Lamb wave imaging via dual-frequency fusion for grating lobe effect compensation

•A Lamb wave imaging method via dual-frequency fusion is proposed.•This method effectively compensates for the grating lobe effect.•This method improves positioning accuracy with higher excitation frequencies. In Lamb wave imaging based on a phased array, higher frequencies narrowband excitation pulses enable more precise damage detection and localization. However, due to the size constraints of individual transducer elements, the spacing between array elements may exceed half the wavelength of the excitation signal. This can lead to a grating lobe effect. To overcome this limitation, a Lamb wave imaging method via dual-frequency fusion for grating lobe effect compensation is proposed in this study. Analyses indicate that the grating lobe effect may introduce artifacts or distortions in the imaging results. This method utilizes two frequencies of narrowband excitation pulses for imaging and subsequently fuses the results. By doing so, the imaging artifacts caused by the grating lobes produced by high-frequency narrowband excitation pulses are effectively compensated. The proposed method is validated through simulations and experiments on an aluminum plate, showing superior accuracy, contrast, and imaging quality.