Numerical Analysis of Curvature Effects on Acoustoelastic Surface Waves in Cylindrical Structures

TL;DR

This paper studies how the curvature of cylindrical structures affects the propagation of surface waves under stress, showing that planar wave theory can lead to errors in stress evaluation.

Contribution

The study quantifies curvature effects on acoustoelastic coefficients in cylindrical structures using finite element simulations.

Findings

Surface wave velocity and acoustoelastic coefficients depend on cylinder radius and excitation frequency.

Curvature effects are significant at low frequencies but diminish at higher frequencies.

Planar surface wave theory may produce notable errors when applied to cylindrical geometries.

Abstract

In this study, the influence of axial stress on surface wave propagation along cylindrical surfaces is investigated, with particular emphasis on quantifying curvature effects on acoustoelastic coefficients. The classical planar surface wave acoustoelastic formulation is first adopted as a reference. Three-dimensional transient finite element simulations are then performed to model surface wave excitation, propagation, and reception on aluminum cylinders with different radii and excitation frequencies. Stress-free simulations are used to extract surface wave velocities and reference time signals, while prestressed simulations provide stress-induced time delays, from which effective acoustoelastic coefficients are determined. The results indicate that both the surface wave velocity and the acoustoelastic coefficient exhibit clear dependencies on cylinder radius and excitation frequency. Curvature effects are especially pronounced at low frequencies, whereas at higher frequencies the coefficients corresponding to different radii tend to converge. These findings demonstrate that planar surface wave theory may lead to non-negligible errors when applied to cylindrical geometries and provide quantitative guidance for curvature-aware stress evaluation.

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