Damage localisation in a stiffened plate structure using a propagating wave

The paper presents an application of changes in propagating waves for damage detection in a stiffened aluminium plate. The experimental investigation was conducted on an aluminium plate with riveted two L-shape stiffeners. The wave has been excited with a piezoelectric transducer and measured with the Laser Scanning Doppler Vibrometer. Recorded signals were analysed using the special signal processing techniques developed for damage detection. The influence of different wave signals on damage localisation process for various damage scenarios has been tested. The obtained results were presented in a form of numerical maps. It may be concluded that the proposed approach enables damage localisation in a relatively fast and precise manner. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.