Analysis of acousto-ultrasonic characteristics for contact-type transducers coupled to an orthotropic composite plate

Acousto-ultrasonic input-output characteristics for contact-type transmitti ng and receiving transducers coupled to a thin orthotropic composite plate are analyzed in this paper By introducing the point source/point receiver a ssumption, the governing equations of the problem, which relates to wave ge neration, wave propagation and wave reception, are first established Using the multiple integral transform method, contour integration technique and s ome complex function theories, a spectral analysis method which is complete ly different from the present wave path tracing method for this problem is developed. From this approach, the spectral response of the normal contact force between the receiving transducer and the plate, dire to an arbitrary input interrogation pulse excited by the transmitting transducers is expres sed in explicit form. Based on this, some physical properties involved with the output of the receiver are examined in the frequency domain. Finally. combining the fast Fourier transform (FET) technique, some time domain nume rical results are calculated to show the input-output characteristics of th e AU system considered.