Showing papers by "Ajit Mal published in 2013"

NDE of composite structures using ultrasonic guided waves

Abstract: Composite structures require a rigorous program of nondestructive inspection and maintenance to detect and characterize hidden defects at an early stage of their occurrence so that preventive measures can be taken before the structure loses its load carrying capacity or suffers from catastrophic failure. Current methods for defects detection in large aircraft and aerospace structures are slow, labor intensive and costly. This is especially true for composite structures where conventional techniques are often ineffective. Ultrasonic guided waves offer an attractive complementary tool for improving inspection techniques in relatively large plate-like structural components due to their large propagation range and sensitivity to defects in their propagation path. Since the waves are affected by the geometrical structural features (e.g. stringers) as well as harmful defects (e.g. delaminations), the application of guided waves in the NDE or SHM of real structures requires a good understanding of these interaction effects. This will help identify the defects from their distinguishing features in the signal in structural components with complex geometry. In this paper a detailed study of the interaction of guided waves with defects in an aluminum plate and a honeycomb composite sandwich structure is carried out using numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. The simpler aluminum plate is used for model validation and understanding the basic characteristics of the interaction phenomena. The agreement between the simulated waveforms and those measured from the experiments are found to be excellent in both cases indicating the possibility of applying guided wave based techniques to more realistic structures.

Lamb Waves in a Honeycomb Composite Sandwich Plate

Abstract: Composite materials are being used increasingly in advanced aircraft and aerospace structures. Despite their many advantages including high strength to weight ratio, formability and low coefficient of thermal expansion, composites are often susceptible to hidden damage that may occur during their manufacturing and/or service of the structure. Safe operation of composite structures requires careful monitoring of the initiation and growth of such defects before they grow to a critical size resulting in possible catastrophic failure of the structure. Ultrasonic methods using guided waves offer a reliable and cost effective method for defects monitoring in advanced structures due to their long propagation range and their sensitivity to defects in their propagation path. In this paper some of the useful properties of guided Lamb type waves are investigated in an effort to provide the knowledge base required for the development of viable defects monitoring systems in composite structures. Some of our recent research in this area is presented in this paper. The research includes laboratory experiments using a pitch catch method in which a pair of moveable transducers are placed on the outside surface of the structure for generating and recording the wave signals. The recorded signals are analyzed to construct the dispersion and other relevant properties of the guided waves. Theoretical simulations using analytical and numerical methods are carried out and compared with the experimental results. The specific cases considered include an aluminum plate, a woven quasi-isotropic composite panel and an aluminum honeycomb panel with woven composite face sheets. The agreement between the experimental and theoretical results are shown to be excellent in certain frequency ranges, but not for others, providing a guidance for the design of effective inspection systems.

Ultrasonic Guided Waves for Hidden Damage Detection in Composite Structures: Theory and Experiments

Abstract: In this paper the theoretical knowledge base required for the ­development of a reliable structural health monitoring system based on ultrasonic guided waves is considered. An exact theory is used for relatively rapid calculation of the PZT driven surface motion in a plate recorded in an ultrasonic experiment. The theoretical results are compared with those obtained from an explicit finite element code for their mutual verification, showing excellent agreement. To determine the location and the severity of a damage with a minimal operator intervention, the ultrasonic wave propagation data are analyzed using a damage index approach carefully designed to overcome the complexity and variability of the signals in the presence of damage as well as the geometric complexity of the structure.