On the measurement of Young's modulus of tubes by propagation of longitudinal waves

Abstract

The equation that describes the propagation of elastic waves has been solved numerically for longitudinal vibrations of tubes and the results are used to calculate Young's modulus for Zircaloy-4 fuel sheathings. The values are compared with the results obtained by using the approximate equations proposed in the literature. The differences observed are less than 0.5% for the fundamental frequency. For the harmonics, however, the numerical solution leads to resonant frequencies that are within 1% of the experimental values and the approximate equations give errors higher than 10%.