Abstract
This paper focuses on impact localization of composite structures, which possess more complexity in the guided wave propagation due to the anisotropic behavior of composite materials. In this work, a composite plate was manufactured by using a compression molding process with proper pressure and temperature cycle. Eight layers of woven composite prepreg were used to manufacture the composite plate. A structural health monitoring (SHM) technique was implemented with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) to detect and localize the impact on the plate. There were two types of impact event that were considered in this paper (a) low energy impact event (b) high energy impact event. Two clusters of sensors recorded the guided acoustic waves generated from the impact. The acoustic signals were then analyzed using a wavelet transform based time-frequency analysis. The proposed SHM technique successfully detected and localized the impact event on the plate. The experimentally measured impact locations were compared with the actual impact locations. An immersion ultrasonic scanning method was used to visualize the composite plate before and after the impact event. A high frequency 10 MHz 1-inch focused transducer was used to scan the plate in the immersion tank. Scanning results showed that there was no visible manufacturing damage in the composite plate. However, clear impact damage was observed after the high-energy impact event.
Highlights
Advanced composites are increasingly being used in many applications [1,2,3,4]
A compression molding process with a proper cure cycle can be used for manufacturing a composite plate without any significant internal defect
We found that the manufactured plate had a minimal to no defect that can affect the impact detection and localization
Summary
Advanced composites are increasingly being used in many applications [1,2,3,4]. the prognosis of their long-term behavior is still an active area of research. The detection, localization, and sizing of the damage from all these events is an essential area of SHM [14,15,16] These acoustic events mostly generate the waves in an ultrasonic regime [17]. Hitting by debris or any foreign object is very common for moving structures, and after any such hits, the structure should be adequately inspected especially near the impact location This impact location must be identified by an appropriate acoustic source localization method. A comprehensive study has been carried out starting from manufacturing the composite plate to final impact detection and localization using the SHM approach. An SHM was implemented to detect and localize the impact event by using permanently bonded piezoelectric wafer active sensors in the manufactured composite plate. The scanning results showed that the plate had a minimal to no manufacturing defect that could affect the impact detection and localization
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