Design optimization of transducer arrays for uniform distribution of guided wave energy in arbitrarily shaped domains

Journal article, 2020

The use of an array of transducers to excite guided Lamb waves, within a plate or any complex structure, usually leads to a variation in the energy on the propagation direction. In this study, an optimization model is proposed to design an array of transducers to provide uniform energy distribution in a domain of an arbitrary shape. The model is based on finding the optimal placements of the transducers and the optimal time delay for excitation by
using a genetic algorithm. The efficiency of the model was tested on an elliptically shaped domain, then on an arbitrarily shaped domain. Both cases showed promising results using various configurations/patterns of transducers. The method was experimentally validated on an aluminium alloy plate for two patterns of transducers including six and eight piezoelectric elements.