Analysis and experimentation of lamb wave transmission characteristics in the stiffened plates

Ultrasonic Lamb wave technology holds extreme significance in the structural health monitoring of integral metal wall plates. However, its application is limited due to complex Lamb wave transmission characteristics caused by stiffeners. In the study, the transmission characteristics of Lamb waves in common types of stiffener cross sections (I-type and Γ-type) of large wall plates were investigated. A 2D-FFT (Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform) calculation method was developed to accurately analyse the transmission characteristics of Lamb waves in stiffened plates with different stiffener cross-sections. The stiffener structure could be considered as a comb filter through the experimental and simulation results. Theoretical and experimental evidence shows that the characteristics of the filter are mainly affected by the dimensions of the height direction of the stiffeners. The variations of comb filtering characteristics of Lamb waves with stiffener geometry were deeply analysed. In addition, the formation mechanism of the comb-filtering effect of the stiffeners on the transmitted wave has been validated through experimental measurement. This study provides the basis for the reasonable frequency selection of Lamb waves for detecting the stiffened plate structure, and it significantly advances the application of Lamb waves in the structural health monitoring of integral metal wall plates.