Sizing of impact damages in composite materials using ultrasonic guided waves

A parametric 2D finite-element inversion scheme is used for sizing cracked zone type strip defect caused by a linear and uniform impact on a composite material plate. The reflection and transmission coefficients produced by mode conversion phenomenon when a pure incident So Lamb wave mode is sent towards the defect are used as input data for the inversion process. The inversion process consists in quantifying two unknown parameters, i.e., width and depth representing the assumed triangular geometry of cracked zone like defect. The inversion scheme consists of a finite element based model, which is used to simulate the Lamb wave scattering for various values of the aimed parameters, and specific post-processing based on Shkerdin's orthogonality relation is applied to predict the needed reflection and transmission coefficients. A laboratory experiment is performed for creating a linear and uniform impact on a carbon epoxy composite plate sample. Then another ultrasonic experiment is performed in laboratory for measuring reflection and transmission coefficients by sending a pure So mode towards the defect. The measured coefficients are then used for the inversion purpose. The two principles used in inversion process give almost similar optimised values for these parameters, showing the usefulness of this technique. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.