Fatigue Crack Detection Via Load-Differential Guided Wave Methods

Guided waves (e.g., Lamb waves) have been considered for many structural health monitoring (SHM) applications because of their ability to travel long distances and maintain sensitivity to damage. One conventional approach to detect damage is to compare in situ signals to baselines recorded from the undamaged structure. By comparing current signals to damage-free baselines, signal changes caused by structural damage can be tracked. Such methods can handle some structural complexity, but have unwanted sensitivity to variations in environmental and operational conditions (e.g., temperatures and loads).