title: Simulation of piezoelectric excitation of guided waves using waveguide finite elements.
abstract: A numerical method for computing the time response of infinite constant cross-section elastic waveguides excited by piezoelectric transducers was developed. The method combined waveguide finite elements (semi-analytical finite elements) for modeling the waveguide with conventional 3-D piezoelectric finite elements for modeling the transducer. The frequency response of the coupled system was computed and then used to simulate the time response to tone-burst electrical excitation. A technique for identifying and separating the propagating modes was devised, which enabled the computation of the response of a selected reduced number of modes. The method was applied to a rail excited by a piezoelectric patch transducer, and excellent agreement with measured responses was obtained. It was found that it is necessary to include damping in the waveguide model if the response near a "cut-on" frequency is to be simulated in the near-field.
authors.affiliation: Sensor Science and Technology, CSIR Material Science and Manufacturing, Pretoria, South Africa. ploveday@csir.co.za
authors.forename: Philip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Loveday
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014159:Transducers; D014732:Vibration