Damage detection in a woven-fabric composite laminate using time-reversed Lamb wave

Abstract

Time reversibility is the process in which a response signal recorded at a receiver location is reversed in time and transmitted back through the receiver to the original transmitter location. In the absence of any defect or damage in the path between the transmitter and the receiver locations, theoretically, the signal received back at the original transmitter location (reconstructed signal) is identical to the original input signal. Therefore, differences in the transmitted and reconstructed signals are an indication of the possibility of a defect being present. An experimental study of a baselinefree damage detection technique using time reversibility of Lamb wave for a woven-fabric composite laminate is presented in this article. The initial part of the study is aimed towards obtaining the best possible reconstruction of the input signal by tuning various parameters of interest, including an experimental study of the frequency-dependent attenuation of Lamb wave modes (amplitude tuning). A finite element simulation has also been carried out to study the effect of amplitude tuning. Finally, the time-reversal concept is used to detect damage in woven composite laminates without using any information from the undamaged structure. In this study, a small block mass bonded to the surface, surface erosion and local impact are considered as representative of different types of damage. The results obtained show that the Lamb wave technique using time-reversal concept identifies correctly the presence of damage in wovenfabric composite laminates, thus providing a basis for baseline-free damage detection in composite structures.

A refined Lamb wave time-reversal method with enhanced sensitivity for damage detection in isotropic plates

“…However, the sensitivity of the damage indices with damage size was not investigated. Mitra and coworkers have extended their studies to stiffened plates (Bijudas et al, 2013) and woven-fabric composite plates (Poddar et al, 2012). Watkins and Jha (2012) showed, through experiments conducted on composite plates, that the signal reconstruction through time reversal of Lamb waves is possible without changing the role of the transducer from actuator to sensor and vice versa and reversing the path direction.…”

Spectral damage index for estimation of breathing crack depth in an aluminum plate using nonlinear Lamb wave

“…This simulation is carried out in two dimensions (2D) in thickness plane of the plate using plane strain assumption because the time required for completing the 2D simulation is much lesser compared with three dimensional (3D) simulation. Also, it is evident from the literature that the 2D simulation captures well the essential trend of results. The aluminum plate (grade 5052‐H32) with a breathing crack and PW actuator and sensor for transmitting and receiving Lamb wave are modeled in the thickness plane with plane strain approximation.…”

Interrogating the health condition of rails using the narrowband Rayleigh waves emitted by an innovative design of non-contact laser transduction system

“…The ultrasonic Rayleigh wave produces the second harmonic in response to these nonlinearities and the amplitude of this generated second harmonic describes the nonlinearity in the material. [2][3][4][5][6] The research being carried out in the structural health monitoring of rails for detecting macroscopic damages 7 need to be extended for measuring these nonlinearities too, especially in the case of high-speed trains. When it comes to fatigue loading, its effect on the life of rails may be accounted at the design stage itself.…”