Abstract
The time-frequency analysis of dispersive stress waves is reviewed. It is shown that the wavelet transform using the Gabor wavelet effectively decomposes the strain response into its time-frequency components, and the peaks of the time-frequency distribution indicate the arrival times of waves. The flexural waves induced in a beam by lateral impact are considered and it is shown that the wavelet transform enables us to identify the dispersion relation of the group velocity, and to estimate the impact location. In addition, the potential of using the wavelet transform for more detailed nondestructive evaluation of material damage is shown.
