94 research outputs found

    Impact damage detection in light composite sandwich panels

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    The paper presents a comparative study on impact damage detection in light composite sandwich panels. Three different nondestructive testing methods were used to characterize damage in a test specimen that resulted from a controlled low velocity impact event. The analyzed test methods include the ultrasonic c-scan, vibrothermography and shearography. All considered techniques were positively verified for detecting damage in a sandwich panel. The paper gives details about the experimental procedures and equipment required to perform the tests

    Impact damage detection in laminated composites by non-linear vibro-acoustic wave modulations

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    The paper presents an application of nonlinear acoustics for impact damage detection in composite laminates. Two composite plates were analysed. A low-velocity impact was used to damage one of the plates. Ultrasonic C-scan was applied to reveal the extent of barely visible impact damage. Finite element modelling was used to find vibration mode shapes of the plates and to estimate the local defect resonance frequency in the damaged plate. A delamination divergence study was performed to establish excitation parameters for nonlinear acoustics tests used for damage detection. Both composite plates were instrumented with surface-bonded, low-profile piezoceramic transducers that were used for the high frequency ultrasonic excitation. Both an arbitrary frequency and a frequency corresponding to the local defect resonance were investigated. The low-frequency modal excitation was applied using an electromagnetic shaker. Scanning laser vibrometry was applied to acquire the vibro-acoustic responses from the plates. The study not only demonstrates that nonlinear vibro-acoustic modulations can successfully reveal the barely visible impact damage in composite plates, but also that the entire procedure can be enhanced when the ultrasonic excitation frequency corresponds to the resonant frequency of damag

    Triple correlation for detection of damage-related nonlinearities in composite structures

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    Nonlinear effects in vibration responses are investigated for the undamaged composite plate and the composite plate with a delamination. The analysis is focused on higher harmonic generation in vibration responses for various excitation amplitude levels. This effect is investigated using the triple correlation technique. The dynamics of composite plate was modelled using two-dimensional finite elements and the classical lamination theory. The doubled-node approach was used to model delamination area. Mode shapes and natural frequencies were estimated based on numerical models. Next, the delamination divergence analysis was used to obtain relative displacements for delaminated plies. Experimental modal analysis test carried out to verify the numerical models. The two strongest vibration modes as well as two vibration modes with the smallest and largest motion level of delaminated plies were selected for nonlinear vibration test. The Fisher criterion was employed to verify the effectiveness and confidence level of the proposed technique. The results show that the method can be used not only to reveal nonlinearities, but also to reliably detect impact damage in composites. These resultsare confirmed using the statistical analysis

    Damage imaging in composites using nonlinear vibro‐acoustic wave modulations

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    The paper deals with the application of nonlinear vibro‐acoustic modulation technique for detection and localization of impact damage in a laminated composite plate. An imaging procedure—based on the nonlinear vibro‐acoustic modulation sidebands—is proposed. The procedure relies on simultaneous low‐frequency modal and high‐frequency ultrasonic excitations. Laser scanning vibrometry is used to analyze the amplitude of modulation sidebands in vibro‐acoustic responses. This analysis is performed for different positions on monitored structure to reveal the location and shape of damage. The method is illustrated using a simple example of impact damage detection in a composite plate. The experimental damage detection results are compared with the results obtained from the previously used approach on the basis of higher harmonic generation. The proposed method demonstrates better ability to locate damage in these comparative tests without the need to increase the measurement bandwidth to the higher harmonics regime. The work shows that the local defect resonance analysis can improve damage detection results of both compared approaches

    Assessing the scaling subtraction method for impact damage detection in composite plates

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    The scaling subtraction method (SSM) is a non-destructive measurement approach used to extract nonlinear features from the elastic response of a structure. As such it can be used for damage detection purposes by identifying nonlinearities that may result from the presence of micro cracks or inclusions in granular and metallic materials. The effectiveness of such a technique to detect the presence of damage modes typical of laminated composite materials has not been yet assessed. With the purpose of filling this gap, in this paper the SSM is applied to inspect two laminated composite plates with different sizes, impact positions and sensor arrangement. Intact and damaged specimens are tested under harmonic excitations of different amplitude and frequency (the latter selected among the ultrasonic natural frequencies of the two plates). For each excitation case the recorded vibration signals are subtracted from the linearly rescaled reference signals and the SSM nonlinear indicators are calculated. The sensitivity of the method to the presence of damage is assessed in different sensor-receiver scenarios as well as for different excitation frequency and amplitude levels. Finite element numerical investigations are also performed to make comparisons with the experimental results
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