Guided electromagnetic waves for damage detection and localization in metallic plates: numerical and experimental results

Electromagnetic waves in the microwave and millimeter-wave frequency range are used in non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring applications to detect material defects such as delaminations, cracks, or inclusions. This work presents a sensing concept based on guided electromagnetic waves (GEW), in which the waveguide forms a union with the structure to be inspected. Exploiting ultra-wideband signals a surface defect in the area under the waveguide can be detected and accurately localized. This paper presents numerical and experimental GEW results for a straight waveguide focusing on the detection of through holes and cracks with different orientation. It was found that the numerical model qualitatively replicates the experimentalS-parameter measurements for holes of different diameters. A parametric numerical study indicates that the crack parameters such as its orientation and width has a significant influence on the interaction of the incident wave with the structural defect. On top, a numerical study is performed for complex-shaped rectangular waveguides including several waveguide bends. Besides a successful damage detection, the damage position can also be precisely determined with a maximum localization error of less than 3%.