Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 44, No. 2, February 2004, pp.

461463 Brief Reports

Experimental Study of Shear Horizontal Wave Transmission and
Reection at a Tee Joint
H. Kwun and S. Y. Kim
Applied Physics Division, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, U.S.A.
M. S. Choi

Department of Physics, Yeungnam University, Kyeongsan 712-749

(Received 11 October 2003, in nal form 26 December 2003)
The properties of wave transmission and reection of a fundamental shear horizontal wave mode
incident at a normal angle to a welded tee joint of steel plates were studied experimentally over
a frequency range below the cuto frequency of the rst higher shear horizontal wave mode. The
coecients of wave transmission and reection were determined for each case of the wave incident
from the cross- and the bar-member plates of the tee joint. The properties showed a strong frequency
(or thickness) dependence. As the frequency approached the cuto frequency of the rst higher
mode, the joint was found to increasingly block a wave transmission between the cross- and the
bar-member plates while it still permitted good wave transmission between the cross-member plates.
PACS numbers: 43
Keywords: SH waves, Interaction, Tee joint, Guided waves
I. INTRODUCTION
Properties of plate wave propagation through welded
joints in framed structures have long been a subject of
scientic interest for applications to vibration control
and evaluation of dynamic loading conditions in struc-
tures [14]. Most of the work reported in this area deals
with theoretical modeling studies, and not much is avail-
able on experimental studies because of the lack of suit-
able experimental tools in the past.
With the recent emergence of the long-range guided-
wave inspection technology [57], the properties of plate
wave interaction with welded joints in a framed struc-
ture have also become a subject of considerable interest.
The primary motive is to determine whether the area be-
yond the joint that may not be directly accessible could
be inspected through the joint from an accessible loca-
tion. Examples of applications where the above ability
is needed include inspection of bottom plates of large
aboveground storage tanks from outside the tank and
inspection of the coldside of the waterwall boiler tubes
from the reside.
In this paper, we report the results of an experimen-
tal study of the properties of the wave transmission and
reection of the fundamental shear horizontal (SH) wave
mode incident at the normal angle to a welded tee joint
of steel plates. The fundamental SH-wave mode below

E-mail: cmseon@yu.ac.kr
the cuto frequency of the rst higher SH-wave mode
was chosen in this study because the mode is preferred
for long-range plate inspection applications due to the
characteristics of no dispersion and better mode control
than the Lamb waves.
Two samples of tee-welded steel plates were used, as
illustrated in Fig. 1. The plate was approximately 6.35
mm thick. The tee joint was full-penetration-welded,
and excessive weld beads along the joint were ground o
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of test samples. The plate was
6.35 mm thick.
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-462- Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 44, No. 2, February 2004
Fig. 2. SH-wave data obtained at 130 kHz from samples
A and B in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3. SH-wave data obtained at 190 kHz from samples
A and B in Fig. 1.
to make the joint square as much as possible. For SH-
wave generation and detection in the plate, the magne-
tostrictive sensor (MsS) and its instrument system were
employed [5]. Using a 30-cm-long transmitting (T-) MsS
placed across the plate width near the right end of each
sample illustrated in Fig. 1, a tone burst of SH-wave of
a given frequency was launched toward the tee joint at a
normal angle. Using another 30-cm-long receiving (R-)
MsS placed approximately 85 cm from the launching end
of the plate, we were able to detect the incident wave as
well as the subsequent signals reected back from the
joint and the two far ends of the bar- and/or the cross-
member plates of the sample. The measurements of the
SH-wave signals were conducted from 60 to 200 kHz at
10-kHz intervals. The cuto frequency of the rst higher
SH-wave mode in this 6.35-mm-thick steel plate was ap-
proximately 256 kHz.
Examples of data acquired from samples A and B at
130 kHz are shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b). Similar data
acquired at 190 kHz are also shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b)
to illustrate strong frequency dependence of the wave
properties. In the data, signals 1 and 5 are the incident
signal. Signals 2 and 6 are those reected from the tee
joint. Signals 3 and 4 are those transmitted through the
joint and subsequently reected back from the far ends
of the cross- and the bar-member plates of sample A
to R-MsS through the joint. Signals 7 and 8 are those
transmitted through the joint and subsequently reected
back from the two far ends of the cross-member plates of
sample B to R-MsS through the joint. Compared to data
in Fig. 2, signals 4, 7, and 8 in Fig. 3 were much smaller
in amplitude, indicating the diculty in wave transmis-
sion between the cross- and the bar-member plates of
the joint at the higher frequency. At higher frequencies,
where the wavelength is comparable to plate thickness,
the waves were more sensitive to imperfections in the
sample end and joint geometries and, as a result, the
tone-burst waveforms of the detected signals were some-
what out of shape.
Neglecting the eect of wave attenuation, the reec-
tion and the transmission coecients of the wave indi-
cated in Fig. 1 and the amplitudes of signals j, A
j
, where
j = 1, 2, , 8, have the following relationships: A
2
/A
1
=R
11
, A
3
/A
1
=T
2
11
, A
4
/A
1
=A
7
/A
5
=A
8
/A
5
=T
21
T
12
and A
6
/A
5
= R
22
. In the reection and the transmission
coecient symbols, the rst subscript refers to the plates
in which the wave is incident; the second subscript refers
to the plates in which the wave is propagating after the
interaction with the joint: 1 for the cross-member plate
and 2 for the bar-member plate of the tee joint.
Using the experimentally measured A
j
s and the above
relationships, the reection and the transmission coe-
cients were calculated. Because T
21
and T
12
could not
be separately determined from the above relationships,
additional through-transmission measurements were also
conducted with one MsS placed near the end of the bar-
member plate and another MsS placed near one end of
the cross-member plate. The amplitudes of the signals
received from each other were almost the same; therefore,
T
21
= T
12
.
The coecients, thus, determined from A
j
s were gen-
erally found not to satisfy the energy conservation law
that requires E
C
R
2
11
+T
2
11
+T
2
12
= 1. Over the range
of frequencies investigated in this study, the coecients
yielded values ranging from 0.81 to 1.37. The primary
reason for the substantial deviation of E
C
from 1 was
the sample size that was not large enough to allow use
of tone burst pulses with longer durations.
To minimize the deviation from the energy conserva-
tion law and, thus, to improve the accuracy of the ex-
perimental data, we made a correction by dividing the
initially obtained values for the transmission and reec-
tion coecients by the square root of the corresponding
E
C
values. The nal results are plotted as functions of
the product of frequency and thickness in Fig. 4. The
Experimental Study of Shear Horizontal Wave Transmission H. Kwun et al. -463-
Fig. 4. Reection and transmission coecients of SH-wave
at a tee joint and their frequency-thickness dependence.
data plotted in this gure were estimated to be accurate
within approximately 0.05.
According to the plane wave theory [2], the reection
and the transmission coecients of the fundamental SH-
wave that is incident to a tee joint at a normal angle
have the following values at low frequencies where the
plate thickness is an order of magnitude smaller than
the wavelength: T
11
= T
12
= T
21
0.65 and R
11
=
R
22
0.33. The 381 kHz mm, the lower end of the
frequency-thickness range covered in this investigation, is
somewhat outside the range in which plane-wave theory
holds. However, except for R
22
, the measured values
at 381 kHz mm are in reasonable agreement with the
theoretical values. Presently, no additional comparisons
of the experimental data with modeling data are feasible
because of the lack of modeling results in the frequency
range covered in this study.
The experimental data plotted in Fig. 4 show that
the properties of wave reection and transmission at a
tee joint are highly frequency (or thickness) dependent
and that they vary signicantly, depending on whether
the wave is incident in the cross- or the bar-member plate
of the joint. For example, R
22
, the reection coecient
of the wave incident in the bar-member plate is rela-
tively steady before beginning to increase rapidly with
frequency-thickness above 890 kHz mm. Correspond-
ingly, T
21
decreases rapidly, approaching zero transmis-
sion above 1270 kHz mm. On the other hand, R
11
, the
reection coecient of the wave incident in the cross-
member plate, shows a somewhat parabolic frequency-
thickness dependence over the frequency-thickness range
investigated, with the minimum point occurring at ap-
proximately 825 kHz mm in this case. The corresponding
T
11
shows a monotonic increase with frequency-thickness
until it starts to decrease at 1207 kHz mm. The data in
Fig. 4 suggest that, to inspect the area in the cross-
member plate through the tee joint of the sample struc-
ture, the best wave transmission will be achieved by
launching the SH-wave from a location on the accessible
side of the cross-member plate using frequency-thickness
values from approximately 890 to 1270 kHz mm.
In this paper, we have described the arrangements and
the results of an experimental study of the properties
of wave transmission and reection of the fundamental
shear horizontal wave mode incident at a normal angle
to a welded tee joint of steel plates. The properties were
found to be strongly frequency (or thickness) dependent.
The results are also useful for determining suitable pro-
cedures for inspecting plates through a tee joint. In ad-
dition, the magnetostrictive sensor (MsS) used in this
study is a useful tool for experimentally measuring the
properties of guided wave interactions with a compli-
cated structural geometry. Experimental validations of
theoretical modeling results that were dicult to con-
duct in the past can now be performed and, therefore,
are recommended.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Electric Power Re-
search Institute (3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, Cal-
ifornia 94304) under contract EP-P9916-C5026. One of
the authors, M. S. Choi, a visiting scientist at Southwest
Research Institute, thanks Yeungnam University for its
support under the Abroad Research Program of Year
2003.
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