Hybrid local FEM/global LISA modeling of guided wave propagation and interaction with damage in composite structures

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid modeling technique for the efficient simulation of guided wave propagation and interaction with damage in composite structures. This hybrid approach uses a local finite element model (FEM) to compute the excitability of guided waves generated by piezoelectric transducers, while the global domain wave propagation, wave-damage interaction, and boundary reflections are modeled with the local interaction simulation approach (LISA). A small-size multi-physics FEM with non-reflective boundaries (NRB) was built to obtain the excitability information of guided waves generated by the transmitter. Frequency-domain harmonic analysis was carried out to obtain the solution for all the frequencies of interest. Fourier and inverse Fourier transform and frequency domain convolution techniques are used to obtain the time domain 3-D displacement field underneath the transmitter under an arbitrary excitation. This 3-D displacement field is then fed into the highly efficient time domain LISA simulation module to compute guided wave propagation, interaction with damage, and reflections at structural boundaries. The damping effect of composite materials was considered in the modified LISA formulation. The grids for complex structures were generated using commercial FEM preprocessors and converted to LISA connectivity format. Parallelization of the global LISA solution was achieved through Compute Unified Design Architecture (CUDA) running on Graphical Processing Unit (GPU). The multi-physics local FEM can reliably capture the detailed dimensions and local dynamics of the piezoelectric transducers. The global domain LISA can accurately solve the 3-D elastodynamic wave equations in a highly efficient manner. By combining the local FEM with global LISA, the efficient and accurate simulation of guided wave structural health monitoring procedure is achieved. Two numerical case studies are presented: (1) wave propagation in a unidirectional CFRP composite plate; (2) wave propagation in a stiffened cross-ply CFRP plate with delamination.