Damage evaluation of laminated composite material using a new acoustic emission Lamb-based and finite element techniques

Abstract

In this paper, a very promising procedure is proposed to evaluate delamination using Acoustic Emission (AE) technique in composite laminates. First, a new procedure was developed to decompose the fundamental Lamb wave modes in small size specimens. The damage mechanisms in End Notched Flexure (ENF) in woven and unidirectional specimens were then discriminated using Fuzzy Clustering Method (FCM). Afterwards, the crack-arrest phenomenon was examined in each specimen. After that, experimental and Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) techniques were conducted to characterize the delamination using ENF specimens. The results showed how, it is possible to successfully decrease the effect of propagating media such as attenuation of AE signals using the new proposed methodology. As a final point, the results of this study could lead to efficiently distinguishing different damages in laminated composite using AE Lamb-based technique.