This paper proposes a self-sensing nonlinear ultrasonic technique for fatigue crack detection under temperature variations. Fatigue cracks are identified from linear (α) and nonlinear (β) ultrasonic parameters recorded by a self-sensing piezoelectric transducer (PZT). The self-sensing PZT scheme minimizes the data acquisition system's inherent nonlinearity, which often prevents the identification of fatigue cracks. Also, temperature-dependent false alarms are prevented based on the different behaviors of α and β. The proposed technique was numerically pre-validated with finite element method simulations to confirm the trends of α and β with changing temperature, and then was experimentally validated using an aluminum plate with an artificially induced fatigue crack. These validation tests reveal that fatigue cracks can be detected successfully in realistic conditions of unpredictable temperature and that positive false alarms of 0.12% occur.
Keywords: fatigue crack detection; linear and nonlinear parameters; nondestructive evaluation; self-sensing; structural health monitoring; temperature variation; ultrasonic nonlinearity.