Finite Element Modelling of Dispersion Curves

In order to investigate the effect of the width on the propagation of ultrasonic waves a series of simulations were conducted using the commercial FE software PZFlex [109]. In the first FE model a single, rectangular cross-section, stainless steel strip, with a thickness of 1 mm, a width of 10 mm and a length of 300 mm was simulated in a box of air, as shown in figure 5.1, using the material properties given in table 5.1. A narrowband excitation, consisting of a five cycle sine wave, was applied to one end of the strip. The in-plane displacement was then recorded along the length of the centre of the strip at intervals of 0.25 mm. This small spacing helps to prevent aliasing issues as the minimum wavelength in the frequency range of interest, below 1 MHz, is of the order of millimetres. These displacement measurements were then arranged in an array, as described previously, to allow the use of a 2D-FFT to obtain the dispersion curves.

The propagating modes, which appear as high energy regions after the appli- cation of the 2D-FFT technique introduced in the previous chapter, were identified using a peak finding algorithm in MATLAB, allowing a set of dispersion curves to be plotted. The centre frequency of the input signal was then increased and the FE simulation repeated in order to obtain higher frequency regions of the dispersion curves. In theory it should be possible to obtain the entire set of dispersion curves using a single simulation using a broadband signal. However, this method would also generate frequencies higher than those of interest in this work. This would in

Figure 5.1: Schematic diagram of the FE model used to obtain dispersion curves. The model consisted of a single stainless steel strip driven with a narrowband exci- tation. The in-plane displacement was then measured at a series of points, 0.25 mm apart, along the centre of the strip.

turn require a finer mesh in the model to prevent any aliasing effects, making a large model even more computationally expensive.

The dispersion curves obtained from the simulation of the 10 mm width strip are shown in figure 5.2. Also included in this figure are the analytically calculated dispersion curve for the S0 Lamb mode in a 1 mm thick stainless steel plate, for comparison. We can see that the modes for the 10 mm width plate follow the same general shape as the S0 Lamb mode. However, as predicted by the analytical models there are additional modes resulting from the additional boundaries, which converge around the position of the S0 Lamb mode. The plurality of modes in this region, rather than the single mode, would lead to dispersive behaviour due to the loss of linearity around the gaps between the modes.

One point of note is that the modes for the 10 mm strip appear to stop abruptly as the modes deviate further from the position of the S0 lamb mode. This

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Wavenumber / mm−1 Frequency − Thickness / MHz mm S0 Lamb Mode

10 mm Width Strip Modes

Figure 5.2: The simulated dispersion curves for a stainless steel strip waveguide with a rectangular cross-section (1 mm x 10 mm). Also shown is the S0 Lamb mode for a 1 mm thick stainless steel plate for comparison.

is due to the majority of the energy in the propagating waves being concentrated around this region, rather than being an actual physical effect. It is expected that these modes would continue on in both directions, but due to the small energy content it becomes difficult to separate the mode from the background noise using the techniques described here.

In order to further investigate the effect of the width on the wavemodes, the simulations were then repeated for stainless steel strips with the same thickness, but with a range of widths, both larger and smaller. The first of these was a strip with a width of 5 mm. From the analytical models it would be expected that the smaller aspect ratio would lead to a greater deviation from the Rayleigh-Lamb solutions. The dispersion curves from FE modelling of the 5 mm width plate are shown in figure 5.3(a). It can be seen that the reduced aspect ratio lead to a decrease in

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Wavenumber / mm−1 Frequency − Thickness / MHz mm S0 Lamb Mode 5 mm Width Strip Modes

(a) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Wavenumber / mm−1 Frequency − Thickness / MHz mm S0 Lamb Mode

30 mm Width Strip Modes

(b) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Wavenumber / mm−1 Frequency − Thickness / MHz mm S0 Lamb Mode

50 mm Width Strip Modes

(c) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Wavenumber / mm−1 Frequency − Thickness / MHz mm S0 Lamb Mode

100 mm Width Strip Mode

(d)

Figure 5.3: The simulated dispersion curves for 1 mm thick stainless steel strips with of widths: (a) 5 mm, (b) 30 mm, (c) 50 mm and (d) 100 mm. The S0 Lamb mode for a 1 mm thick stainless steel plate is also shown for reference.

the number of modes which could be identified in the region of interest. However, the spacing between the two visible modes is much larger than the gaps seen in the 10 mm plate case. This larger gap will cause additional dispersive behaviour, further complicating the transmitted signal and potentially reducing the viability for use as a thermal buffer in an ultrasonic flowmeter. Additionally, the smaller strip width will further reduce the size of the radiating face, lowering the energy that can be transmitted into the test fluid.

The other strip geometries investigated had larger aspect ratios, with widths of 30 mm, 50 mm and 100 mm. Again, by looking at the analytical models presented in the previous chapter, we can expect that an increased plate width, for a fixed thickness, would reduce the effect of the finite plate width and the guided waves would become more similar to Lamb waves. Looking at the dispersion curves for the strips with these larger widths, shown in figure 5.3, it can be seen that increasing the strip width increases the number of propagating wave modes in the sub 1 MHz region of interest, and the modes become more closely spaced. For the 30 mm strip, eight individual modes can be seen, and there are still noticeable gaps between them. For the 50 mm strip, some gaps can still be seen between the modes in the lower frequency region however they are much more difficult to identify as separate modes. Finally, for the 100 mm strip, the dispersion curves become essentially indistinguishable from the S0 Lamb mode.

Though increasing the width of the strip does make the dispersion behaviour much more similar to that of Lamb waves it is not a solution for many practical appli- cations. For example, in a flow measurement application, the waveguide transducer needs to fit through a hole in a pipe, which places an upper limit of approximately 10-15 mm on the maximum width of the strip. Additionally, increasing the width of the strips may in fact negatively affect the wave propagation. With the smaller width strips, 5 mm or 10 mm, there are large gaps between the modes. However, if the transducer operates in a frequency range away from these gaps the dispersive

Figure 5.4: A schematic diagram of the experimental configuration used to measure the dispersion curves of a waveguide strip using an EMAT, consisting of a coil of wire and a magnet.

effects of the finite width could be minimised. With a wider strip with more modes, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify a range of operating frequencies which avoids any of these gaps.