Numerical and experimental demonstration of shear stress measurement at thick steel plates using acoustoelasticity

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to numerically quantify the stress state of complex loaded thick steel plates using the fundamental theory of acoustoelasticity, which is the relationship with stress and ultrasonic velocity in the nonlinear regime. The normal and shear stresses of a thick plate can be measured using a phased array placement of ultrasonic sensors and Rayleigh ultrasonic waves. Three measurement angles (i.e., 0 45 and 90 degrees) are selected since three measurements are needed to solve the stress tensor in an isotropic plate. The ultrasonic data is influenced significantly by the frequency of the Rayleigh waves as well as the thickness of the plate being examined; consequently the overall experimental process is influenced by the measurement parameters. In this study, a numerical demonstration is implemented to extract the nonlinearity coefficients using a 3D structural geometry and Murnaghan material model capable of examining the effects of various plate thicknesses and ultrasonic frequencies on the shear stress measurement. The purpose is that as the thickness becomes smaller, the shear stress becomes negligible at the angled measurement. For thicker cross section, shear stress becomes influential if the depth of penetration of Rayleigh wave is greater than the half of the thickness. The correlation between the depth of penetration and shear stress is then obtained. The numerical results are compared with 1 MHz ultrasonic frequency and a 3/8 inch thick steel plate loaded uniaxially while the measurement direction is angled to have the presence of shear stress in the measurement direction.