NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049

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NDT&E International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ndteint

Ultrasonic guided wave-based testing technique for inspection

of multi-wire rope structures
Renaldas Raiutis n, Rymantas Kays, Liudas Maeika, Egidijus ukauskas,
Vykintas Samaitis, Audrius Jankauskas
Ultrasound Institute of Kaunas University of Technology, Studentu St. 50, Kaunas LT-51368, Lithuania

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this paper is to investigate the propagation of ultrasonic guided waves (UGW) along multi-
Received 21 April 2013 wire ropes with polymer cores and to determine whether it is possible to detect defects and to identify a
Received in revised form defective strand inside the internal structure of a multi-wire rope. The modes of UGW that propagate
11 November 2013
along multi-wire ropes have been identied using modelling wherein dispersion curves are calculated
Accepted 18 November 2013
Available online 1 December 2013
using the semi-analytical nite element (SAFE) technique. The optimal excitation regions were estimated
using 3D FE modelling. An ultrasonic testing technique to identify particular defective strands inside the
Keywords: internal structure of a multi-wire rope was developed and veried experimentally.
Multi-wire ropes & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Non-destructive technique
Ultrasonic guided waves
Dispersion curves
Experimental device

1. Introduction The acoustic emission method is used for periodic testing

Multi-wire ropes are widely used in modern engineering
structures, for instance, in the structures of cranes, bridges or
elevators, and play a critical role when carrying heavy weights.
Choosing a wire rope leads to considerations of rope strength;
resistance to rotational fatigue; and resistance to crushing, corro-
sion, wear and abrasion. Multiple defects may develop in a wire
rope due to, for example, overloads or a harsh environment [1].
For these reasons, it is important to inspect such wire ropes and
determine whether the properties of the elongated structure have
changed.
Several techniques can be used to inspect multi-wire ropes.
Often, wire ropes are inspected using magnetic ux or acoustic
emission testing techniques. The magnetic ux measurement
method is widely used for the inspection of pre- and post-
stressed steel [2] and for the inspection of wire ropes to determine
the number of broken wires [35]. This method ensures high
accuracy and sensitivity and appears to be the most reliable
inspection technique for wire ropes. However, the technique is
only applicable to the testing of relatively thin wire ropes (of
diameters up to a few centimetres) and is very sensitive to the way
in which the wire rope has been magnetised.
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: 370 37 351162; fax: 370 37 451489.
E-mail address: renaldas.raisutis@ktu.lt (R. Raiutis).
of wire ropes [6]. This method requires a complicated analysis of
acoustic signals because various modes of elastic waves may
propagate in wire ropes. The acoustic emission method is suitable
for the inspection of short sections of wire rope only. The above-
mentioned techniques only indicate the presence of defects, and
they do not allow accurate identication of a particular defective
strand inside the internal structure of the multi-wire rope.
One promising method for wire rope inspection may be the
application of ultrasonic guided waves (UGW), as they propagate
long distances even in high-attenuation materials and are sensi-
tive to both surface and internal defects [1,3,722]. Changes in the
properties of wire ropes affect the waveforms of ultrasonic signals
captured from the structure. Still, ultrasonic investigation of wire
ropes is a challenging non-destructive testing (NDT) task that is
quite complicated. Multiple layers and different numbers of wires
in different ropes can cause such phenomena as dispersion and
the existence of many different wave modes; solving the problem
requires an understanding of wave propagation in complicated
helical-cylindrical structures and wave interactions with defects.
Determining whether just the outer layer or both the outer and
deeper layers of the wire rope are being inspected depends on
how the waves in a strand are excited (for example, as a whole
structure or wire-by-wire) and whether just the outer surface or
the end of the strand is accessible.
Studies conducted by Pavlakovic et al., Beard et al., Laguerre
and Treyssede show that in the case when only one tip of the
strand is accessible, wire-by-wire excitation is possible using

0963-8695/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2013.11.005
 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049
Fig. 1. The object under investigation: schematic view (a) and photo (b) of the cross-section of the multi-bundle and multi-wire twisted rope.
thickness-mode piezoelectric transducers to excite and detect
longitudinal modes of UGW. Application of high frequency is
recommended to concentrate the energy in the wire [810].
Unfortunately, some structures allow no accessible strand tips
due to anchoring.
In the case of excitation from the outer surface of the strand,
the authors of the above-mentioned studies generally tended to
excite the strand as a whole structure using contactless magnetos-
trictive transducers that encircled the strand [3,1119]. With this
method, it was demonstrated that defects both in peripheral wires
(outer defects) [3,1114,16] and in the central wire (inner defects)
may be detected [15].
It should be mentioned that an analysis of a piezoelectric ring
that excited the periphery of a strand in an overhead transmission
line was conducted by Kulkarni and Hurlabaus [21].
Notwithstanding the fact that non-contact magnetostrictive
UGW generation and reception in a multi-wire rope could be very
attractive for practical applications in comparison to the contact-
type set-up, this method does not provide the ability to identify a
particular defective wire or strand in a multi-wire rope [3,1119].
The longitudinal modes propagate longer distances in compar-
ison to asymmetric modes mainly due to lower leakage losses in
deeper layers of the rope. Penetration of the propagating UGW
into deeper layers of the rope depends on boundary conditions
between the particular wires and has not yet been analysed in
detail.
Propagation of the UGW in multi-wire ropes is usually inves-
tigated by means of numerical modelling. In the model, solid
contact between the wires is usually assumed. Such a contact is
transparent for the surface-tangential component of the particle
velocity of the propagating wave. Still, in the case of oiled ropes,
the boundary conditions are closer to wet coupling between wires.
In this case, the contact is transparent only for normal components
of the particle velocity. On the other hand, longitudinal modes
of GW mainly consist of the tangential particle velocity compo-
nent oriented along the wire. Stronger normal particle velocity
components perpendicular to the wire surface exist in the case
of asymmetric modes such as the F(1,1) mode. Thus, it can be
assumed that the asymmetric modes of UGW penetrate deeper
into the rope. On the other hand, attenuation of the asymmetric
modes of UGW is usually higher than that of the longitudinal
modes due to leakage losses, which may increase in the presence
of non-metallic components in the rope such as a plastic core.
It is necessary to note that generation and propagation of UGW
asymmetric modes in wire ropes has not been investigated as
deeply as the propagation of longitudinal modes.
Therefore, the main objective of this work is to investigate
the propagation of asymmetric modes of UGW along multi-wire
ropes with plastic cores. We wish to discover whether it is possible
to perform reliable detection of defects inside the rope and to
41
identify defective strands inside the internal structure of multi-
wire ropes.
2. The object of investigation
Wire ropes used in modern engineering construction contain a
plastic core that acts as a cushion and softens the pressure of the
wire contact. A plastic insert works against water ingress and
internal corrosion and stabilises the rope. However, a multi-wire
steel rope by itself is a complicated structure in terms of ultrasonic
non-destructive testing due to dispersion, multiple reections,
scattering of the propagating UGW and the presence of multiple
wave modes. In this study, a multi-bundle and multi-wire rope
consisting of six twisted steel strands, each with a diameter of
11.15 mm, has been selected as the object of investigation. The core
of the multi-wire rope was lled with polypropylene, and each
strand consisted of a bundle of 32 wires, each with a diameter of
2.05 mm. The cross-sectional view of the wire rope under inves-
tigation is presented in Fig. 1.
2.1. Dispersion curves of guided waves in multi-wire ropes
To select the operation frequency and, consequently, the UGW
modes suitable for inspection, dispersion curves of the phase and
group velocities must be calculated.
There are two main techniques to calculate the guided wave
dispersion curves: the semi-analytical nite element (SAFE) tech-
nique [2327] and analytical techniques [9,28]. The SAFE techni-
que is more attractive when applied to the analysis of objects with
arbitrary cross-sectional geometry (e.g., rails, bars or other
shapes). The SAFE technique was used by Treyssede and Laguerre
to analyse UGW propagation along multi-wire ropes [23]. They
found that the wave numbers and group velocities of axisym-
metric modes, such as L(0,1) and T(0,1), and non-axisymmetric
exural modes, such as F(1,1), are very similar for the cases of a
single wire and a bundle of wires (the seven wire strand) in the
low-frequency region near the notch frequency for the L(0,1)
mode, which appears for the strand structure only. They also
observed that the dispersion curves were much more complicated
for the strand than a single constitutive wire because of the
existence of additional modes in this region [23].
The notations L(n, m), F(n, m) and T(n, m) mentioned above
denote the longitudinal axial symmetric, non-axial symmetric and
torsional modes in cylindrical structures, respectively. The rst
index (n) is associated with the circumferential order (0 for
longitudinal modes and 1 for exural modes) and the second
index (m) refers to the order of vibration along the wall of the
cylinder. Therefore, the notations L(0, 1), F(1, 1) and T(0, 1) describe
42 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049
Fig. 2. Analysis of the cross-section of the multi-wire rope: the mesh of the SAFE model in the case of solid acoustic contact (a) and the dispersion curves of the guided wave
modes (b) propagating along the sample of multi-wire rope: 1 phase velocity (blue) and 2 group velocity (red). (2456) kHz is the bandwidth of the generated UGW
signal at the  6 dB level. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Table 1
Material properties used in the SAFE simulations.
Property Material
Steel Polypropylene
Density (kg/m3) 7800 901
Young modulus (GPa) 212.8 3.54
Poisson ratio 0.287 0.36
the zero-order fundamental longitudinal, exural and torsional
modes, respectively.
The advantage of the analytical technique over the SAFE technique
is the possibility to determine the frequency-dependent guided wave
leakage losses in the case of embedded wire ropes, for instance,
in cement grout or rock as in [9,28].
To calculate dispersion curves for a multi-wire rope, it is
necessary to simplify the complicated structure. In this case, the
assumption has been made that the cross-section of each indivi-
dual strand, which consists of 32 single wires, is equivalent to one
solid bar of the same diameter. The mesh cross-section of the
simplied structure of the multi-wire rope is presented in Fig. 2(a).
The material properties used in the simulations are sum-
marised in Table 1. Throughout the simulations, triangular nite
elements were used. To obtain the desired accuracy, the average
spatial size of the element was set to 1.6 mm, which corresponds
to 15 elements per wavelength in accordance with the minimum
wavelength of the slowest F(1,1) mode at the 100 kHz frequency.
The obtained dispersion curves for a UGW propagating in the
multi-wire rope under consideration are presented in Fig. 2(b).
The simulation results demonstrate that a great number of higher
order modes exist even at relatively low frequencies. In the frequency
range below 40 kHz, only the fundamental modes (L(0,1) and F(1,1))
propagate.
3. Transient nite element simulation of the guided wave
in a multi-wire rope
To investigate the effects of guided wave propagation and the
possibility of detecting a particular defective strand, simulations of
a multi-wire rope were carried out by applying the nite element
(FE) method. The simulation of a propagating UGW was carried
out using the ANSYS nite element software.
The junction between dissimilar materials such as that between
steel wires and a polypropylene core may inuence the propagation
of UGW in the rope. Therefore, we performed an investigation
of UGW propagation along a rope with a polymer core. During
simulations, the acoustic contact between separate strands of the
wire rope was assumed to be solid because the separate strands
of the multi-wire rope have been solidly bonded to the internal
polymer core.
The nite elements of the wire rope were created using a free
mesh. Steel and polymer parts of the model were meshed using
SOLID45 elements. SOLID45 elements are used to model solid
structures. The element has 8 nodes each with 3 degrees of
freedom translation in the x, y, and z directions. The average
spatial size of the elements was 2.55 mm for the steel region and
2 mm for the polymer region. The number of nodes per wave-
length of the slowest F(1,1) mode with the phase velocity of
2000 m/s at 40 kHz was 19 for the steel region and 25 for the
polymer region. The 3D view of the meshed wire rope FE model is
presented in Fig. 3(a). Material properties were selected to be the
same as those used in the SAFE simulations described above. For
the simulation of UGW propagation, the Newmark time integra-
tion method was used.
The simulation of the wire rope was performed for two
separate cases. In case A, the symmetric mode in a wire rope of
length 1.25 m was generated by applying a normal force impulse
to the end of the entire rope. The distribution of the force was
uniform across the entire excitation surface. In this case, the
longitudinal component of the particle velocity of the L(0,1) mode
was efciently generated (Fig. 3).
In case B, the F(1,1) mode was generated by applying an
elongation-type excitation force to the top surface of a separate
strand (Fig. 4). To avoid interaction of the directly propagating
wave with the wave reected from the nearest end of the multi-
wire rope, the excitation region (with dimensions of 28 mm 
14 mm) was placed 40 cm away from this end. In both cases, the
excitation pulses had a Gaussian envelope of 2 periods and a
frequency of 40 kHz. The bandwidth of the excitation pulse at the
 6 dB level is shown on the dispersion curves, which are
presented in Fig. 2(b). The integration step in the time domain is
1.25 s. This step is 1/20 of the period in the case where the
excitation pulse has a central frequency of 40 kHz.
Spatial distributions of particle velocity components (long-
itudinal vz and vertical vy) at different instants of time were
obtained using numerical integration. The C-scan images of
particle velocity distributions in different cross-sections were
created for cases A and B.
The selected xz cross-section plane for the C-scan image for
case A (end-type excitation) is presented in Fig. 3(a). The 3D
 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049 43

Fig. 3. The selected xz cross-section plane for C-scan image formation in the FE model of the multi-wire rope in the case of endtype excitation (a); the 3D representation of
the longitudinal component (vz) of the particle velocity at the time instant of tk 206.25 s (b); and the C-scan image of the longitudinal component (vz) of the particle
velocity obtained along xz cross-section plane (the L(0,1) mode at the time instant of tk 231.25 s) (c). The amplitude scale is presented in arbitrary units (a.u.).

representation of longitudinal components (vz) of the particle
velocities at the time instant tk 206.25 s and the C-scan image
of the longitudinal component (vz) of the particle velocity
obtained along the selected xz cross-section plane at the time
instant tk 231.25 s are presented in Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 3(c),
respectively. The modelling results show that in the case of end-
type excitation, only the L(0,1) mode is generated and UGW
propagate in the entire structure without dispersion. The excita-
tion force is distributed uniformly on the excitation surface, but
the amplitude of the wave in the polymer region is signicantly
higher due to the lower stiffness of the polymer. The wave in the
polymer domain appears to be trapped due to the different
impedances of steel and polymer and multiple reections at
steelpolymer boundaries. The wavelength of the L(0,1) mode
obtained from the C-scan image is 120 mm, and it corresponds
well to the results obtained from the group velocity dispersion
curves (Fig. 2(b)).
The selected horizontal (xz) and vertical (yz) cross-section
planes for the C-scan images of the vertical vy component of the
particle velocity in the case of elongation-type excitation from the
top are presented in Fig. 4(a). The 3D representation of the vertical
components vy of the particle velocities at the time instant
tk 15 s is presented in Fig. 4(b). The corresponding C-scan
images (along the xz and yz cross-sectional planes) at time instants
tk 68.75 s and tk 220 s are presented in Fig. 4(c) and (d),
respectively. We note that a weak symmetric mode L(0,1) is
propagating in the structure as well. The obtained wavelength of
the F(1,1) mode is 53 mm (the dispersion curves show a value of
50 mm), and the obtained wavelength of the L(0,1) mode is
120 mm (the dispersion curves show a value of 124 mm). This
leads to the conclusion that UGWs propagate throughout the
entire structure of the multi-wire rope in both cases.
Simulations of UGW penetration and amplitude distribution on
the surfaces of the outer strands were carried out as well. In this
case, the B-scan images of the vertical components (vy) of particle
velocities on the outer surfaces of all six strands were calculated,
and the peak-to-peak signal amplitudes at distances of 282 mm
and 564 mm from the excitation zone were obtained (Fig. 5).
Those distances are equal to single and double full whorls of the
single strand around the entire multi-wire rope, respectively.
The cross-section of the meshed FE model of the multi-wire
rope is presented in Fig. 5(a). The selected surface lines along
which the B-scan images of the F(1,1) mode particle velocity
component (vy) on the surfaces of all strands were created are
marked by solid dots (from 1 to 6). The B-scan images of the
vertical components (vy) of the particle velocities obtained on the
excitation surface (surface line no. 1) and on the opposite strand
(surface line no. 4) are presented in Fig. 5(b) and (c), respectively.
The results demonstrate that in the case of elongation-type
excitation from the top, not only is the asymmetric F(1,1) gener-
ated but also a weak symmetric L(0,1) mode. The asymmetric
distributions of peak amplitudes of the F(1,1) mode on the outer
surfaces of the different strands of the multi-wire rope at a
distance of 282 mm away from the excitation zone are presented
44 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049

Fig. 4. The selected horizontal and vertical (a) cross-section planes for the C-scan images of the vertical (vx and vy) components of the particle velocity in the case of
elongation-type excitation from the top; the 3D representation of the particle velocity at time instant tk 15 s (b); and the C-scan images obtained along xz (time instant of
tk 68.75 s) (c) and yz (time instant of tk 220 s) (d) cross-section planes. The amplitude scale is presented in a.u.

in Fig. 5(d). The obtained modelling results indicate that the
amplitude distribution of the F(1,1) mode on surface lines of
different strands is asymmetric and should be taken into account
during testing. The obtained effects of guided wave propagation
were investigated experimentally, and the results of this investi-
gation are described in the following chapter.
4. Experimental investigation of the multi-wire rope
The objective of the experimental investigation was to validate
the effects of the guided wave propagation obtained by the FE
simulation and to determine whether the guided waves propagate
throughout the entire structure or in separate strands. Such
information is necessary for the development of inspection tech-
niques for multi-wire ropes.
For the experimental investigation, a multi-wire rope having an
overall diameter of 35 mm and a polymer core was used. The
structure of such a wire rope is presented in Fig. 1.
The experimental investigation of the wire rope was performed
using the Ultralab ultrasonic measurement system, which was
developed at the Ultrasound Institute of Kaunas University of
Technology. The measurements were carried out using low fre-
quency (30 kHz) ultrasonic transducers specially developed for
this purpose and operating in a thickness mode with an active
diameter of 34 mm. Such transducers were arranged into the
pitch-catch conguration. To achieve reliable acoustic contact
between the ultrasonic transducer and a single wire in a strand
 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049 45

Fig. 5. The cross-section of the meshed FE model of the multi-wire rope (a); the simulated B-scan image of the vertical component (vy) of the particle velocity of the F(1,1)
mode obtained on the excitation surface of the same strand (surface line no. 1) (b) and on the opposite strand (surface line no. 4) (c) of the wire rope in the case of
elongation-type excitation from the top; distribution of the peak values of the vertical component (vy) of the particle velocity of the F(1,1) mode on different strands (at time
instants from 140 s up to 200 s) of the multi-wire rope in the case where the distance is equal to a single whorl (282 mm) away from the excitation zone (d). The amplitude
scale is presented in a.u.

(which had a diameter of 2.05 mm), a set of special 11-mm-long
conical delay lines (possessing a small circular contact area of
6 mm2 and a diameter of 2.8 mm) were constructed from Plexiglas
(Fig. 6(a)). To ensure better acoustic contact between the delay line
and the steel wires of the multi-wire rope, the conical delay line
possesses a concave contact surface coated by silicone rubber.
Transmitting and receiving transducers were pressed to the multi-
wire rope by applying a constant force using spring-type adjusters.
The operating frequency of the ultrasonic transducers (f 30 kHz
with a bandwidth of 20 kHz at the  6 dB level) was selected by
taking into account the semi-analytical nite element (SAFE)
simulation results, which had shown that only fundamental long-
itudinal L(0,1) and exural F(1,1) guided wave modes are propa-
gating in the frequency range up to 40 kHz in the analysed
structure (Fig. 2(b)). The experimental set-up for investigation of
the multi-wire rope is presented in Fig. 6(a).
The experimental investigation of UGW propagation in a multi-
wire rope was conducted under two different sets of conditions. In
the rst case, the guided wave propagation in a single untwisted
strand of a wire rope was investigated. In this case, the experi-
mental investigation was conducted using UGW excitation applied
only to a particular single wire of the selected strand (Fig. 6(b)).
The receiver was placed alternately at 175 mm and 350 mm away
from the transmitter, which has been equal to single and double
full whorls of the investigated particular wire around the pre-
sented untwisted strand of the wire rope. Measurements of the
propagating UGW were performed on each wire on the outer
surface of the strand under investigation. The position of the
transmitter was xed during all measurements and was driven by
a rectangular burst of 3 periods. Each strand of the wire rope
consists of 32 steel wires, 14 of them are located on the outer
surface. Therefore, 14 received signals were registered in total.
Averaging of 8 received signals picked up on each wire was
performed. The total gain of the measurement system was 45 dB.
In the second case, the guided wave propagation in the whole
bundle of the multi-wire rope was investigated (Fig. 6(c)). In this
case, the UGW were excited in a particular strand (twisted into the
structure of the multi-wire rope) and reception was performed on
the surface of this and all other ve strands of the multi-wire rope.
In this case, the contacting areas of the conical delay lines of the
transducers of concave shape were 134 mm2 (projection of the
contact area is the ellipse with major radius of 8.6 mm and minor
radius of 5.8 mm). The receiver was placed alternately at 272 mm
and 544 mm distances away from the transmitter, which have
been equal to single and double full whorl of the particular strand
in the multi-wire rope. These distances differ from the distances
used in the nite element simulation (282 mm and 564 mm), as
during the experimental investigation the helical wire rope was
used. In such a case, the length of wave propagation path is the
same as in the nite element simulation.
During both experiments, the peak-to-peak amplitudes of the
registered waveforms of the F(1,1) mode were measured; ampli-
tude distributions on the outer surfaces of the wires in an
untwisted single strand (Fig. 7(a)) and on outer surfaces of the
particular strands twisted into multi-wire rope (Fig. 7(b)) were
obtained as well. The experimentally obtained distribution of the
46 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049

Fig. 6. The experimental set-up for the investigation of guided wave propagation in multi-wire rope (a) and the rendered images of the experimental set-up for the
investigation of the untwisted strand (b) and the multi-wire rope (c).

peak amplitudes of the F(1,1) mode received on different strands of
the multi-wire rope possesses signicant asymmetry with respect
to the strand to which excitation was applied (Fig. 7(b)). The
numerical simulations conducted using the FE technique do not
indicate such great asymmetry under the assumption of solid
acoustic contact between adjacent strands (Fig. 5). In real-world
conditions, the acoustic contact between neighbouring strands
(and wires inside the strand) may slightly differ from the assump-
tions made during the theoretical analysis.
The polar amplitude distributions in the cases of both single
and double full whorls were measured as well. The results indicate
that the highest amplitude of the received F(1,1) mode signal was
obtained on the same wire or on the same strand on which
excitation had been performed, especially at the distance of up to a
single full whorl. Such a disclosure is very useful for the detection
of defects inside the internal structure of the multi-wire rope as
this knowledge may be used for non-destructive identication of a
particular defective strand through the analysis of amplitude
variations.
To validate this conclusion, a holder-spacer having the appro-
priate distance between the transmitter and the receiver was
developed that is adjustable to follow up to the full whorl of the
particular single strand of the multi-wire rope (Fig. 8). The
experiments were performed in both defect-free and defective
regions of a particular strand. In this case, 15 of 36 wires in
the particular strand were cut in order to produce a notch-type
 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049 47

Fig. 7. The experimentally obtained distributions of the peak amplitudes of the F(1,1) mode on different wires of the same particular strand for distances of 175 mm (single
whorl of the single wire in a strand) and 350 mm (double whorl of the single wire in a strand) away from the excitation zone (a) and distributions of the peak amplitudes of
the F(1,1) mode on different strands of the multi-wire rope for distances of 272 mm (single whorl of the strand) and 544 mm (double whorl of the strand) away from the
excitation zone (b).

Fig. 8. Experimental set-up for investigation of the particular strand of the multi-wire rope.

Table 2
The ratio of the peak amplitudes of the F(1,1) mode measured in defect-free and defective regions in the cases of a multi-wire rope and an untwisted single strand.

The normalised distance at which the receiver is placed (along a single whorl), normalised units 0.25 0.5 0.75 1

Amplitude ratio for an untwisted single strand (dB)  6.2  9.6  10.2  10
Amplitude ratio for multi-wire rope (dB)  10.6  20.3  22.5  16.9

articial defect. Measurements were performed in the defect-free 5. Conclusions

and defective regions at different distances from the transmitter
for two cases (Table 2). In the rst case, a single defective strand
was untwisted from the multi-wire rope. In the second case, a
particular defective strand was inside the structure of the multi-
wire rope. The distance between the transmitter and receiver was
normalised with respect to the single full whorl. The receiver was
placed at normalised distances of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.
The waveforms and amplitude spectra of the F(1,1) mode
recorded in the defect-free and defective regions for the cases of
the untwisted single strand and multi-wire rope are presented in
Fig. 9. The highest sensitivities (which correspond to a drop in
amplitude of the signal received due to the presence of the
articial defect) were obtained at the normalised distance of
0.75 in both cases (Fig. 10).
The amplitude drop of  10.2 dB in the single defective strand
untwisted from the multi-wire rope was lower than that in the
defective strand that was inside the multi-wire rope (  22.5 dB). In
either case, the amplitude drop in the defective strand outside or
inside the rope is sufcient for the detection of defects and allows
reliable identication of the defective strand inside the rope.
Propagation of ultrasonic guided waves along a multi-wire rope
of overall diameter 35 mm, made of six steel strands and an
internal polymer core, was investigated using modelling (SAFE and
3D FE) and experiments for different types of excitation. In the
case of end-type excitation, the L(0,1) mode is mainly generated.
The F(1,1) mode was identied as the main propagating mode in
the case of excitation from the top.
Registration of peak amplitudes of the guided waves on the
outer surface of the strands around the multi-wire rope was
performed, and an asymmetric spatial distribution of such ampli-
tudes was obtained. The experimentally obtained asymmetry of
the amplitude distribution is essentially higher in comparison
with the simulation results obtained using the FE technique under
an assumption of solid acoustic contact. Therefore, the acoustic
contact between neighbouring strands may slightly differ for real-
world conditions from the assumptions we made during the
theoretical analysis. It was observed that the highest amplitude
of the received signal is registered when excitation and reception
are performed on the same strand. Therefore, we assume that a
48 R. Raiutis et al. / NDT&E International 62 (2014) 4049
Fig. 9. Waveforms and amplitude spectra of the F(1,1) mode measured in defect-free (solid line) and defective regions (dashed line) in the case of the untwisted single
strand (a and c) and the multi-wire rope (b and d).
Fig. 10. The ratio of the peak amplitudes (modulus) of the acquired waveforms of
the F(1,1) mode measured in the defect-free and defective regions for multi-wire
rope (1) and an untwisted single strand (2) for different measurement distances
between the receiver and the transmitter (along a single whorl of the strand).
higher sensitivity to existing defects will be achieved in this case
as well. For this purpose, special ultrasonic contact-type ultrasonic
transducers possessing conical delay lines with concave contact
surfaces were developed. A holder-spacer was proposed with an
adjustable distance between the transmitter and the receiver such
that the user can follow up to a full whorl of a particular single
strand of the multi-wire rope.
To identify defective strands in a multi-wire rope, the ultra-
sonic pitch-catch testing technique was proposed and veried
experimentally with sufcient reliability for practical applications.
The estimated amplitude drop due to a notch-type defect in a
particular strand of a multi-wire rope varies in the range of
 10.2 dB to  22.5 dB. The best sensitivity is obtained when the
distance between the ultrasonic transmitter and receiver is equal
to 0.75  the single full whorl of the particular strand on which
measurements are carried out.
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