Muchao Zhang won the SCLEAD Excellent Student Paper Award, sponsored by "SCLEAD Technology" since 2014, at the Far East Forum on Nondestructive Evaluation/Testing: New Technology & Application (FENDT) 2024 forum, held from June 24-27, 2024, in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.

The winning paper "A Reference-Free Damage Localization Method for Plate-Like Structures Using Multimode Lamb Wave Separation" explores the lamb wave-based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems that have proven effective for assessing plate-like structures. Piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) are frequently used due to their dual functionality as actuators and sensors and ease of integration into structures. However, challenges persist due to the multimodal nature of Lamb waves and the reliance on reference signals to detect damage accurately. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a reference-free damage localization method for plate-like structures, utilizing a multimode separation strategy to enhance damage detection accuracy.

FENDT 2024 aims to strengthen international cooperation in nondestructive testing technologies and promote the development and applying new NDT technologies. This award recognizes outstanding contributions from student researchers in the field of nondestructive testing and evaluation.

Muchao is a PhD student at Instituto de Telecomunicações, conducting the thesis “High-resolution Imaging of Joints of Composite Material Using Lamb Waves”, at Instituto Superior Técnico, under the supervision of Helena Geirinhas Ramos (expected set-2028).