Inspection is a key part of the asset management process of industrial plants and there are numerous plate-like structures that require inspection. Ultrasonic guided waves have been used extensively to detect various types of defect by monitoring reflected and transmitted signals because they enable faster screening of large areas. However, ultrasonic guided wave testing becomes difficult for very shallow, sharp defects as current inspection techniques suffer from a lack of sensitivity to such

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... eatures. Previous studies, obtained by comparing various inspection techniques, suggest that the SH1 mode in particular, at around 3 MHz-mm, would be suitable when testing for shallow defects; however, it is clear that both the SH0 and SH1 mode can exist at this frequency-thickness product. This can complicate the inspection process and therefore limit defect detectability. This paper investigates the possibility of single mode excitation of the SH1 mode at around 3 MHz-mm. The ability of this method towards detecting very shallow defects (<10% cross-sectional thickness loss) has also been studied. By means of analytical predictions and finite element it is shown that a signal dominated by the SH1 mode can be generated using a single PPM EMAT. All predictions are then backed up by experimental measurements. It is also shown that, by studying the reflection coefficient of the SH1 mode, the pure SH1 mode can be used to detect defects as shallow as 5% thickness loss from a 500mm stand-off. These defects would otherwise be missed by standard, lower frequency guided wave testing.