Out-of-resonance vibration modulation of ultrasound with a nonlinear oscillator for microcrack detection in a cantilever beam

This Letter reports an out-of-resonance vibro-acoustic modulation (VAM) effect in nonlinear ultrasonic evaluation of a microcracked cantilever beam. We design a model to involve the microcracked cantilever beam in a nonlinear oscillator system whose dynamics is introduced to extend the operating vibration excitation band of the VAM out of resonance. The prototype model exhibits an effective bandwidth four times that of the traditional linear model. The reported VAM effect allows efficiently enhancing the detection, localization, and imaging of various types of microcracks in solid materials at out-of-resonance vibration excitation frequencies.