The relationship between radiating body forces and equivalent surface stresses: Analysis and application to EMAT design

Abstract

An analysis of the radiation from a body force shows that it is equivalent to the radiation from a series of surface stresses defined by the moments of the body force taken with respect to the depth coordinate. As the body force becomes localized near the surface, the zeroth moment of the force dominates the radiation and is often thought of as an equivalent surface stress. However, under certain conditions, this can vanish, and the other moments must be considered. It is found that, as the order of the moment of a particular force component increases, the resulting radiation patterns alternate between those characteristic of a compressive surface stress and those characteristic of a shear surface stress, which have considerably different angular variations. Results of experiments in the development of EMAT transducers for nondestructive testing that support these results are cited, and important consequences in the design of inspection systems are indicated.