The second harmonic generation in reflection mode - an analytical, numerical and experimental study

Abstract

Implementation of the ultrasonic second harmonic generation has typically been restricted to simple setups such as through-transmission or Rayleigh surface waves. Recent research has evaluated the second harmonic generation in P- and SV- waves reflected from a stress-free surface to enable the single-sided interrogation of a specimen. This research considers the second harmonic generation in an aluminum specimen, which is analytically evaluated using an approach based on the perturbation method. Here, the model is chosen to mimic an experimental setup where a longitudinal wave is generated at an oblique angle and the reflected wave is detected using a set of wedge transducers. Due to mode conversion at the interface of the wedge and the specimen, it is necessary to evaluate longitudinal and shear waves, determining all second harmonic waves generated in the bulk and at the stressfree boundary. The theoretically developed model is then implemented in a commercial finite element code, COMSOL, using increasing fundamental wave amplitudes for different values of third order elastic constants. The results of this computational model verify the analytical approach and the proposed measurement setup, taking into account assumptions and approximations of the solution procedure. Furthermore, the computational model is used to draw important conclusions relevant to the experimental setup, including the need to avoid evolving surface waves and interactions with diffracted waves. These numerical results are used to develop a recommendation for the measurement position and incident angle. Finally, the nonlinearity of two different aluminum specimens is measured with the suggested measurement setup and the results confirm the feasibility of the single-sided determination of the acoustic nonlinearity using reflected bulk waves.