LAUSR

Abstract The deformation behavior of St3 steel was studied to show that the stress-strain state of a structure can be estimated using Rayleigh surface waves in both the elastic and plastic region. The most informative parameters in the analysis of the limit state associated with the onset of plastic deformation are the dispersion and shape of the probing signal. If the processes governing the effect of the medium on the elastic wave parameters are represented by a statistical model in the form of the Dirichlet distribution, it is possible to single out a new diagnostic feature of acoustic anisotropy in a structure which describes ultrasonic wave propagation in a material under elastic-plastic deformation. These data can be used for a preliminary assessment of the degree of structural deformation, before assessing its state from wave velocity measurement results.