Xudong Yu

Anisotropic effects on ultrasonic guided waves propagation in composite bends.

Ultrasonic guided waves have proven to be attractive to the long-range testing of composite laminates. As complex-shaped composite components are increasingly incorporated in high-performance structures, understanding of both anisotropic and geometric effects on guided waves propagation is needed to evaluate their suitability for the non-destructive testing (NDT) of such complex structures. This paper reports the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) simulations revealing the capability of energy confinement carried by two types of guided modes in 90° carbon fiber/epoxy (CF/EP) bends. Existence of the phenomenon is cross-validated by both 3D Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental measurements. The physics of such energy trapping effect is explained in view of geometric variation and anisotropic properties, and the frequency effect on the extent of energy concentration is discussed. Finally, the feasibility of using such confined guided waves for rapid inspection of bent composite plate structures is also discussed.

Shear horizontal feature guided ultrasonic waves in plate structures with 90° transverse bends.

Antisymmetric and symmetric Lamb-type feature guided waves (FGW) have recently been shown to exist in small angle plate bends. This paper reports Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method simulations revealing the existence of a new family of Shear Horizontal (SHB) type of FGW mode in 90° bends in plate structures. Mode shapes and velocity dispersion curves are extracted, demonstrating the SH-like nature of a bend-confined mode identified in studies of power flow across the bend. The SHB mode is shown to have reduced attenuation in the higher frequency range, making it an ideal choice for high-resolution inspection of such bends. Further modal studies examine the physical basis for mode confinement, and argue that this is strongly related to FGW phenomena reported earlier, and also linked to the curvature at the bend region. Wedge acoustic waves discussed widely in literature are shown as arising from surface-limiting of the SHB mode at higher frequencies. The results are validated by experiments and supported by 3D Finite Element (FE) simulations.

Feature-guided waves (FGW) in plate structures with 90° transverse bends

Ultrasonic guided waves are attractive for rapid remote screening of large structures and today they are widely used in several practical applications including the inspection of pipe and plate installations. More recently, guided wave modal solutions confined in extended local features have attracted much research interest, offering the possibility of inspecting complex geometric or topographical features. Such feature-guided wave (FGW) modes have been reported in plate waveguides with local cross-section variation or curvature, and in annular circular cylinders with cross-sectional anomalies. This paper focuses on FGW phenomena in 90 degree structural bends in plate structures, which commonly occur in various industrial structures. Modal studies are carried out using the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method, while 3D finite element (FE) simulations are used to gain visualization of results and also obtain cross-validation. Our studies reveal, perhaps for the first time, the possibility of bend-g...

Remote sparse distributed sensors to image bondline defects between a composite panel and a stiffener

Adhesive bonding is widely used to fix skins to reinforcing elements, like stiffeners, in aerospace composite structures. A well-cured bond offers uniform stresses, good joint strength, and improved fatigue and impact resistance, and is therefore crucial to the performance of the entire structure. In the previous work by the authors, ultrasonic feature guided wave (FGW) has been discussed as a screening tool for quick inspection of the bondline between a CFRP panel and stiffener. However, it was found that material damping and weak reflections by defects along the feature makes the use of a single transducer in pulse echo mode quite inefficient. In this study, a structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is proposed to inspect the bondline, based on the radiation of plate modes into the CFRP panel when an incident FGW interacts with a defect in that bondline. A sparse array of sensors organized on the CFRP panel away from the stiffener was used to capture the waves radiating into the panel. A synthetic ...

Interaction of Guided Waves with Delaminations in Composite Plate Structures

This paper addresses a gap in the literature on the 3-dimensional scattering of the fundamental symmetric Lamb mode S0 from delimitations in composite plates. We study the scattering of low-frequency S0 Lamb mode from a delamination in a stiffened 4-ply CFRP composite plate with [0/0]S ply orientation. Far field scattering coefficients for the S0 Lamb mode are plotted as a function of circumferential position around the delamination using 3D FE simulations. Results show that the delamination size has less influence on S0 Lamb wave scattering in the low-frequency regime where the S0 mode is non-dispersive. Further analysis was done using two-dimensional FE simulation for different ply-layup orientations with S0 Lamb mode. This study shows that ply-layup orientation and through-thickness delamination location in fiber composite laminate have a significant influence on S0 Lamb mode interaction. We also analyzed the interaction of A0 Lamb mode for a few cases. This work will be useful for practical Lamb wave ...

Feature guided waves (FGW) in fiber reinforced composite plates with 90° transverse bends

Fiber reinforced composite materials have been increasingly used in high performance structures such as aircraft and large wind turbine blades. 90◦ composite bends are common in reinforcing structural elements, which are prone to defects such as delamination, crack, fatigue, etc. Current techniques are based on local inspection which makes the whole bend area scanning time consuming and tedious. This paper explores the feasibility of using feature guided waves (FGW) for rapid screening of 90◦ composite laminated bends. In this study, the behavior of the bend-guided wave in the anisotropic composite material is investigated through modal studies by applying the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method, also 3D Finite Element (FE) simulations are performed to visualize the results and to obtain cross validation. To understand the influence of the anisotropy, three-dimensional dispersion surfaces of the guided modes in flat laminated plates are obtained, showing the dependence of the phase velocity with ...

Investigation of Ultrasonic Feature Guided Waves for the Monitoring of Structural Bends

This paper investigates the inspection and monitoring structural bends using a special ultrasonic bend-guided wave, which concentrates the energy in and around the bend. Modal studies are carried out using the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method, while 3D finite element (FE) simulations are used to gain visualization of results and also obtain cross-validation. Our studies reveal, perhaps for the first time, the possibility of bend-guided modes of the shear-horizontal (SH) family, in addition those of the Rayleigh-Lamb family reported earlier in the literature. This mode has attractive properties including low attenuation and limited dispersion. We investigate effects of plate thickness and bend radius on the physics of FGW in bends, arguing the strong role of geometry and curvature effects in causing mode confinement. Experiments have also been carried out to validate the existence of such bend-guided mode. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/83