One of unique characteristics of guided waves is a dispersive behavior that guided wave velocity changes with an excitation frequency and mode. In practical applications of guided wave techniques, it is very important to identify propagating modes in a time-domain waveform for determination of defect location and size. Mode identification can be done by measurement of group velocity in a time-domain waveform. Thus, it is preferred to generate a single or less dispersive mode. But, in many cases, it is difficult to distinguish a mode clearly in a time-domain waveform because of superposition of multi modes and mode conversion phenomena. Time-frequency analysis is used as efficient methods to identify modes by presenting wave energy distribution in a time-frequency. In this study, experimental guided wave mode identification is carried out in a steel plate using time-frequency analysis methods such as wavelet transform. The results are compared with theoretically calculated group velocity dispersion curves. The results are in good agreement with analytical predictions and show the effectiveness of using the wavelet transform method to identify and measure the amplitudes of individual guided wave modes.
Time-frequency analysis associated with the Laguerre wavelet transform
