Analysis of laser generated ultrasonic wave frequency characteristics induced by a partially closed surface-breaking crack.

This research focuses on analyzing the frequency characteristics of ultrasonic waves induced by a partially closed surface-breaking crack. When acoustic waves interact with the crack, transmission, reflection, and mode conversions occur and the frequency characteristics of signals perform obvious changes. A pulsed laser line source is used to generate ultrasonic waves in the sample with a partially closed surface-breaking crack, and one can see how the frequency characteristics of detected signals change as the pulsed laser beam scans across the sample surface. The optical deflection beam method is developed to detect the ultrasonic signals experimentally. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used to analyze the time-domain data, and the FFT data are visualized by a B-scan plot. A clear disruption in the B-scan can be observed when the laser beam illuminates directly onto the crack, which is due to the changes of frequency characteristics induced by the partially closed crack. A frequency-domain B-scan of numerical simulation results is presented, and the clear disruption can also be observed clearly.