Guided Lamb waves for identification of damage in composite structures: A review

In this paper we summarize the hardware and software issues of impedance-based structural health moni- toring based on piezoelectric materials. The basic concept of the method is to use high-frequency structural excitations to monitor the local area of a structure for changes in structural impedance that would indicate imminent damage. A brief overview of research work on experimental and theoretical stud- ies on various structures is considered and several research papers on these topics are cited. This paper concludes with a discussion of future research areas and path forward. Piezoelectric materials acting in the "direct" manner pro- duce an electrical charge when stressed mechanically. Con- versely, a mechanical strain is produced when an electrical field is applied. The direct piezoelectric effect has often been used in sensors such as piezoelectric accelerometers. With the converse effect, piezoelectric materials apply local- ized strains and directly influence the dynamic response of the structural elements when either embedded or surface bonded into a structure. Piezoelectric materials have been widely used in structural dynamics applications because they are lightweight, robust, inexpensive, and come in a variety of forms ranging from thin rectangular patches to complex shapes being used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrications. The applications of piezoelectric mate- rials in structural dynamics are too numerous to mention and are detailed in the literature (Niezrecki et al., 2001; Chopra, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance and effectiveness of impedance-based structural health mon- itoring from both hardware and software standpoints. Imped- ance-based structural health monitoring techniques have been developed as a promising tool for real-time structural dam- age assessment, and are considered as a new non-destructive evaluation (NDE) method. A key aspect of impedance-based structural health monitoring is the use of piezoceramic (PZT) materials as collocated sensors and actuators. The basis of this active sensing technology is the energy transfer between the actuator and its host mechanical system. It has been shown that the electrical impedance of the PZT material can be directly related to the mechanical impedance of a host structural component where the PZT patch is attached. Uti- lizing the same material for both actuation and sensing not only reduces the number of sensors and actuators, but also reduces the electrical wiring and associated hardware. Fur- thermore, the size and weight of the PZT patch are negligible compared to those of the host structures so that its attach- ment to the structure introduces no impact on dynamic char- acteristics of the structure. A typical deployment of a PZT on a structure being monitored is shown in Figure 1. The first part of this paper (Sections 2 and 3) deals with the theoretical background and design considerations of the impedance-based structural health monitoring. The signal processing of the impedance method is outlined in Section 4. In Section 5, experimental studies using the impedance approaches are summarized and related previous works are listed. Section 6 presents a brief comparison of the imped- ance method with other NDE approaches and, finally, sev- eral future issues are outlined in Section 7. 2. Theoretical Background

Overview of Piezoelectric Impedance-Based Health Monitoring and Path Forward

Medical applications of infrared thermography: A review.

The intensity of the infrared radiation emitted by objects is mainly a function of their temperature. In infrared thermography, this feature is used for multiple purposes: as a health indicator in medical applications, as a sign of malfunction in mechanical and electrical maintenance or as an indicator of heat loss in buildings. This paper presents a review of infrared thermography especially focused on two applications: temperature measurement and non-destructive testing, two of the main fields where infrared thermography-based sensors are used. A general introduction to infrared thermography and the common procedures for temperature measurement and non-destructive testing are presented. Furthermore, developments in these fields and recent advances are reviewed.

/pdf/infrared-thermography-for-temperature-measurement-and-non-2r2amijcr4.pdf

Infrared thermography for temperature measurement and non-destructive testing.

A review provided about non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for the evaluation of composites. The review considers the capabilities of most common methods in composite NDT applications such as Visual Testing (VT or VI), Ultrasonic Testing (UT), Thermography, Radiographic Testing (RT), Electromagnetic Testing (ET), Acoustic Emission (AE), and Shearography Testing with respect to advantages and disadvantages of these methods. Then, methods categorized based on their intrinsic characteristics and their applications.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/593997.pdf

A review of non-destructive testing methods of composite materials

Smart structure for composite repair

Lap joints are widely used across many critical structures such as aircraft and bridges. Lamb waves have long been proposed to monitor lap joints against defects such as disbonds. However, there ar...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1475921717715302

Lamb wave–based detection of a controlled disbond in a lap joint:

This paper presents a two-phase imaging methodology to characterise damage in composite laminates utilising Lamb
waves generated by integrated piezoceramic transducers. The proposed methodology uses the transducers to sequentially
scan the composite laminates before and after the presence of damage by transmitting and receiving Lamb wave pulses.
In phase one the damage localisation image is reconstructed by analysing the cross-correlation of the wavelet extracted
information from scatter signals with the excitation pulse for each transducer pair. A potential damage area is then
reconstructed by superimposing the image observed from each actuator and sensor signal path. In phase two Lamb wave
diffraction tomography is used to reconstruct an image quantifying size and shape of the damage based on the same set
of measurement data and identified damage location in phase one. The two-phase imaging approach together with the
modified diffraction tomography reconstruction algorithm enables a significant reduction of the required number of
transducers without the need to know the damage location in advance. Numerical and experimental results are presented
to demonstrate the efficiency, accuracy and sensitivity of the proposed methodology.

Integrated piezoceramic transducers for imaging damage in composite laminates

In-fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) are now well established for applications in acoustic sensing. The upper frequency response limit of the Bragg grating is determined by its gauge length, which has typically been limited to about 1 mm for commercially available Type 1 gratings. This paper investigates the effect of FBG gauge length on frequency response for sensing of acoustic waves. The investigation shows that the ratio of wavelength to FBG length must be at least 8.8 in order to reliably resolve the strain response without significant gain roll-off. Bragg gratings with a gauge length of 200 µm have been fabricated and their capacity to measure low amplitude high frequency acoustic strain fields in excess of 2 MHz is experimentally demonstrated. The ultimate goal of this work is to enhance the sensitivity of acoustic damage detection techniques by extending the frequency range over which acoustic waves may be reliably measured using FBGs.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-0233/25/12/125105/pdf

Reduced length fibre Bragg gratings for high frequency acoustic sensing

In this paper we report on the application of an in situ health monitoring system, comprising an array of piezoceramic wafer elements, to the detection of fatigue degradation in metallic specimens exposed to cyclic loading. Lamb waves, transmitted through a beam test coupon, are sensed using small surface-mounted piezotransducer elements, and the signals are then autonomously analysed for indications relating to the onset of structural degradation. The experimental results confirm the efficacy of the approach and provide a demonstration of good robustness under realistic loading conditions, emphasizing the great potential for developing an automated in situ structural health monitoring system for application to fatigue-prone operational structures, such as aircraft.

Nik Rajic

Papers

Smart structure for composite repair

Lamb wave–based detection of a controlled disbond in a lap joint:

Integrated piezoceramic transducers for imaging damage in composite laminates

Reduced length fibre Bragg gratings for high frequency acoustic sensing

Autonomous detection of crack initiation using surface-mounted piezotranducers