Comparison of sensitivity in nonlinear ultrasonic detection based on Lamb wave phase velocity matching mode

In nonlinear ultrasonic damage detection, the appropriate Lamb wave mode to accurately characterise the nonlinearity attributed to the material damage should be selected important. However, an effective mode is more difficult to select practically as impacted by the dispersion and multi-mode characteristic of the Lamb wave. In this study, based on the dispersion curve of Lamb waves, the modes meeting the second harmonics and third harmonics phase velocity matching were given, and the nonlinear cumulative effects exerted by different modes on fatigue cracks were compared. In addition, an investigation was conducted on the amplitude change of the second and third harmonics signal of the identical fatigue damage. The results show that the harmonic amplitude decreases with the increase of the fatigue crack length. The third harmonics under the two modes are more sensitive to fatigue damage than the second harmonics. Moreover, the amplitude of the third harmonic excited by S1 mode exceeds that of the other mode. As the fatigue crack length increases, the relative second- and third-order nonlinear coefficients generated by S1 mode have approximately the same trend, first increasing and then decreasing. The results reveal that the third harmonic under S1 mode could more effectively characterise fatigue damage.