Mechanic-Electric-Thermal Directly Coupling Simulation Method of Lamb Wave under Temperature Effect

Lamb Wave (LW)-based structural health monitoring method is promising, but its main obstacle is damage assessment in varying environments. LW simulation based on piezoelectric transducers (referred to as PZTs) is an efficient and low-cost method. This paper proposes a multiphysics simulation method of LW propagation with the PZTs under temperature effect. The effect of temperature on LW propagation is considered from two aspects. On the one hand, temperature affects the material parameters of the structure, the adhesive layers and the PZTs. On the other hand, it is considered that the thermal stress caused by the inconsistency of thermal expansion coefficients among the structure, the adhesive layers, and the PZTs affect the piezoelectric constant of the PZTs. Based on the COMSOL Multiphysics, the mechanic–electric–thermal directly coupling simulation model under temperature effect is established. The simulation model consists of two steps. In the first step, the thermal-mechanic coupling is carried out to calculate the thermal stress, and the thermal stress effect is introduced into the piezoelectric constant model. In the second step, mechanic–electric coupling is carried out to simulate LW propagation, which considers the piezoelectric effect of the PZTs for the LW excitation and reception. The simulation results at −20 °C to 60 °C are obtained and compared to the experiment. The results show that the A(0) and S(0) mode of simulation signals match well with the experimental measurements. Additionally, the effect of temperature on LW propagation is consistent between simulation and experiment; that is, the amplitude increases, and the phase velocity decreases with the increment of temperature.