High-cycle fatigue damage evaluation based on hysteresis nonlinearity using ultrasonic guided waves

• Published in: Ultrasonics 2025-03, Vol.147, p.107519, Article 107519
• Main Authors: Zhou, Tao, Xue, Chaolong, Lv, Xunjie, Li, Bing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fatigue damage; High cycle fatigue; Hysteresis nonlinearity; Non-destructive evaluation; Ultrasonic guided wave
• ISSN: 0041-624X; 1874-9968; 1874-9968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107519

This paper presents a novel approach utilizing nonlinear ultrasonic guided waves for the detection and evaluation of high-cycle fatigue damage in aluminum alloy plates. Through high-cycle fatigue testing, specimens with varying degrees of fatigue damage were created and evaluated using ultrasonic-guided wave measurement technology. The integration of time–frequency analyses effectively reduced the impact of wave dispersion and resonance effects, establishing a reliable operational frequency bandwidth. The results identified a positive correlation between the amplitude of odd harmonic components caused by hysteresis nonlinearity and fatigue crack length, while an inverse correlation was observed with specimen resonance frequency. The results confirm the high sensitivity and accuracy of this approach for early fatigue damage detection, offering a significant advancement in the non-destructive evaluation of engineering structures and a foundation for structural failure prevention. •Proposed a nonlinear ultrasonic guided wave method for high-cycle fatigue in plates based on hysteresis.•Time–frequency processing enhanced accuracy of ultrasonic params in thick plate guided wave responses.•Analyzed via experiments the correlation of crack length, resonance frequency and odd harmonics.