arXiv subjects

Michael J. S. Lowe

Publications and source records attributed to Michael J. S. Lowe.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Reciprocity-Based Signal Compensation Framework for Ultrasonic Backscatter Measurements in Heterogeneous Scattering Media

Ultrasonic backscatter measurements are widely used for microstructural characterisation. However, in materials containing strong anisotropy and spatial heterogeneity, the interpretation of backscatter signals becomes challenging because distance-dependent propagation effects can obscure genuine microstructural variations across depth. In this paper, a cross-directional compensation method is presented for ultrasonic backscatter measurements acquired from opposing inspection surfaces. The method exploits the reciprocal constraint that the dominant through-thickness propagation bias should contain a shared component between opposing inspection directions. A shared distance-dependent baseline is estimated in the logarithmic amplitude domain using an anchor-based fitting approach and subsequently used to compensate the measured backscatter profiles with depth. The method is demonstrated on two macrozone-containing Ti--6Al--4V samples, where conventional attenuation-based compensation is shown to be insufficient to consistently reconcile opposing-face backscatter profiles. Across six opposing-face signal pairs, the proposed method reduces the mean standard deviation of the directional mismatch profile from $0.367$ to $0.120$ and the mean absolute fitted gradient from $0.171$ to $0.0067$, outperforming conventional attenuation compensation. These results demonstrate that reciprocity-based compensation can reduce propagation-related bias while preserving local direction-dependent scattering variations, providing a practical signal-normalisation framework for backscatter analysis in heterogeneous anisotropic materials.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2024

Accurate wave velocity measurement from diffuse wave fields

Directional wave speeds variations in anisotropic elastic solids enables material characterisation capabilities, such as determination of elastic constants and volumetric measurement of crystallographic texture. However, achieving such measurements is challenging especially on samples with complex geometries. Here we propose the use of Green's Function reconstruction from diffuse ultrasonic wave fields for accurate velocity measurements on components with arbitrary geometries. Strategies for accurate reconstruction, including averaging over an increased number of different source locations, using longer window lengths of diffuse fields, and accurately deconvolving a source-dependent factor, were implemented to achieve satisfactory convergence towards Green's Function. Additionally, low signal intensity challenges from laser interferometers were overcome to enable non-contact measurement of the wave speeds, by making use of simultaneous excitation of sources to increase signal-to-noise ratio and signal normalisation to account for energy dissipation of diffuse fields. With successful demonstration using both phased array and laser receivers, this advancement fundamentally broadens acoustic wave velocity measurement capabilities to a wider range of environments and holds promise for future material characterisation of complex-shaped components.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2024

Computing leaky Lamb waves for waveguides between elastic half-spaces using spectral collocation

In non-destructive evaluation guided wave inspections, the elastic structure to be inspected is often embedded within other elastic media and the ensuing leaky waves are complex and non-trivial to compute; we consider the canonical example of an elastic waveguide surrounded by other elastic materials that demonstrates the fundamental issues with calculating the leaky waves in such systems. Due to the complex wavenumber solutions required to represent them, leaky waves pose significant challenges to existing numerical methods, with methods that spatially discretise the field to retrieve them suffering from the exponential growth of their amplitude far into the surrounding media. We present a spectral collocation method yielding an accurate and efficient identification of these modes, leaking into elastic half-spaces. We discretise the elastic domains and, depending on the exterior bulk wavespeeds, select appropriate mappings of the discretised domain to complex paths, in which the numerical solution decays and the physics of the problem are preserved. By iterating through all possible radiation cases, the full set of dispersion and attenuation curves are successfully retrieved and validated, where possible, against the commercially available software DISPERSE. As an independent validation, dispersion curves are obtained from finite element simulations of time-dependent waves using Fourier analysis.

math.NA↗

arXiv2023

Investigation of the Influence of Macrozones in Titanium Alloys on the Propagation and Scattering of Ultrasound

The presence of macrozones (or micro-textured regions) in Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) was shown to be a potential cause to the onset of cold dwell fatigue which reduces fatigue life significantly. Past research has demonstrated the potential of using ultrasonic testing for macrozone characterisation, with the variation of ultrasound attenuation, backscatter, and velocity in the presence of macrozones. However, due to the complexity of the microstructure, some physical phenomena that were observed are still not well understood. In this study, we propose the use of Finite Element (FE) polycrystalline models to provide us with a means to systematically study the wave-macrozone interaction. Through this investigation performed using two-dimensional (2D) models, we are able to identify important correlations between macrozone characteristics (size, shape, and texture) and ultrasound responses (attenuation, backscatter, and velocity). The observed behaviours are then validated experimentally, and we also highlight how this understanding can potentially aid with the characterisation of macrozones in Ti-64 samples.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Leaky wave characterisation using spectral methods

Leaky waves are an important class of waves, particularly for guiding waves along structures embedded within another medium; a mismatch in wavespeeds often leads to leakage of energy from the waveguide, or interface, into the medium, which consequently attenuates the guided wave. The accurate and efficient identification of theoretical solutions for leaky waves is a key requirement for the choices of modes and frequencies required for non-destructive evaluation inspection techniques. We choose a typical situation to study: an elastic waveguide with a fluid on either side. Historically, leaky waves are identified via root-finding methods that have issues with conditioning, or, numerical methods` that struggle with the exponential growth of solutions at infinity. By building upon a spectral collocation method, we show how it can be adjusted to find exponentially growing solutions, i.e. leaky waves, leading to an accurate, fast and efficient identification of their dispersion properties. The key concept required is a mapping, in the fluid region, that allows for exponential growth of the physical solution at infinity, whilst the mapped numerical setting decays. We illustrate this by studying leaky Lamb waves in an elastic waveguide immersed between two different fluids and verify this using the commercially available software Disperse.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Appraising scattering theories for polycrystals of any symmetry using finite elements

This paper uses 3D grain-scale finite element (FE) simulations to appraise the classical scattering theory of plane longitudinal wave propagation in untextured polycrystals with statistically equiaxed grains belonging to the seven crystal symmetries. As revealed from the results of 10,390 materials, the classical theory has a linear relationship with the elastic scattering factor at the quasi-static velocity limit, whereas the reference FE and self-consistent (SC) results generally exhibit a quadratic relationship. As supported by the results of 90 materials, such order difference also extends to the attenuation and phase velocity, leading to larger differences between the classical theory and the FE results for more strongly scattering materials. Alternatively, two approximate models are proposed to achieve more accurate calculations by including an additional quadratic term. One model uses quadratic coefficients from quasi-static SC velocity fits and is thus symmetry-specific, while the other uses theoretically-determined coefficients and is valid for any individual material. These simple models generally deliver more accurate attenuation and phase velocity (particularly the second model) than the classical theory, especially for strongly scattering materials. However, the models are invalid for the attenuation of materials with negative quadratic coefficients.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Finite element and semi-analytical study of elastic wave propagation in strongly scattering polycrystals

This work studies scattering-induced elastic wave attenuation and phase velocity variation in 3D untextured cubic polycrystals with statistically equiaxed grains using the theoretical second-order approximation (SOA) and Born approximation models and the grain-scale finite element (FE) model, pushing the boundary towards strongly scattering materials. The results for materials with Zener anisotropy indices A>1 show a good agreement between the theoretical and FE models in the transition and stochastic regions. In the Rayleigh regime, the agreement is reasonable for common structural materials with 1 1, a semi-analytical model is proposed by iterating the far-field Born approximation and optimising the iterative coefficient. The proposed model agrees remarkably well with the FE model across all studied materials with greatly differing microstructures; the model validity also extends to the quasi-static velocity limit. For polycrystals with A<1, it is found that the agreement between the SOA and FE results is excellent for all studied materials and the correction of the model is not needed.

physics.class-ph↗