Distance-domain based localization techniques for acoustic emission sources: a comparative study

Acoustic Emission phenomenon is of great importance for analyzing and monitoring health status of critical structural components. In acoustic emission, elastic waves generated by sources propagate through the structure and are acquired by networks of sensors. Ability to accurately locate the event strongly depends on the type of medium (e.g. geometrical features) and material properties, that result in wave signals distortion. These effects manifest themselves particularly in plate structures due to intrinsic dispersive nature of Lamb waves. In this paper two techniques for acoustic emission source localization in elastic plates are compared: one based on a time-domain distance transform and the second one is a two-step hybrid technique. A time-distance domain transform approach, transforms the time-domain waveforms into the distance domain by using wavenumber-frequency mapping. The transform reconstructs the source signal removing distortions resulting from dispersion effects. The method requires input of approximate material properties and geometrical features of the structure that are relatively easy to estimate prior to measurement. Hence, the method is of high practical interest. Subsequently, a two-step hybrid technique, which does not require apriori knowledge of material parameters, is employed. The method requires a setup of two predefined clusters of three sensors in each. The Lamb wave source is localized from the intersection point of the predicted wave propagation directions for the two clusters. The second step of the two-step hybrid technique improves the prediction by minimizing an objective function. The two methods are compared for analytic, simulated and experimental signals.