The scope of this effort is to determine the viability of a new heating technique using a noncontact acoustic excitation source. Because of low coupling between air and the structure, a synchronous detection method is employed. Any reduction in the out of plane stiffness improves the acoustic coupling efficiency and as a result, defective areas have an increase in temperature relative to the surrounding area. Hence a new measurement system, based on air-coupled acoustic energy and synchronous detection is presented. An analytical model of a clamped circular plate is given, experimentally tested, and verified. Repeatability confirms the technique with a measurement uncertainty of plus or minus 6.2 percent. The range of frequencies used was 800-2,000 Hertz. Acoustic excitation and consequent thermal detection of flaws in a helicopter blade is examined and results indicate that air coupled acoustic excitation enables the detection of core damage in sandwich honeycomb structures

Winfree, William P.

Yost, William T.

Zalameda, Joseph

NASA Technical Reports Server

Air Coupled Acoustic Thermography Inspection Technique 
 
Joseph Zalameda, William P. Winfree1 and William T. Yost1
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Vehicle Technology Directorate 
NASA Langley Research Center MS231 Hampton, VA 23681 
 
 
Vibrothermography or Sonic Thermography is a technology in which acoustic energy is 
coupled to the structure, typically by means of an acoustic transducer in contact with the 
part.  The conversion of acoustic energy to thermal energy is relatively higher at damage 
sites. The temperature increase at the surface is detected with an infrared camera.  This 
technology enables detection of defects, such as cracks in metallic structures, which were 
heretofore undetectable with conventional flash thermography techniques.  The scope of 
this effort is to determine the viability of a new heating technique using a non-contact 
acoustic excitation source.  Because of low coupling between air and the structure, a 
synchronous detection method is employed.  Any difference in the out-of-plane stiffness 
improves the acoustic coupling efficiency and as a result, defective areas have an increase 
in temperature relative to the surrounding area.  Measurement results indicate that core 
damage that is difficult to detect in honeycomb sandwich structures with conventional 
flash thermography, is detectable using air coupled acoustic excitation. A vibrating 
membrane model is developed and compared with the experimental results. 
 
1. NASA Langley Research Center 
  
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20070035909 2019-08-30T01:56:23+00:00Z
 
 
 
 
 
 
AIR COUPLED ACOUSTIC THERMOGRAPHY (ACAT) 
INSPECTION TECHNIQUE 
 
 
J. N. Zalameda1, W. P. Winfree2, and W. T. Yost2 
 
1US Army Research Laboratory, NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA 23681 
2 NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA 23681 
 
ABSTRACT. The scope of this effort is to determine the viability of a new heating technique using a 
noncontact acoustic excitation source.  Because of low coupling between air and the structure, a 
synchronous detection method is employed.  Any reduction in the out of plane stiffness improves the 
acoustic coupling efficiency and as a result, defective areas have an increase in temperature relative to 
the surrounding area. Hence a new measurement system, based on air-coupled acoustic energy and 
synchronous detection is presented. An analytical model of a clamped circular plate is given, 
experimentally tested, and verified. Repeatability confirms the technique with a measurement 
uncertainty of +/- 6.2 percent. The range of frequencies used was 800 – 2,000 Hertz.  Acoustic 
excitation and consequent thermal detection of flaws in a helicopter blade is examined and results 
indicate that air coupled acoustic excitation enables the detection of core damage in sandwich 
honeycomb structures. 
 
Keywords: Thermography, Air Coupled Acoustic Thermography (ACAT), Sonic Thermography 
PACS: 66.10.cd, 43.58.+z  
 
 
INTRODUCTION          
                        
New aircraft designs are using more advanced composite sandwich structures [1].  
Sandwich structures are typically made by bonding thin composite skins (facings) with a 
lightweight core in between.  These structures are lower in cost, lightweight, reparable and 
can be molded into complex shapes.  Sandwich structures require advanced inspection 
systems.  Of concern is the detection of skin damage, the bond between the skin and core 
and damage to the core material.  Currently ultrasound is an available inspection method 
for these structures, however this technology requires the use of a gel or water couplant. 
This inspection technology also requires contact with the structure and therefore curved 
surfaces are more difficult to inspect.  As a result coin tap testing is still commonly used 
for inspection of sandwich structures because of its simplicity and ability to detect core 
damage.  This technique is highly subjective and does not completely map out the 
damaged areas. Thermography is an inspection technique that has shown good potential 
for inspection of honeycomb structures [1].  
Thermography inspection systems, using flash lamp heating, have the advantage of 
being noncontact and are able to detect a wide variety of defects which effects the 
diffusion of heat into the structure.  Defects, however such as surface normal cracks, do 
not significantly alter the heat diffusion and therefore can be difficult to detect. In 
addition, core damage in sandwich structures is difficult to detect with flash lamp heating 
methods because heat flow into the core is limited.   
 
 
Vibrothermography or sonic thermography is able to detect cracks by exciting the 
structure with large amplitude high frequency elastic waves which causes the crack 
interfaces to rub and therefore generate heat [2-4].  In this case the defect acts as a heat 
source.  This simplifies defect detection.  A disadvantage of this technique is the source 
has to be mechanically coupled to the structure, and therefore the inspection requires a 
contact mechanism.  Mechanical coupling of the large amplitude ultrasonic vibrations can 
be a problem because the ultrasonic transducer needs to be mounted securely and ideally 
the part should be isolated from any holders or fixtures [5].  All these parameters can 
affect the repeatability of the inspection.  Another disadvantage is the potential for 
damaging the structure at the coupling point [6].   
A new flaw detection technique based on an infrared imager and air coupled 
acoustic excitation using a wide area sound source has been developed. It is demonstrated 
that areas of damage on honeycomb sandwich structures, not normally detected with 
conventional flash thermography, are detected with this air coupled acoustic thermography 
(ACAT) technique.  This technique uses large area noncontact coupling of the acoustic 
sound energy, and hence is capable of wide-area examination. The measured temperature 
changes are small due to the impedance mismatch between air and composites or metals.  
The small temperature increases are detected using synchronous detection.  A reduction in 
the out of plane stiffness increases the coupling efficiency of the acoustic energy.  Weak 
areas act like heat sources and thereby allow detection of defective areas. An analytical 
model of a clamped circular plate is given, experimentally tested, and verified using the 
ACAT system. 
 
MEASUREMENT SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 
 
The ACAT system is shown in Figure 1.  The system consists of an infrared 
camera operating in the 3–5 micrometer wavelength band, a computer with image data 
capture system, and an acoustic source.  The acoustic source consists of a function 
generator, dual channel power amplifier, and an array of four compression horn driver 
loudspeakers.  The loudspeaker array was positioned approximately 11.5 cm from the 
sample.  The thermal detection system consists of a computer connected to the infrared  
 
 
 
FIGURE 1. Air coupled acoustic thermography (ACAT) inspection system.  
 
 
IR CAMERA
SANDWICH
STRUCTURE
SPEAKERS
SOUND
SINEWAVE
GENERATOR
POWER
AMPLIFIER
 
 
camera through a digital image acquisition card.  During measurement the computer 
triggers the function generator, which is synchronized to the image acquisition card.  The 
acquired data are composed of a series of 12 bit resolution digital images (256 x 320) 
captured at 1/15 of a second.  For a typical measurement, 2400 images are acquired and 
the acoustic source is pulsed at 0.5 Hz for a total of 80 cycles. The acquired data is 
processed pixel by pixel in the time domain using a fast Fourier transform algorithm to 
produce magnitude images as a function of frequency.  The sound pressure level in the 
laboratory was measured around 105 dBA 5 feet away from the array. The acoustic 
frequency was varied from 800 – 2,000 Hz. A maximum in the sound pressure level within 
this range was used to determine an optimal heating frequency.  
 
ACAT MODELING EFFORTS 
 
To model the acoustic heating, a sample with a suspended circular aluminum plate 
was measured.  The sample consisted of a 0.32 cm thick 2024 aluminum plate with a 6.4 
cm diameter hole.  A 0.05 cm thick 2024 aluminum plate was bonded to the thicker plate 
using an epoxy adhesive thus allowing the thin layer to be suspended with the outer edges 
bonded to the thicker plate.  A drawing and picture of the sample are shown in Figure 2.  
The normal modes of vibration for a circular plate are well known in the literature [7].  
The modes of vibration are obtained from the fourth order wave equation: 
 
                                         
! 
"  4z +  
3 # ( 1 -  $  2 )
E h
 2
 
%  2z
% t  2
 =  0                                             (1) 
 
where h is the half thickness, E is the modulus of elasticity, 
! 
"  is the Poisson’s ratio, 
! 
"  is 
density and z is the out of plane displacement.  The solution to the fourth order wave 
equation describes the modes of vibration. The modes of vibration or characteristic 
functions are obtained from [7] as: 
 
! 
Characteristic Functions =  Cos(m") [Jm (
# $  mn r 
a
) -  
Jm (# $  mn )
Im (# $  mn )
 Im (
# $  mn r 
a
) ],  where 
Sin(m") is used instead of Cos(m") if m > 0.
 (2) 
The values of m and n are integers and define the vibration modes, Jm is the Bessel 
function of the first kind and Im is the modified or hyperbolic Bessel function of the first 
kind, a is the radius of the circular plate, and 
! 
"
 mn
 is the mode factor.  The roots of 
equation (2) provide the allowed frequencies of vibration and are given as: 
 
                                       
! 
Frequency =  
" h
2 a
 2
  
E
3 # (1 -  $  2 )
 %n m
 2
.                                (3) 
 
The fundamental mode vibration with m = 0 and n = 1, a = 0.032 m, h = 0.00025 m, 
! 
"  = 
2.77 x 103 kg/m3, Poisson’s ratio 
! 
"  = 0.33, 
! 
"
0 1
= 1.015, and modulus of elasticity E = 73.1 
GPa is calculated to be approximately 1,223 Hz using equation (3) for the sample 
described in Figure 2.  The normalized fundamental mode displacement is shown in Figure 
3. 
! 
 
 
 
 
FIGURE 2. Drawing and picture of suspended circular plate sample.  
 
 
COMPARISON OF MODELING TO MEASUREMENTS 
 
Using the system shown in Figure 1, the aluminum plate sample was tested with 
the camera frame rate set at 15 Hz.  Total number of images acquired was 2400 and the 
acoustic source was pulsed at 0.5 Hz for a total of 80 cycles.  The suspended plate was 
driven into vibration using a sound pressure level (measured at 5 feet away) of 
approximately 100 dBA and the frequency was varied from 700 – 1,300 Hz in increments 
of 100 Hz.  The 0.5 Hz magnitude images as a function of frequency are shown in Figure 
4.  A resonance is detected at 1,000 Hz where significant heating is occurring.  This 
temperature rise is due to the forced vibration from the acoustic source.  The most likely 
mechanism of heating is internal friction.  The modeled normalized displacement is 
compared to the measured temperature using line plots over the defect as shown in Figure 
5.  Since the plate is bonded at its edges minimal displacement and therefore minimal 
heating is occurring toward the edges. It is worth noting a halo effect in the 1,000 Hz 
image in Figure 4.  This ring, at the edges where the plate is bonded, is likely due to the 
epoxy adhesive heating at the circular edge.  This would also account for the difference 
between the model predicted resonance of 1,240 Hz and the actual measured resonance of 
1,000 Hz.  This difference is due to the adhesive bond, which does not allow for perfectly 
rigid clamping at the boundary edges assumed in the model.  These results verify the 
heating is due to the displacements caused by the acoustic source. 
 
 
FIGURE 3. Fundamental mode vibration m = 0, n = 1.  
 
N
o
rm
a
liz
e
d
 
D
is
p
la
c
e
m
e
n
t
Radius (cm)
Rad
ius 
(cm
)
 
 
 
 
 
FIGURE 4. Resulting 0.5hz magnitude images using air coupled acoustic heating on aluminum plate.  
 
 
MEASUREMENT REPEATABILITY 
 
To determine measurement repeatability, the defective area was measured with the 
same excitation parameters five times.  Line plots over the defective area of the aluminum 
sample are shown in Figure 6.  The defect peak value was obtained by averaging 5 x 11 
pixels over the defect.  The average peak value was measured to be 11.63 +/- .72 for a 
measurement uncertainty of +/- 6.2 percent.  This result indicates good measurement 
repeatability. 
 
 
 
FIGURE 5. Comparison of predicted displacement to measured temperature.  
 
 
 Excitation: 700 Hz  Excitation: 800 Hz  Excitation: 900 Hz  Excitation: 1000 Hz
 Excitation: 1100 Hz  Excitation: 1200 Hz  Excitation: 1300 Hz
 
 
 
 
 
 
FIGURE 6. Line plot over suspended plate showing measurement repeatability.  
 
 
APPLICATION ON HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE 
 
The capability of the ACAT system is tested on a sandwich honeycomb structure 
with ballistic damage and fabricated damage and the results are compared to conventional 
flash thermography.  The sample, shown in Figure 7, is an AH-64 helicopter blade section 
with ballistic damage to the outer skin and core. The sandwich structure consists of outer 
layers of fiberglass bonded to a lightweight honeycomb core. Also shown in Figure 7 is a 
conventional thermal inspection showing three areas with ballistic damage.  Delaminations 
from the ballistic damage show up as light areas.   
The sample was inspected with the ACAT system. The acoustic source frequency 
was 1620 Hz pulsed at 0.5 Hz. The corresponding acoustic thermography magnitude 
images at 0.00625 Hz and 0.5 Hz are shown in Figure 8.  The 0.00625 Hz magnitude 
image reveals a much larger area of damage between the top two delaminated areas. This 
damage corresponds to a disbond, between the skin and core, resulting from a ballistic 
impact on the opposite side that did not penetrate through.  This area has reduced out of 
plane stiffness and therefore sound energy is able to vibrate this area resulting in a 
significantly higher temperature.  Another interesting result is the 0.5 Hz magnitude image 
of Figure 8 where the image shows hot spots at the ballistic impact locations.  This is again 
due to small delaminations in the outer skin weave cause by the impact event.  The broken 
fiber/matrix allows the acoustic sound to more easily couple and vibrate thus acting as hot 
spots.   
To verify the disbond detected between the skin and core, an edge cut on the blade 
sample was made along the core between the skin and core as shown in Figure 9.  A 
comparison between conventional thermography and acoustic thermography images is also 
shown in Figure 9. The cut was made using a razor blade and was 4.4 cm long and 
penetrated approximately 1.9 cm into the core leaving some core material still attached to 
the skin. The cut area does not show up in the conventional thermography inspection 
image but clearly shows up (light area) using the acoustic technique.  In addition, along the 
edge there appears to be additional damage.  This small indication corresponds to some 
damaged core seen visually along the core edge.  Using the ACAT system, skin to core 
disbonds not detectable with conventional thermography, are detected. 
  
Pixel Number
Te
m
pe
ra
tu
re
 (a
. u
.)
 
 
 
 
 
FIGURE 7. Helicopter blade sandwich structure with skin/core damage and corresponding flash 
thermography inspection.  
 
 
CONCLUSIONS 
 
The air coupled acoustic source is a viable heating technique for thermal NDE and 
has good repeatability.  This acousto-thermal technique has application for large area 
inspection of core damage in composite honeycomb structures.  A circular plate model was 
used to verify the acoustic coupling of the sound energy using the ACAT system.  It has 
been shown that conversion of acoustically induced vibrations into heat can provide good 
defect detection potential for composite structures.  The mechanism of heat generation is 
likely due to internal friction, however further tests would be required to verify this.   
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS         
 
 The authors would like to thank Mr. Charles Pergantis, US Army Weapons 
Materials and Research Directorate, for providing the helicopter blade sample. 
 
 
 
FIGURE 8. Acoustic thermography processed magnitude inspection images.  
Top View of Blade Section Conventional Thermal Inspection
Impact Damage
Side View
 
 
 
 
FIGURE 9. Side view of blade section with flash thermography and ACAT inspection results on cut core. 
 
 
REFERENCES   
 
1. Robert F. Anastasi, Joseph N. Zalameda and Eric I. Madaras, “Damage Detection in 
Rotorcraft Composite Structures Using Thermography and Laser-Based Ultrasound” , 
SEM X International Congress & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, 
(2004). 
2. E. G. Henneke, K. L. Reifsnider, and W. W. Stinchcomb, “Thermography, an NDI 
Method for Damage Detection,” Journal of Metals, Sept. (1979) pp. 11-15. 
3. L. D. Favro, Xiaoyang Han, and Zhong Ouyang, Gang Sun, Hua Sui, and R. L. 
Thomas, “Infrared imaging of defects heated by a sonic pulse”, Review of Scientific 
Instruments Volume 71, Number 6 (2000). 
4. L. D. Favro, R. L. Thomas, et. al, US Patent No. 6,998,616 (February 14, 2006). 
5. A. Dillenz, G. Busse, and D. Wu, “Ultrasound Lockin Thermography: Feasibilities and 
Limitations”, SPIE 1999. 
6. M. Burke and W. O. Miller, “Status of VibroIR at Lawrence Livermore National 
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(2004) pp. 313-321. 
7.   P.M.Morse, Vibration and Sound, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., (1948) pp. 208 -
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