Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026
10:21
Evanescent Field Based Photoacoustics: Optical Property Evaluation at Surfaces
Published on: July 26, 2016
Material property estimation in thin plates using focused, synthetic-aperture acoustic beams
Dong Fei1, D E Chimenti, Sorin V Teles
1Center for Nondestructive Evaluation and Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA. fei_dong@cat.com
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|May 27, 2003
Summary
This study presents a rapid acoustic method for estimating material properties in thin plates. The technique achieves high accuracy, agreeing with contact measurements within 5%, enabling reliable elastic behavior assessment.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Acoustics
- Non-destructive Testing
Background:
- Accurate characterization of material properties is crucial for engineering applications.
- Traditional methods for elastic property estimation can be time-consuming or invasive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a rapid and reliable method for estimating elastic properties of thin plates using acoustics.
- To validate the accuracy of the developed acoustic method against established contact measurements.
Main Methods:
- Utilizes focused acoustic probes and scanned transducers to create a large synthetic aperture.
- Employs transmission/reflection coefficient reconstruction across a wide range of frequency and wave number.
- Applies temporal and spatial Fourier transforms for data processing from time/coordinate to frequency/wave number domains.
- Incorporates complex transducer point analysis to correct for real-beam effects.
Main Results:
- Achieves agreement with contact measurements within 5% for various materials.
- Enables estimation of elastic stiffnesses, including for anisotropic plates, with high precision.
- Reconstructed data extends to mode cutoffs, facilitating unambiguous estimation of elastic properties.
Conclusions:
- The developed acoustic method provides a fast, reliable, and accurate approach for material property estimation in thin plates.
- The technique is suitable for both isotropic and anisotropic materials.
- Offers a non-destructive alternative for characterizing elastic behavior.
