Modelling of Acoustic Emission Signals Due to Fiber Break in a Model Composite Carbon/Epoxy: Experimental Validation and Parametric Study

Hamam Hamam,Monnier Monnier,Fusco Fusco,Godin Godin

doi:10.3390/app9235124

Abstract

The present paper focuses on experiments and numerical simulation of the acoustic emission (AE) signals due to fiber break in a model composite. AE signals are related to wave effects due to the source, the propagation medium and the sensor. For quantitative AE analysis, it is very important to understand the effect of the piezoelectric sensors and propagation on the “primitive” AE signals. In this study, we investigate the influence of sensors, thickness, and position of the fiber by finite element simulations. This parametric study can allow an enlargement of the library for supervised classification of AE signals.

Highlights

In addition to allowing fault detection, the acoustic emission (AE) technique has garnered growing interest as a method for improving our understanding of the fracture processes of composite materials.There is a strong interest in AE for real-time diagnostics and prognostics [1,2,3,4]
If the amplitude of the elastic waves is large enough to be detected by sensors applied directly on the surface of the samples, AE can give an indication of the damage mechanisms
We focus on identifying AE features due to fiber break using the Finite Element

Summary

Introduction

In addition to allowing fault detection, the acoustic emission (AE) technique has garnered growing interest as a method for improving our understanding of the fracture processes of composite materials.There is a strong interest in AE for real-time diagnostics and prognostics [1,2,3,4]. Damage processes in composites materials, such as fiber breakage, induce local changes in the stress states and radiate elastic waves. If the amplitude of the elastic waves is large enough to be detected by sensors applied directly on the surface of the samples, AE can give an indication of the damage mechanisms. It is assumed that signals are affected by propagation and acquisition but that they remain images of sources. In this context, the different types of failures such as fiber breaks, fiber/matrix debonding, several kinds of matrix cracking and delamination are identified thanks to their AE signature, described by descriptors or features such as amplitude, energy, peak frequency, frequency centroid, etc. In most of the studies dealing with failures in polymer matrix composites, higher frequency and higher amplitude are assigned to fiber breaks and lower frequency and amplitude are attributed to matrix cracking

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Conclusion