Energy concentration at the center of large aspect ratio rectangular waveguides at high frequencies

Waveguides in non-destructive evaluation (NDE) applications are commonly of a regular geometry (e.g., circular and ring cross section) for which analytical solutions exist. In this paper, wave propagation in infinitely long strips of large rectangular aspect ratio is discussed. Due to the finite width of strips, a large number of modes exist within the structure. This complicates the analysis and usually discourages the use of strip waveguides in NDE sensors. However, it is shown that among the many modes of a strip, there are some with very desirable properties. This is highlighted by the example of two guided wave modes of a large aspect ratio rectangular strip whose dispersion characteristics approach those of the fundamental modes of an infinitely wide plate at high frequencies. The energy of these modes concentrates in the central region of the strip and decays toward the edges so that the strip waveguide can easily be mechanically attached to other components without influencing the wave propagation. Dispersion curves and mode shapes were derived by using a semianalytical finite element technique and are presented over a range of frequencies. It is shown that selective excitation of both modes is possible in practice and the experimental setup is described.