Ultrasonic and Acoustic Emission Testing Contrasted
An arbitrary mechanical excitation applied to a plate will generate a multiplicity of Lamb waves carrying energy across a range of frequencies. Such is the case for the acoustic emission wave. In acoustic emission testing, the challenge is to recognize the multiple Lamb wave components in the received waveform and to interpret them in terms of source motion. This contrasts with the situation in ultrasonic testing, where the first challenge is to generate a single, well-controlled Lamb wave mode at a single frequency. But even in ultrasonic testing, mode conversion takes place when the generated Lamb wave interacts with flaws, so the interpretation of reflected signals compounded from multiple modes becomes a means of flaw characterization.
Read more about this topic: Lamb Waves
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