Abstract
Open-ended rectangular waveguides are widely used for microwave and millimeter-wave nondestructive testing (NDT) applications, such as detecting disbond and delamination in multilayered composite structures, thickness evaluation of dielectric sheets and coatings on metal substrates, etc. when inspecting a complex multilayered composite structure that is made of generally lossy dielectric layers with arbitrary thicknesses and backing, the dielectric properties of a particular layer may be of particular interest (e.g., radome inspection). The same is also true when one is interested in the thickness, or, more importantly, thickness variation, of a particular layer within such complex structures. An essential tool for closely estimating the complex permittivity and/or thickness is an accurate forward electromagnetic model for simulating the reflection coefficient at the aperture of the probing open-ended waveguide. To this end, this paper provides a full-wave accurate forward model for calculating the reflection coefficient from a generally lossy multilayered composite structure possessing an arbitrary number of layers and respective thicknesses while accounting for the influence of higher order modes. This model is subsequently validated through comparisons with a commercial numerical tool and actual measurements. Furthermore, a measurement model is provided, which results in an iterative inverse technique for estimating the complex permittivity and thickness of a dielectric layer. Subsequently, this technique is applied to the measured reflection coefficients of several structures. To evaluate the accuracy of this technique, an analysis on its sensitivity to various sources of errors, and, most importantly, the effect of a finite flange size, is also demonstrated by using the simulated data. Finally, the potential of this model to accurately estimate the thickness of an individual layer, which represents a thin disbond, in a multilayered composite structure is presented.
Recommended Citation
M. T. Ghasr et al., "Multimodal Solution for a Waveguide Radiating into Multilayered Structures -- Dielectric Properties and Thickness Evaluation," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 1505 - 1513, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), May 2009.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2008.2009133
Department(s)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Complex permittivity; Higher order modes; Open-ended waveguide; Stratified dielectric medium; Thickness; Ceramic capacitors; Composite coatings; Dielectric properties of solids; Ion beams; Measurements; Metal testing; Nondestructive examination; Reflection; Structure (composition); Waveguides
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0018-9456
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2009 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 May 2009
