Abstract:The purpose of this article is to study the application of nonlinear acoustic techniques in detecting micro-crack propagation in material damage, and to further explore the sensitivity and applicability of Nonlinear Coda Wave Interferometry (NCWI) in the detection of micro-cracks in heterogeneous complex materials. Based on the multi-scattering theory and the effective scattering cross-section characteristics of micro-crack-shaped scatterers, the variation of the coda wave propagation velocity in multi-scattering media has an effective correlation with the variation of crack length. Using the Spectral finite Element Method (SEM) numerical simulation, this article carries out parameter sensitivity analysis of the crack length change based on the NCWI method and obtains a linear proportional relationship between the relative change value of coda wave propagation velocity and the crack density and length change in the material damage area. The research results show that the NCWI method has both sensitivity to small changes in acoustic propagation in heterogeneous materials and utilizes the strong nonlinear acoustic effects caused by material micro-cracks, making it effective in detecting micro-cracks in complex materials.