This book builds on my 1999 book, Ultrasonic Waves in Solid Media. Like its predecessor, this book is intended to bring people up to speed with the latest developments in the field, especially new work in ultrasonic guided waves. It is designed for students and for researchers and managers familiar with the field in order to serve as a baseline for further work already under way. I hope to journey with you to provide more breakthroughs in the understanding and application of ultrasonic guided waves. The goal is to improve the health of individuals, industries, and national infrastructures through improved methods of Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE). The purpose of this book is to expand on many of the topics that were introduced in my first book. Several chapters are almost the same, but there are many new fundamental topic chapters with a total emphasis in this book being directed toward the basic principles of ultrasonic guided waves. The field of ultrasonic guided waves itself is treated as a new and separate field compared to ultrasonics and other inspection disciplines as indicated in some of the efforts put forward in inspection certification by the American Society for Non-destructive Testing (ASNT) and also in code requirements in such groups as the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Department of Transportation (DOT).

The book begins with an overview and background materials in Chapters 1 through 7 and then continues on to more advanced topics in Chapters 8 through 21.

I have had the good fortune to witness the growth of ultrasonic guided waves in Non-destructive Testing (NDT) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) since 1985. I have been deeply interested in safety and improved diagnostics utilizing wave propagation concepts. Wave phenomena can be used to evaluate material properties nondestructively as well as to locate and measure defects in critical structures. This work has led to devices that have become valuable quality control tools and/or in-service inspection procedures for structures such as critical aircraft, pipeline, bridge, and nuclear power components whose integrity is vital to public safety.