Detection and Quantification of Delamination Failures in Marine Composite Bulkheads via Vibration Energy Variations.

Cristobal Garcia,Oscar Zaba,Publio Beltran,Alfonso Jurado

doi:10.3390/s21082843

Abstract

This paper proposes a new vibration-based structural health monitoring method for the identification of delamination defects in composite bulkheads used in small-length fiber-based ships. The core of this work is to find out if the variations of vibration energy can be efficiently used as a key performance indicator for the detection and quantification of delamination defects in marine composite bulkheads. For this purpose, the changes of vibrational energy exerted by delamination defects in sandwich and monolithic composite panel bulkheads with different types of delamination phenomenon are investigated using a non-destructive test. Experiments show that the overall vibration energy of the bulkheads is directly dependent on the damage conditions of the specimens and therefore, the variations of this parameter are a good indicator of the incorporation of delamination defects in composite bulkheads. Additionally, the overall vibration energy changes also give interesting information about the severity of the delamination defect in the panels. Hence, this methodology based on vibratory energy can be used to accurately determine delamination defects in medium-sized composite bulkheads with the advantages of being a simple and cost-effective approach. The findings of this research possess important applications for the identification of delamination failures in composite components such as bulkheads, turbine blades, and aircraft structures, among others.

Highlights

Composite laminates have been extensively used in aerospace [1,2], marine [3,4], and automotive components [5] due to their high Young’s modulus and strength combined with low specific weight [6]
Xing et al [26] examined the damping changes exerted by the presence of delamination failures in composite laminates, and the findings of this study reveal that the damping of the damaged specimens is approximately 62% greater than the damping of the healthy samples
This paper has considered the problem for the identification, quantification, and localization of delamination defects in marine bulkheads, which are used for the and loThis paper has considered thecomposite problem for the identification, quantification, design and construction of small-length shipsin(less than

Summary

Introduction

Composite laminates have been extensively used in aerospace [1,2], marine [3,4], and automotive components [5] due to their high Young’s modulus and strength combined with low specific weight [6]. A large number of non-destructive methods have been reported by the scientific and industrial community for the analysis of delamination defects in fiberreinforced polymer (FRP) materials. Most of the reported papers suggested the techniques of ultrasounds [9,10], thermography [11], shearography [12], radiography [13], acoustic emission [14], and vibration-based solutions [15,16,17,18] for the detection and characterization of different defects in composite materials. Vibration-based methods are considered as one of the most popular methods for damage detection because of their simplicity, versatility, and low cost, which facilitates their application to a more industrial environment

Methods

Results

Conclusion