Elastic-Wave Scattering by a Plane Crack: Application of Flaw Detection

The 3D problem of elastic wave scattering by a crack in the form of a half-plane in an elastic medium is considered. It is noted that the previously published solutions do not fully cover the issues relevant to ultrasonic flaw detection, for example, detecting transverse cracks in welds. The proposed solution is made by the Wiener–Hopf technique. It is shown that scattered longitudinal and transverse waves can be generally written in closed form. Some features of the identification of the tip of transverse cracks are noted, including scattering features during sonication of cracks along their surface and the influence of critical angles.