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-Composite materials are more and more used for primary structures in aerospace components. Examples are the new aeroplanes Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 which are mostly produced out of composites. In order to take advantage of the specific properties of composites the complexity of the structures increases more and more. On the other hand the costs for inspection after fabrication and especially in service have to decrease. Cost effective NDT-methods have to be implemented. This paper presents the possibilities of guided waves inspection techniques for complex composite components. Guided waves such as Lamb waves can be easily excitated and received by applied piezo-elements and penetrate large areas so that complex structures in principle can be inspected (SHM). However, for each frequency in minimum two different wave modes exist so that the responses are difficult to evaluate. The Lamb wave research is carried out within the EU project AISHA. The ultrasonic imaging technique is successfully used for the visualisation of the Lamb wave propagation. This combination between SHM and ultrasonic technique provides the optimisation of the sensor and actuator placement and also an interesting method for in-field inspection of air aerospace components. The coupling of the scanning receiver transducer can be carried out with water split coupling as well as with air (non contact).

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