The zero-frequency component of bulk waves in solids with randomly distributed micro-cracks

When a longitudinal wave (bulk wave) propagates in elastic solids with randomly distributed micro-cracks, the acoustic nonlinear behavior including the zero-frequency component and higher harmonics can be generated due to the clapping and slipping behavior of micro-cracks. In this paper, the analytical solution based on the bi-linear stiffness model of micro-cracks and the numerical simulation with random micro-crack modeling are implemented to investigate the behavior of the zero-frequency component. The theoretical and numerical results both show that the zero-frequency component of bulk waves can be generated by the micro-cracks, which is more sensitive than the conventional second harmonics. Meanwhile, we find that the acoustic nonlinearity parameter based on the zero-frequency component increases linearly with the crack density, the length of the micro-crack region and the fundamental frequency in the low-frequency region. Moreover, the zero-frequency component of the reflected waves is also investigated, indicating it can be used to locate the micro-crack region.