Fatigue crack detection in pipes with multiple mode nonlinear guided waves

This study elaborates fundamental differences in fatigue crack detection using nonlinear guided waves between plate and pipe structures and provides an effective approach for analysing nonlinearity in pipe structures. For this purpose, guided wave propagation and interaction with microcrack in a pipe structure, which introduced a contact acoustic nonlinearity, was analysed through a finite element analysis in which the material nonlinearity was also included. To validate the simulation results, experimental testing was performed using piezoelectric transducers to generate guided waves in a specimen with a fatigue crack. Both methods revealed that the second harmonic wave generated by the breathing behaviour of the microcrack in a pipe had multiple wave modes, unlike the plate scenario using nonlinear guided waves. Therefore, a proper index which considered all the generated wave modes due to the microcrack was developed to quantify the nonlinearity, facilitating the identification of microscale damage and further assessment of the severity of the damage in pipe structures.