Localization and characterization of delamination in laminates using the local wavenumber method

Abstract This paper proposes a method to effectively locate and characterize mode I delamination in carbon fiber/epoxy (CF/EP) composite laminates using the local wavenumber method of propagating guided waves in a fine grid of spatial sampling points. Mode I interlaminar fracture tests were conducted using a double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen to evaluate the developed method. Wave propagation in composite laminates with delamination at different center frequencies were investigated by two-dimensional finite element (FE) simulation. The results revealed some unique mechanisms of interaction between guided wave and delamination in detail. They demonstrated that the wave propagation velocity is transformed at the delamination, and the wave attenuation and dispersion are larger with the increase of the center frequency. The guided waves were rapidly excited at each grid point using a non-contact scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) system and actuated by a single fixed piezoelectric (PZT) sensor in the experimental study. The spatially dependent wavenumber value of the center frequency was determined by the local Fourier domain analysis method for processing guided wave filed data. The results showed that the local wavenumber method for guided waves is capable of locating and characterizing the delamination in composite laminates.