This article deals with the prediction of debonding between core and face sheet in foam-cored sandwich structures. It describes the development, validation, and application of a FEM-based numerical model for the prediction of the propagation of debond damage. The structural mechanics is considered to be geometrically nonlinear while the local fracture mechanics problem is assumed to be linear. The presented numerical procedure for the local fracture mechanics is a further development of the crack surface displacement method, here denoted as the crack surface displacement extrapolation method. The considered application example is to tear off one of the face laminates from the sandwich. This configuration can be found in many applications but is considered here to be occurring in a ship structure, particularly at the hard spot where the superstructure meets the deck. Face tearing experiments are carried out for structures with three different core densities, material tests are carried out and finally the face tearing tests are simulated with the developed procedure. It is shown that for low core densities, where the crack propagates in the interface immediately below the face sheet, there is fair agreement between experiments and theory. For cores with higher density, the crack tends to propagate in the laminate itself with extensive fiber bridging leading to rather conservative numerical predictions. However, for structural configurations where LEFM can be applied, the presented procedure is sufficiently robust and accurate to be used in a number of important engineering applications, for example risk-based inspection and repair schemes.

Impact fatigue caused by rain droplets, also called rain erosion, is a severe problem for wind turbine blades and aircraft. In this work, an assessment of impact fatigue on a glass fibre reinforced polymer laminate with a gelcoat is presented and the damage mechanisms are investigated. A single point impact fatigue tester is developed to generate impact fatigue damage and SN data. Rubber balls are repeatedly impacted on a single location of the coated laminate. Each impact induces transient stresses in the coated laminate. After repeated impacts, these stresses generate cracks, leading to the removal of the coating and damage to the laminate. High-resolution digital imaging is used to determine the incubation time until the onset of coating damage, and generate an SN curve. An acoustic emission sensor placed at the back of the laminate monitors changes in acoustic response as damage develops in the coated laminate. The subsurface cracks are studied and mapped by 3D X-ray computed tomography. A finite element method model of the impact shows the impact stresses in the coating and the laminate. The stresses seen in the model are compared to cracks found by 3D tomography. The damage is also evaluated by ultrasonic scanning.

Different methods are commonly used for non-destructive testing in structures; among others, acoustic emission and ultrasonic inspections are widely used to assess structures. The research presented in this paper is motivated by the need to improve the inspection capabilities and reliability of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems based on ultrasonic guided waves with focus on the acoustic emission and acousto-ultrasonics techniques. The use of a guided wave based approach is driven by the fact that these waves are able to propagate over relatively long distances, and interact sensitively and uniquely with different types of defect. Special attention is paid here to the development of efficient SHM methodologies. This requires robust signal processing techniques for the correct interpretation of the complex ultrasonic waves. Therefore, a variety of existing algorithms for signal processing and pattern recognition are evaluated and integrated into the different proposed methodologies. As a contribution to solve the problem, this paper presents results in damage detection and classification using a methodology based on hierarchical nonlinear principal component analysis, square prediction measurements and self-organizing maps, which are applied to data from acoustic emission tests and acousto-ultrasonic inspections. At the end, the efficiency of these methodologies is experimentally evaluated in diverse anisotropic composite structures.

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