Investigation of Different Features for Baseline-Free RAPID Damage-Imaging Algorithm Using Guided Waves Applied to...

Area of Science:

• Structural Health Monitoring
• Non-Destructive Testing
• Wave Propagation in Materials

Background:

• Guided-wave-based damage imaging often requires baseline data, which is not always available.
• Traditional methods primarily use signal amplitude, limiting defect characterization.
• Developing baseline-free approaches is crucial for practical structural integrity assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate advanced damage imaging algorithms for structural health monitoring.
• To explore the efficacy of multiple signal features beyond amplitude for defect reconstruction.
• To assess the performance of baseline and baseline-free damage imaging approaches.

Main Methods:

• Utilized baseline and baseline-free approaches for damage imaging.
• Extracted six signal features: amplitude, deconvolution amplitude, reassigned STFT amplitude, time of flight, time-domain kurtosis, and frequency-domain kurtosis.
• Applied the Reconstruction Algorithm for Probabilistic Inspection of Damage (RAPID) for defect characterization.

Main Results:

• Successfully reconstructed defects in metallic and composite plates using multiple signal features.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of both baseline and baseline-free methods.
• Quantified defect parameters by creating ellipses after thresholding.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multi-feature approach enhances damage imaging capabilities in guided-wave-based structural health monitoring.
• The RAPID algorithm effectively characterizes defects, offering a robust solution even without baseline data.
• This methodology provides a more comprehensive and reliable method for assessing structural integrity.