Finite element analysis of ceramic tapping detection method

To address the problems of random placement of acoustic sensors and irregularities in the tapping process when traditional tapping is used to detect ceramic defects, this study analyzes the optimal placement of acoustic sensors and optimizing boundary conditions to determine optimal values using COMSOL Multiphysics finite element simulation. First, an acoustic-solid coupling model of ceramic tapping is constructed to observe the effects of different boundary condition settings on the sound signal. Second, different probes are placed in the simulation to represent the acoustic sensors, and the performance of acoustic signal acquisition is evaluated by examining time-domain and frequency-domain plots. The results show that: (1) the tapping point should be selected on the side opposite to the constrained region; (2) excessive constraint locations can negatively affect the signal; and (3) the acoustic sensor array should not be excessively placed on the constrained surface of the ceramic piece to avoid frequency-domain waveform distortion. Comparing the time- and frequency-domain plots obtained from the simulation with those from actual tapping tests reveals that the two time-domain signals exhibit similar attenuation behavior, and the peak error in the frequency domain does not exceed 11.8% after excluding poorly performing acoustic sensors, thereby verifying the feasibility of simulating the sound field. The final results demonstrate that this optimization method can effectively collect multiple tapping signals, provide a rich dataset for machine learning, and has significant practical value in quality control and safety inspection of industrial ceramics.