete composite structures
Hongbing Chen1a, Shiyu Gan2b, Yuanyuan Li3b, Jiajin Zeng1c and Xin Nie2
1
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
3
Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

(Received January 1, 2023, Revised October 14, 2023, Accepted November 14, 2023)

Abstract. Multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) method has exhibited broad application prospects in the
nondestructive detection of interfacial debonding in steel-concrete composite structures (SCCS). However, due to the structural
diversity of SCCS and the high stealthiness of interfacial debonding defects, the feasibility of MASW method needs to be
investigated in depth. In this study, synthetic parametric study on MASW nondestructive debonding detection for SCCSs is
performed. The aim is to quantitatively analyze influential factors with respect to structural composition of SCCS and MASW
measurement mode. First, stress wave composition and propagation process in SCCS are studied utilizing 2D numerical
simulation. For structural composition in SCCS, the thickness variation of steel plate, concrete core, and debonding defects are
discussed. To determine the most appropriate sensor arrangement for MASW measurement, the effects of spacing and number
of observation points, along with distances between excitation points, nearest boundary, as well as the first observation point, are
analyzed individually. The influence of signal type and frequency of transient excitation on dispersion figures from forwarding
analysis is studied to determine the most suitable excitation signal. The findings from this study can provide important
theoretical guidance for MASW-based interfacial debonding detection for SCCS. Furthermore, they can be instrumental in
optimizing both the sensor layout design and signal choice for experimental validation.
Keywords: steel-concrete composite structures (SCCS); interface debonding detection; multichannel analysis of surface
waves (MASW); parametric study; numerical simulation

1. Introduction guarantee mechanical performance and structural safety

The construction scale of super high-rise buildings and
large-scale engineering structures has been rapidly
increasing in recent years. Accordingly, steel-concrete
composite structures (SCCS) with excellent mechanical
properties have become a popular choice in complex civil
infrastructures (Duan et al. 2020). The structural
performance of the interface between concrete and steel
plate can be enhanced by shear connections. The structural
type of SCCS applied in practical engineering is diverse.
For large-scale SCCS, the co-working ability of regions
between shear connections and interface between concrete
core and steel tubes mainly relies on interfacial bonding
status. Therefore, effective detection of interfacial
debonding defects using nondestructive techniques is
essential, which is not only important to evaluate the
bonding status at interfaces but also provides direct support
to improve the interface design in SCCS. Therefore, it is
urgent to develop the nondestructive testing (NDT) method
for the interfacial debonding detection of SCCSs to
Corresponding author, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
E-mail: xinnie@tsinghua.edu.cn
a
Ph.D. Assitant Professor
b
Ph.D. Student
c
Master Student
Copyright © 2024 Techno-Press, Ltd.
http://www.techno-press.com/journals/scs&subpage=8
(Chen et al. 2021a, b). In addition to traditional percussion
and impact echo methods (Zhang and Wang 2009), NDT
detection techniques, including bulk wave (Xu et al. 2018,
Li et al. 2019, Xu et al. 2018, Xu et al. 2018, Zeng et al.
2015, Qin et al. 2015) and surface wave (Chen et al. 2019)
approaches, transmission method (Dong et al. 2016) and CT
scanning (Guo and Lu 2019), guided wave method (Song
and Popovics 2017, Zima and Rucka 2017, Vasiljevic et al.
2008, Sharma and Mukherjee 2013), impedance method
(Liang et al. 2016), noncontact full-field strain
measurement using digital correlation technique (DIC)
(Biscaia et al. 2018) and temperature field observation (Pan
et al. 2018), as well as acoustic emission (Li et al. 2015),
have been gradually introduced into the interfacial
debonding detection in SCCS. Currently, NDT testing
generally follows the technical specifications for reinforced
concrete structures. However, specific technical
specifications or procedures guiding interfacial debonding
detection for SCCS members are urgently needed.
Among above-mentioned methods, the debonding
detection technique based on Piezoelectric Lead Zirconate
Titanate (PZT) has been widely employed. However,
regarding SCCS components, the aforementioned methods
reveal distinct technical challenges and limitations. The
section forms of SCCS in practical application are diverse.
For instance, the cross-section of CFST has gradually
evolved from simple circular and rectangular shapes to
ISSN: 1229-9367 (Print), 1598-6233 (Online)
90 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie
(a) Wave energy proportion
Fig. 1 Wave field distribution of SCCS with interfacial debonding excited by transient excitation
multi-chamber with complex internal structures, including
studs, diaphragms, stiffeners, and other kinds of shear
connectors (Chen et al. 2021a, 2021b). An in-depth
understanding of the propagation mechanism of stress
waves in SCCS not only aids in grasping the identification
mechanism of the stress wave method but also facilitates
the optimization of the sensor layouts. This comprehension
further enhances the detection efficiency and accuracy of
techniques such as impact-echo (Zhang and Wang 2009),
impact-acoustic vibration (Zhou and Yan 2018, Zhou et al.
2017, Zhou et al. 2018), and impact-response (Fülöp et al.
2014). Compared with surface waves, the bulk wave energy
is relatively lower, accounting for approximately 33% of the
total energy of stress waves. More specifically, the energy
ratios corresponding to longitudinal wave and shear wave
are 7% and 26%, respectively (Miller and Pursey 1955, Xu
et al. 2017). However, in concrete, which is a typical
inhomogeneous medium, high-frequency bulk waves
experience significant attenuation during the propagation
process. Multi-physics coupling analysis, based on
multiscale modeling methodology, has been conducted.
This analysis systematically studies the quantitative effects
of variations in the mesoscale parameters of the concrete
core on both the stress wave propagation process and signal
responses. The aim is to ensure the stability and reliability
of NDT measurements (Xu et al. 2018). The stress wave
propagation analysis using macroscale, mesoscale, and
multiscale models indicates that the influence of concrete
aggregate at mesoscale level on the characteristic of surface
wave can be ignored (Chen et al. 2019). Therefore, the
identification of bond-slip damage using high-energy
surface wave will be a significant research subject in the
near future. It is urgent to develop new detection techniques
for NDT testing on SCCS members.
Multichannel surface wave analysis (MASW) has been
introduced to improve the recognition accuracy of
interfacial defects in SCCS to avoid the technical
shortcomings of conventional NDT techniques. As the steel
plate thickness and cross-sectional dimensions of SCCS
gradually increase, complex internal structures or interface
stud connectors will be designed to improve the cohesive
status between concrete and steel plate. However, under this
condition, the steel plate with interfacial connectors does
not serve as an ideal waveguide for Lamb waves. The
theoretical analysis of the dispersion characteristics of stress
wave in large-scale SCCS has been performed, and the
detection mechanism of MASW method has been
investigated preliminarily (Shen et al. 2014). Gómez et al.
(2011) used the commercial finite element method (FEM)
software COMSOL to simulate multichannel data
(b) Wave field distribution
acquisition. Theoretical analysis, experimental research, and
numerical simulation performed by Shen et al. (2014)
indicate that the dispersion characteristics of Rayleigh wave
change with the material property variation of interface
bonding layer in steel plate reinforced concrete structures.
Due to geometrical particularity of different kinds of SCCS,
the wave propagation process is diverse, and the sensitivity
to debonding defects is also distinct. Therefore, the
feasibility of MASW-based debonding detection approach
for different kinds of SCCS should be separately studied in
depth.
In order to fully understand the detection mechanism of
MASW-based NDT on interfacial debonding for SCCS,
parametric studies using finite element models are
performed in this study. First, the influence of various
factors on the dispersion characteristics of surface wave is
discussed in-depth from the viewpoint of structural
composition in SCCS, sensor arrangement for MASW
measurement mode, signal type, and frequency of transient
excitation, respectively. The research findings in this study
can provide significant guidance and reference to
investigating the detection mechanism of MASW
measurement and experimental design of MASW-based
NDT tests for SCCSs. It should be noted that imperfections
in SCCS mainly include bond-slip, interfacial debonding,
interfacial voids, near-surface defects, delamination or
bulking (Chen et al. 2021). Here, the term “interfacial
debonding defects” refers to the regional separation
between concrete and steel, as well as the circumferential
gap in circular CFSTs. Other kinds of imperfection types
are not considered in this study.
2. Stress wave composition in SCCS
FEM-based numerical simulation provides efficient
platform to investigate the time-history propagation process
of stress wave in SCCS, which facilitates the mechanism
investigation on debonding detection, sensor layout design
and excitation signal selection for MASW measurement.
Common stress waves and wave field distribution in SCCS
with interfacial debondings under transient excitation are
shown in Fig. 1. The propagation direction of longitudinal
waves is consistent with that of particle vibration, which
mainly exists in solid elastic media and fluid acoustic
media. Lamb wave exists in thin plates with limited
thickness. The change in plate thickness and excitation
signal frequency will lead to two different kinds of
vibration modes, including symmetrical and antisymmetric
modes. The propagation velocity of Lamb waves is closely
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 91

related to the excitation mode, accompanied by prominent shear wave, and longitudinal wave can be expressed as Eqs.
dispersion characteristics. Under the excitation of high- (7)-(8) (Xu et al. 2020, Luan et al. 2021, Schaal et al.
frequency signal, the wave velocity of Lamb wave tends to 2015):
be consistent with that of Rayleigh wave. The wave field
2
distribution in SCCS and the influence of interfacial 𝐶𝑅2 𝐶𝑅2 𝐶2
debondings are exhibited in Fig. 1. (2 − √
2) − 4 1 − 2
√1 − 𝑅2 = 0 (7)
𝐶𝑆 𝐶𝑃 𝐶𝑆
In concept, the Lamb wave mainly propagates in
symmetric or antisymmetric modes. The theoretical
0.862 + 1.14𝑣
calculation formulas of different modes can be determined 𝐶𝑅 ≈ 𝐶𝑆 (8)
according to Eqs. (1)-(2) (Chen et al. 2021, Xu et al. 2020, 1+𝑣
Luan et al. 2021, Schaal et al. 2015)

Symmetric Lamb wave: 3. Dispersion characteristics of stress wave in

2
(2𝑘 − 2𝑘22 )2 𝑐𝑜𝑠ℎ( 𝜂1 𝐻) 𝑠𝑖𝑛ℎ( 𝜂2 𝐻) SCCS
− 4𝑘 2 𝜂1 𝜂2 𝑠𝑖𝑛ℎ( 𝜂1 𝐻) 𝑐𝑜𝑠ℎ( 𝜂2 𝐻)
(1) In time history analysis of stress wave propagation in
=0
concrete medium, the finite element model based on
homogeneous material assumption is mainly used for
transient dynamic analysis, and the mesostructure of
Asymmetric Lamb wave: concrete is not considered. The integration time step plays
an essential role in numerical simulation accuracy, and its
(2𝑘 2 − 2𝑘22 )2 𝑠𝑖𝑛ℎ( 𝜂1 𝐻) 𝑐𝑜𝑠ℎ( 𝜂2 𝐻)
value depends on the frequency of input excitation. In
− 4𝑘 2 𝜂1 𝜂2 𝑐𝑜𝑠ℎ( 𝜂1 𝐻) 𝑠𝑖𝑛ℎ( 𝜂2 𝐻) addition, the element length should be strictly limited in the
(2)
=0 time history analysis of stress wave propagation. Generally,
each wavelength should cover 10-12 element nodes. For
where ηj2=k2-kj2, kj=ω/cj, j=1, 2. ω=2πf is the circular second-order elements, the minimum element size h and
frequency, k is the wave number and H is the plate wavelength λ shall meet the requirement presented in Eq.
thickness. Lamb waves in symmetric and antisymmetric (9) (Chen et al. 2021). For general accuracy requirements,
modes are usually labeled as Sm and AN. The relationship the value of Courant Friedrichs Lewy (CFL) is generally set
between group velocity Cg and phase velocity C is shown in to 0.2, as illustrated in Eq. (10) (Chen et al. 2021). Further,
Eq. (3). the integration time step dt can be expressed as Eq. (11).
𝐶 ℎ ≤ 𝜆𝑚𝑖𝑛 /5 (9)
𝐶𝑔 = (3)
𝜔 𝑑𝐶
1− 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝐶 𝑑𝜔 (10)
𝐶𝐹𝐿 = 𝑐 𝑚𝑖𝑛 × = min(𝑐 𝑠 , 𝑐 𝑃 ) × = 0.2
Wave velocity of longitudinal wave (CP) is higher than ℎ ℎ
that of shear wave (CS) and Rayleigh wave (CR), and meets
ℎ 𝜆𝑚𝑖𝑛
CP > CS > CR (Chen et al. 2019, Miller and Pursey 1955, 𝑑𝑡 = 𝐶𝐹𝐿 ≤ 𝐶𝐹𝐿 (11)
Beena et al. 2017, Lee et al. 2016). According to wave 𝑚𝑎𝑥( 𝐶𝑆 , 𝐶𝑃 ) 5 𝑚𝑎𝑥( 𝐶𝑆 , 𝐶𝑃 )
velocities and waveforms, the attributes and categories of Limited by the tremendous calculation cost of time
different waves can be explicitly identified from wave field history analysis on stress wave propagation, workstation
nephogram (Xu et al. 2020, Luan et al. 2021, Schaal et al. with advanced configuration is necessary for performing the
2015). The mathematical expressions of CP and CS, as well numerical simulation. In general, the element size and
as the quantitative relationship between them, are described integration time step can be automatically adjusted
in Eqs. (4)-(6). according to the frequency variation of excitation signal to
improve calculation speed. In addition, the geometric size
𝐸(1 − 𝜐) of SCCS in practical engineering is giant. Furthermore, the
𝐶𝑃 = √ (4)
(1 + 𝜐)(1 − 2𝜐)𝜌 cross-section area is continuously increasing with the
increment of height and span of civil structures, and the
steel plate thickness also increases significantly. Therefore,
𝐸 to improve simulation efficiency, the finite element models
𝐶𝑆 = √ (5)
2𝜌(1 + 𝜐) of FEM can be further simplified by boundary treatment
methods, such as symmetric boundaries. Additionally, it is
suggested to use low reflection boundaries to simulate the
2(1 − 𝜐) infinite boundary conditions, especially for semi-infinite
𝐶𝑃 = √ 𝐶 (6) space models. Consequently, this prevents additional
(1 − 2𝜐) 𝑆
reflections at the geometric boundaries of FEM models for
Where υ and ρ are the Poisson's ratio and density, and E scaled specimens. In this study, the numerical simulations
is Young's modulus of medium and waveguides. are performed with Abaqus. The material properties of
Further, the mathematical expressions of Rayleigh wave, concrete core and steel plate utilized for all 2D FEM models
92 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie
Table 1 Material properties of concrete core and steel in FEM models(Chen et al. 2021)
Material Young’s Modulus (GPa)
Concrete 32.4
Steel 207.0
(a) 2D FEM model
Fig. 2 2D model and meshing scheme
are tabulated in Table 1.
The multi-channel stress wave can be measured using
various sensors, including PZT patches, acceleration meters
and lased-based vibrometers. Without loss of generality, the
FEM simulations in this study are simplified as transient
dynamic analysis without considering the multi-physics
coupling effect. Numerical models of wave propagation in
SCCS can be simplified using artificial damping and
infinite elements (Chen et al. 2021). Besides, the infinite
elements perform better than artificial damping method.
Herein, infinite boundary conditions are simulated using
CINPE4 element in Abaqus. The primary geometric
parameters of 2D model of SCCS components are shown in
Fig. 2(a). The research variables for MASW-based NDT
evaluation mainly include three aspects: geometric
parameters in SCCS and interfacial debonding defects,
technical parameters in MASW measurement mode,
excitation signal type and frequency. Accordingly, the
parametric analysis to be carried out in this section mainly
contains the thickness variation of steel plate, concrete core
and interfacial debonding defects, internal space and
number of observation points, distances between excitation
point and nearest boundary and the first observation point,
the signal type and frequency of excitation signal. The 2D
FEM model and meshing scheme are shown in Fig. 2(b).
The maximum element size is 5.0mm, and concrete core
and steel plate are simulated using 8-node quadratic plane
strain element CPE8.
4. Parametric analysis of structural composition
and MASW measurement mode
Due to the particular material composition and geometric
structure of SCCS, the attenuation law of stress wave during
propagation, reflection, and diffraction processes will differ
from that of surface waves in geological exploration.
Combined with the traditional MASW method, a thorough
and systematic analysis of the optimal sensor layout scheme
Poisson’s Ratio Density (kg/m3)
0.2 2500
0.28 7800
(b) Meshing scheme
suitable for nondestructive testing on interfacial bonding
conditions of SCCS, are essential to improve testing
accuracy. The differences in detection accuracy of MASW
method under the excitation of Ricker wavelet, cosine
wavelet, Hanning windowed pulse signal, and sinusoidal
pulse with different frequencies are compared in this
section.
4.1 Influence of structural composition in SCCS
4.1.1 Thickness variation of steel plate
The steel plate thickness in reported research generally
ranges from 5.0 mm to 10mm. However, the steel plate
thickness in SCCS components in practical engineering is
generally 20 mm – 40 mm. In special cases, the steel plate
thickness can exceed 60mm (Chen et al. 2021a, 2021b).
Fig. 3 shows the distribution of stress wave field in SCCSs
corresponding to steel plate thickness with values of 20
mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, and 60 mm, respectively. The
wave field nephogram indicates that the energy proportion
occupied by the surface wave gradually decreases with the
increase in the steel plate thickness, indicating that more
energy diffuses along the thickness direction of steel plates
and finally transmits to the concrete core. The time history
displacement curves of SCCS members with different steel
plate thicknesses are summarized in Fig. 4. The comparison
results show that with the gradual increase of steel plate
thickness, the identification degree of starting and ending
points of interfacial debonding defect from the time history
displacement curve decreases gradually. Therefore, when
the size of the interfacial debonding defect remains
identical, increasing the steel plate thickness reduces the
detection accuracy of MASW method. In concept, the
increase of steel plate thickness enlarges the difference
between practical steel plate above debonding defect and
thin plate assumptions. Therefore, external excitation with
large wavelengths should be adopted for thick steel plate
components. The dispersion image corresponding to time
history displacement curve in Fig. 4 is summarized in Fig.
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 93

Fig. 3 Wavefield nephogram corresponding to steel plates with different thicknesses

Fig. 4 Time history displacement curves corresponding to different steel plate thicknesses

5. The results of the comparative analysis show that with an
increase in the thickness of the steel plate, the dispersion
image of the primary mode becomes steeper. The frequency
interval corresponding to wave velocity lower than 2000
m/s decreases significantly, and the convergence speed of
wave velocity increases.
4.1.2 Thickness variation of concrete core
The thickness of the concrete core in practical
engineering in SCCS components generally ranges from 20
cm to 80 cm, and the concrete thickness in large-scale
SCCS components is more than 1.0 m. For concrete core
with small thicknesses, the reflection path of stress wave is
short. Reflected wave with strong energy greatly impacts
the subsequent surface wave, which in turn affects the
detection accuracy of MASW method. Herein, the concrete
thickness is set to 200 mm, 400 mm, 600 mm, and 800 mm,
respectively. The steel plate thickness is set to 10 mm, and
the 2D finite element model is shown in Fig. 6. As shown in
Fig. 7, with the thickening of concrete core, it is easier to
distinguish surface wave, longitudinal wave, transverse
wave, and reflected wave. Due to the extension of the
propagation path of reflection waves, the energy proportion
of reflected waves in wave field decreases gradually at
different times. Similar tendency can also be observed in
the time history displacement curve presented in Fig. 8.
Fig. 9 summarizes the dispersion images corresponding
to debonding and healthy regions in SCCS specimens with
different concrete thicknesses. It can be seen that the
influence of concrete thickness variation on the dispersion
characteristics of stress waves in SCCS with concrete
thickness less than 40mm is almost negligible. While the
concrete thickness is 200mm, the influence of debonding
defect on the dispersion figure of Lamb wave is limited. In
contrast, a smaller concrete thickness will reduce the
smoothness of fundamental mode in dispersion image
Rayleigh wave propagating in healthy regions.
4.1.3 Thickness of interfacial debonding defect
Currently, the majority of existing literature primarily
focuses on identifying the plane size of interfacial
debonding defects (Chen et al. 2021) and research on the
depth detection of interfacial debonding defects is
insufficient. In this section, the length of the interfacial
debonding defect is set to 20 cm, and four different defect
depths of 10 cm, 20 cm, 40 cm, and 80 cm are considered,
respectively. The 2D finite element model is shown in Fig.
10.
Figs. 11-12 summarize the wave field snapshots and
time history displacement curves of above four 2D models
94 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie

Fig. 5 Comparison of dispersion curves corresponding to different steel plate thicknesses

Fig. 6 2D SCCS model with different thicknesses in concrete core

Fig. 7 Stress wave nephogram corresponding to different thicknesses in concrete core

at different time instants. It can be seen that the depth the increase of debonding depth, as compared in Figs.
increase of interfacial debonding defect will lead to the 12(a)-12(d), respectively. However, it is difficult to
extension of diffraction path of stress wave. Therefore, the intuitively describe the influence of the depth change from
wave energy after debonding defect becomes weaker with the aspects of time history displacement curve and
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 95

Fig. 8 Time history displacement curve corresponding to the concrete core with different thickness

Fig. 9 Dispersion curve of concrete core with different thickness

dispersion images. Meanwhile, the difference in frequency
dispersion image presented in Fig. 13 is small. In contrast to
Figs. 12(a)-12(c), the amplitude of Rayleigh wave in Fig.
12(d) is relatively lower. With the increase of debonding
depth, the propagation length of diffraction wave enlarges,
which further reduces the wave energy of Rayleigh wave
re-generated after debonding defects. Therefore, systematic
inversion analysis using MASW method must be
investigated in the follow-up research to achieve accurate
identification of the depth of interfacial debonding.
4.2 Influence of sensor arrangement for MASW
measurement
4.2.1 Internal space of observation points
The internal spacing of array sensors plays a decisive
role in the detection accuracy of MASW. At the same time,
this parameter is the key factor affecting the sensor
selection and the sampling rate of multichannel data
acquisition system. As shown in Fig. 14, when the sensor
spacing La ranges from 10 mm to 20 mm, the time domain
waveform of displacement is precise, and the identification
degree of defect position is high. For La with a value of 40
mm, the identification degree of defect location reduces.
The dispersion images corresponding to three kinds of three
sensor spacings are shown in Fig. 15. The stress wave
attributes on the surface of steel plate can be effectively
identified using the sensor spacing of 10 mm, 20 mm, and
40 mm. Moreover, the dispersion image of fundamental
mode appears slightly smoother with smaller sensor
spacing. When the sensor spacing is less than 20 mm, the
dispersion image primarily presents the fundamental mode.
However, for cases where the sensor spacing greater than
20mm, high-order dispersion modes gradually increase.
Meanwhile, the identification accuracy of fundamental
mode diminishes. Therefore, the sensor with smaller
96 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie

Fig. 10 Interfacial debonding with different thicknesses

Fig. 11 Wavefield nephogram corresponding to interfacial debonding with different thickness

Fig. 12 Time history displacement curve corresponding to interfacial debonding with different thickness

diameter should be chosen as the sensing transducer for
SCCS interfacial debonding detection using MASW
method. It is suggested that the sensor spacing should be
less than 20 mm and the sensor diameter should be less than
10 mm.
4.2.2 Number of observation points
In addition, the number of observation points in MASW
array is the crucial factor in improving detection accuracy
and efficiency. On the premise of ensuring detection
accuracy, reducing the number of sensors can significantly
simplify both the installation and disassembly procedure of
sensor array as well as data processing in MASW
measurement. This section presents the comparison of the
dispersion images obtained using data acquisition mode in
2, 4, 8, and 16 channels, respectively, as shown in Fig. 16.
It can be seen that two channels of surface wave data
can be used to obtain the dispersion curve, both for Lamb
wave and Rayleigh wave. However, in cases with two-
channel measurements, the jitter phenomenon in the
fundamental mode of Lamb waves is more prominent. In
contrast, the fundamental mode of Rayleigh waves presents
apparent jitter when the detection channel quantity is less
than eight. While the number of acquisition channels
increases to 16, the jitter phenomenon almost disappears.
Therefore, it is suggested that the number of observation
points should be greater than 16 if the channel number of
data acquisition systems is sufficient. In addition, it should
be noted that this study only involves dispersion
characteristics investigation using forward analysis. Aided
by sensor array with large number of sensors, the damage
imaging can be achieved utilizing inversion analysis of
Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 97

Fig. 13 Dispersion curves corresponding to interfacial debonding with different thickness

Fig. 14 Time domain waveform corresponding to different spaces between observation points

Fig. 15 Dispersion image corresponding to different spaces between observation points

98 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie

Fig. 16 Influence of observation points quantity on dispersion characteristics

Fig. 17 Wavefield nephogram corresponding to different excitation distances

multichannel measurement in a long-distance test region,
which will be the challenging research focus in the follow-
up work of this study.
4.2.3 Distance between excitation point and nearest
boundary
In FEM models, special boundary conditions such as
plane-symmetric and axisymmetric boundaries and infinite
elements are generally applied to minimize the influence of
waves reflected from the borderlines of 2D models. In
practical applications, the SCCSs under examination are not
infinite. Given that high-frequency stress waves decay
rapidly in concrete, while low-frequency stress waves decay
at a slower rate, it becomes crucial to consider the influence
of varying distances between the excitation point and the
geometric boundary on the accuracy of MASW detection.
In this section, half-period sinusoidal pulse excitation is
applied at 0, 5.0, 10, and 20 cm away from the boundary,
respectively. The corresponding wave field cloud diagram
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 99

Fig. 18 Time history displacement curve corresponding to different excitation distances

Fig. 19 Dispersion curve corresponding to different excitation distances

and time history displacement curve are shown in Figs. 17
and 18.
Fig. 17 indicates that the time delay between the
reflected wave and surface wave is small while the
excitation point is closer to boundary. At a distance of 5.0
cm, distinguishing between the waveforms of these two
becomes challenging. For cases with the distance ranging
from 5.0 cm to 20cm, the dispersion figure smoothness of
Rayleigh wave in healthy regions decreases as the distance
increases. In addition, distance extension also reduces the
quantity of multichannel data. As a result, the quality of
dispersion image will also be affected to different extents,
as illustrated in Fig. 19. It is suggested that the optimum
striking point should be located at the corner of SCCS
component, where the stiffener or diaphragm intersects
external steel plate, so as to minimize the influence of
additional reflection on the detection accuracy of MASW
measurement.
4.2.4 Distance between excitation point and first
sensor
In general, the maximum wavelength Lmax primarily
depends on the source type and is the key factor of MASW
method. If the arrangement length D is excessively large,
the surface wave in active MASW measurement decays
rapidly, even dropping below the noise level at the location
of the farthest sensor, leading to the far-field effect. Taking
SCCS with steel plate thickness of 10mm as an example,
the corresponding stress wave nephogram at different times
is shown in Fig. 20.
100 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie

Fig. 20 Wavefield cloud (steel plate thickness: 10 mm)

Fig. 21 Influence of distance between excitation point and the first sensor

In addition to the far-field effect, the stress waves wave, and Hanning-windowed pulse signal, are introduced
propagate a certain distance on the surface of medium for comparison. The mathematical expressions are shown
before generating guided waves. Therefore, apparent near- below:
field effect might occur if the distance between the
excitation point to the first sensor is insufficiently long. As Cosine wavelet:
shown in Fig. 21, the dispersion image is basically
𝐹(𝑡)
consistent if the distance between the excitation points and 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝜋𝑓(𝑡 − 𝑡0 )exp (−𝐵𝑓 2 (𝑡 − 𝑡0 )) 0 < 𝑡 < 2𝑡0 (12)
the first sensor is greater than 100 mm. However, when the ={
0 𝑡 > 2𝑡0
distance between the first sensor and the excitation point Le-f
is less than 5.0 mm, the fundamental mode of the dispersion
image shows significant jitter. For Le-f≥100 mm, the Ricker wavelet:
smoothness of fundamental mode in the dispersion image
can be enhanced. Therefore, while considering near-field 𝐹(𝑡)
𝐴(1 − 2𝜋 2 𝑓 2 (𝑡 − 𝑡0 )2 ) exp(−𝜋 2 𝑓 2 (𝑡 − 𝑡0 )2 ) 0 < 𝑡 < 2𝑡0 (13)
and far-field effects, it is recommended that the distance ={
0 𝑡 > 2𝑡0
between the starting point of the sensor array and the
excitation point should be kept between 100 mm and 200
mm in actual detection. Hanning-windowed pulse signal:
4.3 Influence of excitation signal type and frequency 2𝜋𝑓 2.5
[1 − cos ( 𝑡)] sin (2𝜋𝑓𝑡) 0<𝑡<
2.5 𝑓
𝐹(𝑡) = (14)
4.3.1 Influence of excitation signal type 2.5
0 𝑡>
In addition, different types of external excitation signals, { 𝑓
including Ricker wavelet, cosine wavelet, sinusoidal pulse
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 101

(a) Time domain (b) Frequency domain

Fig. 22 Comparison of excitation signals corresponding to different frequencies

Fig. 23 Wavefield nephogram corresponding to different excitation signals

Where f represents the frequency of pulse signal, B
represents the damping coefficient of the cosine wavelet,
and t0 is the offset of horizontal axis and is uniformly taken
as 1.0 in this study.
The time domain curves of Ricker wavelet, cosine
wavelet, sinusoidal pulse wave, and Hanning windowed
pulse signal and corresponding spectrum diagrams are
shown in Figs. 22 (a)-22(b), respectively. The stress wave
field excited by various types of excitation signals with the
dominant frequency of 125 kHz is summarized in Fig. 23. It
can be seen from Fig. 22(b) that the center frequency of
Ricker wavelet, cosine wavelet and Hanning window pulse
signal is 125kHz and the frequency band is narrower.
Comparatively, the frequency band of half-period
sinusoidal wave is wider. Therefore, the waveforms of
longitudinal wave, shear wave, reflected wave, and surface
wave excited by Ricker wavelet, cosine wavelet, and
Hanning window pulse signal in the wave field are more
apparent, as presented in Fig. 23.
Fig. 24 shows the time history displacement curves
corresponding to different types of excitation signals. It can
be seen that the half-period sinusoidal wave is the most
sensitive to the starting and the ending points of interfacial
debonding defects, followed by Hanning-windowed pulse
signal. The surface waves excited by the Ricker wavelet and
cosine wavelet present relatively low sensitivity to interface
defects. Similarly, since the half-period sinusoidal wave
belongs to broadband excitation, the dispersion curves of
Lamb wave and Rayleigh wave are apparent in the
frequency range from 0Hz to 500kHz. Under the excitation
of Ricker wavelet, cosine wavelet and Hanning window
pulse signal, the dispersion images of surface wave are very
indistinct in the high-frequency range of 300kHz to
500kHz. In general, in the frequency domain of 0Hz to
100kHz, the change of excitation signal poses little effect
on the dispersion image, as compared in Fig. 25
4.3.2 Influence of excitation frequency
According to the dispersion equation of Lamb wave, the
plate thickness is the main factor affecting the dispersion
characteristics and vibration modes of guided wave in thin
plates. Additionally, the Rayleigh wave attenuates rapidly
along the thickness direction. Therefore, it is necessary to
select the appropriate wavelength according to steel plate
thickness. In other words, a calculation method tailored to
practical engineering applications for determining the
transient excitation frequency must be established. The
expression of half period sinusoidal wave is illustrated in
Eq. (15), and the waveform corresponding to different
102 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie

Fig. 24 Time history displacement curve corresponding to different types of excitation signals

Fig. 25 Dispersion curves corresponding to different types of excitation signals

frequencies is presented in Fig. 26.

𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛2𝜋𝑓(𝑡) 0 < 𝑡 < 1/2𝑓
𝐹(𝑡) = { (15)
0 𝑡 > 1/2𝑓
Where A stands for signal amplitude, f is signal
frequency and t refers to the time period in seconds.
As shown in Fig. 26, the frequencies of half-cycle
sinusoidal excitation signals are set as 250kHz, 125kHz,
62.5kHz, 31.25kHz, and 15.625kHz, respectively. The
corresponding wave field snapshots at different times are
summarized in Fig. 27. Combined with the time history
displacement curves in Fig. 28, it can be seen that with the
reduction of excitation frequency, the stress wavelength Fig. 26 Half-cycle sinusoidal excitation signals
increases, and the energy attenuation during the propagation corresponding to different frequencies
 Parametric study on multichannel analysis of surface waves-based nondestructive debonding detection for… 103

Fig. 27 Wavefield nephogram corresponding to different excitation signal frequencies

Fig. 28 Time history displacement curve corresponding to different excitation signal frequencies

Fig. 29 Dispersion curves corresponding to different excitation signal frequencies

process decreases accordingly. image increases gradually in high-frequency band when

Nevertheless, the dispersion images are not significantly using low-frequency excitation. Moreover, decreasing the
influenced by frequency variation. However, as compared excitation signal frequency will increase the detection
in Fig. 29, it is evident that the blurriness of the dispersion wavelength, aiding the interfacial debonding detection of
104 Hongbing Chen, Shiyu Gan, Yuanyuan Li, Jiajin Zeng and Xin Nie
SCCS components with thick steel plates. In order to more
intuitively demonstrate the health state of interfaces in
SCCS components, high-efficiency imaging techniques will
be the research focus of future studies. Therefore, it is
imperative to perform inversion analysis of MASW
measurement to obtain the shear wave velocity profile
forachieving defect visualization. In addition, due to the
high signal-to-noise ratio of Love wave, the applicability
and feasibility of Love wave-based MASW method in
SCCS interface damage detection need to be further
studied.
5. Conclusions
To fully investigate the feasibility of MASW-based
interfacial debonding detection for SCCS, parametric
numerical analysis is performed in this study. The
influential factors corresponding to structural composition
in SCCS, observation points arrangement for MASW
measurement mode, and signal type and frequency of
transient excitation, are investigated in depth. The main
conclusions of this study are as follows:
• The sensor spacing should be less than 20mm, and the
number of observation points should be greater than 16. The
optimum striking point should be located at the corner of
SCCS component, where the stiffener or diaphragm
intersects with external steel plate. The distance between
the starting point of the sensor array and the excitation point
should be set in the range of 100mm to 200mm.
• Half-period sinusoidal wave is the most sensitive to
the starting and ending points of interfacial debonding
defects, followed by Hanning-windowed pulse signal. The
surface waves excited by the Ricker wavelet and cosine
wavelet present relatively low sensitivity to interface
defects. The dispersion images are not significantly
influenced by frequency variation.
The research findings can provide a solid foundation for
improving the NDT testing accuracy on debonding defects
in SCCS. The experimental validation of the detection
precision of MASW method will be the research focus of
follow-up studies. For the purpose of reducing detection
costs and improving detection efficiency, scientific
guidelines for optimal sensor layout schemes will be
established.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the supports
provided by the National Key R&D Program of China
(Grant No. 2021YFF0501002), National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52192662, 52020105005,
51908320), Beijing Nova Program (Grant No.
20220484012), Interdisciplinary Research Project for
Young Teachers of USTB (Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities, FRF-IDRY-22-013) and Key
Laboratory for Intelligent Infrastructure and Monitoring of
Fujian Province (Huaqiao University).
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