Finite Element Analysis of Heat Generation in Ultrasonic Thermography

Vibrothermogrphy is a promising technique that uses ultrasonic elastic waves to locally stimulate defects on solids specimens and is typically applied in the aerospace and automotive industries. This technique allows for defect selective imaging using thermal waves that are generated by ultrasound waves. The mechanism involved is frictional heating or hysteresis that turns a dynamically loaded defect into a heat source, which is identified by a thermography system. This paper presents finite element modeling (FEM) of vibrothermography to obtain a comprehensive understanding in crack heating caused by local friction between crack surfaces and hysteresis. We developed Finite element model for an edge crack subjected to ultrasonic waves.