Evaluation of vibration‐induced local fatigue based on guided wave measurement

Abstract To investigate the local damage characteristics and properties of stiffness degradation in aluminum structures under vibration fatigue, an evaluation method of the fatigue property for local areas has been proposed by identifying the stiffness from the phase velocity obtained by the laser ultrasonic system. First, vibration fatigue tests were conducted on 2024‐O aluminum alloy components under four different stress levels. To address the issue of local damage characteristics under vibration fatigue, a scan window to achieve the local phase velocities within a small local region was employed, and then, the local stiffness can be calculated. By tracking the residual stiffness of the weakest region, the local damage factor was calculated. A unified model with normalized periods at different stress levels was carried out to predict the evolutionary trend. This approach offers a more efficient alternative to estimate local fatigue damage and residual life through the monitoring of local stiffness during maintenance.