Simulation of Sonic IR Imaging of Cracks in Metals with Finite Element Models

It has been previously shown experimentally that the use of chaotic sound, instead of a pure frequency, greatly enhances the heating, and hence the detectability of cracks using sonic infrared imaging (SIR). In this paper we show an example of the enhancement of crack heating through the use of chaotic sound. We also present the results of a finite element calculation, in which chaotic sound occurs spontaneously. This modeling confirms the experimental result that chaotic sound is more efficient than non-chaotic sound excitation for heating the cracks.