Lamb wave time reversal method is a new and tempting baseline-free damage detection technique for structural health monitoring. With this method, certain types of damage can be detected without baseline data. However, the application of this method using piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) is complicated by the existence of at least two Lamb wave modes at any given frequency, and by the dispersion nature of the Lamb wave modes existing in thin-wall structures. The theory of PWAS-related Lamb wave time reversal has not yet been fully studied.This paper addresses this problem by developing a theoretical model for the analysis of PWAS-related Lamb wave time reversal based on the exact solutions of the RayleighLamb wave equation. The theoretical model is first used to predict the existence of single-mode Lamb waves. Then the time reversal behavior of single-mode and two-mode Lamb waves is studied numerically. The advantages of singlemode tuning in the application of time reversal damage detection are highlighted. The validity of the proposed theoretical model is verified through experimental studies. In addition, a similarity metric for judging time invariance of Lamb wave time reversal is presented. It is shown that, under certain condition, the use of PWAS-tuned single-mode Lamb waves can greatly improve the effectiveness of the time-reversal damage detection procedure.

An analytical and experimental investigation of the Lamb wave-mode tuning with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWASs) is presented. The analytical investigation assumes a PWAS transducer bonded to the upper surface of an isotropic flat plate. Shear lag transfer of tractions and strains is assumed, and an analytical solution using the spacewise Fourier transform is reviewed, closed-form solutions are presented for the case of ideal bonding (i.e., load transfer mechanism localized at the PWAS boundary). The analytical solutions are used to derive Lamb wave-mode tuning curves, which indicate that frequencies exist at which the A0 mode or the S0 mode can be either suppressed or enhanced. Extensive experimental tests that verify these tuning curves are reported. The concept of “effective PWAS dimension” is introduced to account for the discrepancies between the ideal bonding hypothesis and the actual shear-lag load transfer mechanism. The paper further shows that the capability to excite only one desired Lamb wave mode is critical for practical structural health monitoring (SHM) applications such as PWAS phased array technique (e.g., the embedded ultrasonics structural radar (EUSR)) and the time reversal process (TRP). In PWAS phased array EUSR applications, the basic assumption of the presence of a single low-dispersion Lamb wave mode (S0) is invoked since several Lamb wave modes traveling at different speeds would disturb the damage imaging results. Examples are given of correctly tuned EUSR images versus detuned cases, which illustrate the paramount importance of Lamb wave-mode tuning for the success of the EUSR method. In the TRP study, an input wave packet is reconstructed at a transmission PWAS when the signal recorded at the receiving PWAS is reversed in the time domain and transmitted back to the original PWAS. Ideally, TRP could be used for damage detection without a prior baseline. However, the application of TRP to Lamb waves SHM is impended by the dispersive and multimodal nature of the Lamb waves. The presence of more then one mode usually produces additional wave packets on both sides of the original wave packet due to the coupling of the Lamb wave modes. The PWAS Lamb wave tuning technique described in this paper is used to resolve the side packets problem. Several tuning cases are illustrated. It is found that the 30kHz tuning of the A0 Lamb wave mode with a 16-count smoothed tone burst leads to the complete elimination of the side wave packets. However, the elimination was less perfect for the 290kHz tuning of the S0 mode due to the frequency sidebands present in the tone-burst wave packet.

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This article briefly reviewed the advances in the process of the direct oxidation of methane to methanol (DMTM) with both heterogeneous and homogeneous oxidation. Attention was paid to the conversion of methane by the heterogeneous oxidation process with various transition metal oxides. The most widely studied catalysts are based on molybdenum and iron. For the homogeneous gas phase oxidation, several process control parameters were discussed. Reactor design has the most crucial role in determining its commercialization. Compared to the above two systems, aqueous homogenous oxidation is an efficient route to get a higher yield of methanol. However, the corrosive medium in this method and its serious environmental pollution hinder its widespread use.The key challenge to the industrial application is to find a green medium and highly efficient catalysts.