A robust Bayesian methodology for damage localization in plate-like structures using ultrasonic guided-waves

Abstract

SHM methods for damage detection and localization in plate-like structures have typically relied on signal postprocessing techniques applied to ultrasonic guided-waves. The time of flight is one of these signals features which has been extensively used by the SHM community for damage localization. One approach for obtaining the time of flight is by applying a particular time-frequency transform to capture the frequency and energy content of the wave at each instant of time. To this end, the selection of a suitable methodology for time-frequency transform among the many candidates available in the literature has typically relied on experience, or simply based on considerations about computational efficiency. In this paper, a full probabilistic method based on the Bayesian inverse problem is proposed to rigorously provide a robust estimate of the time of flight for each sensor independently. Then, the robust prediction is introduced as an input to the Bayesian inverse problem of damage localization. The results reveal that the proposed methodology is able to efficiently reconstruct the damage localization within a metallic plate without the need to assume a specific a priori time-frequency transform model.

Post Treatment of Guided Wave by using Wavelet Transform in the Presence of a Defect on Surface

“…Xin Zhang et al [4] presented an experimental study on the simulated acoustic emission sources with different propagation distances, types and defect for rail defect detection. Sergio Cantero-Chinchilla et al [5] presented SHM methods for damage detection and localization in plate-like structures relied on signal post-processing techniques applied to ultrasonic guided waves. Fei Gao et al [6] are used the Time of flight based method and the continuous wavelet transform in order to localize the damage in composites laminates.…”

Uncertainty Quantification in Ultrasonic Guided-Waves Based Damage Localization

“…where σ e is the standard deviation of the error term e and Θ is the model parameter space. The referred model error term e ∈ R is considered to account for the non-existence of a theoretical ToF model that fully represent the reality, so that [17]:…”

“…The acquired signals are then post-processed by applying different time-frequency models, which are then ranked based on their posterior plausibilities. Consequently, a robust timefrequency model is built by using such probabilities [17]. The robust ToF values are then used as data to reconstruct the damage location by using the ToF model-based approaches, i.e., the deterministic and the Bayesian ones.…”

“…To partially address this modeling issue, a number of researchers have proposed the use of BIP applied to ultrasound based damage localization [11,12]. More recently, a Bayesian framework, which combines the information coming from different post-processing techniques, i.e., time-frequency models [13][14][15][16], using their posterior plausibilities to obtain a more robust damage localization, has been proposed in [17]. In this paper, a comparison between BIPs and deterministic IPs in the context of ultrasonic guided-wave based damage localization is provided.…”

Application of Iterative Maximum Weighted Likelihood Estimation in 3-D Target Localization

“…The ultrasonic pulse-echo technique is traditionally adopted as a cost-effective SHM strategy. Damage detection of 2-D structures, such as plates and shells, has been widely studied [7][8][9]. Three-dimensional structures, such as concrete structures, also require periodic inspections and quality control to assess their structural integrity [10,11].…”