Paper published in Structural Health Monitoring

Ultrasonic guided waves have been used successfully in structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to detect damage in isotropic and composite materials with simple and complex geometry. A limitation of current research is given by a lack of freely available benchmark measurements to comparatively evaluate existing methods. This paper introduces the extendable online platform Open Guided Waves (http://www.open-guided-waves.de) where high quality and well documented datasets for guided wave-based inspections are provided.

In this paper, we describe quasi-isotropic CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) plates with embedded piezoelectric transducers as a first benchmark structure. Intentionally, this is a structure of medium complexity to enable many researchers to apply their methods. In a first step, ultrasound and X-ray measurements were acquired to verify pristine conditions. Next, mechanical testing was done to determine the stiffness tensor and sample density based on standard test procedures. Guided wave measurements were divided into two parts: first, acoustic wave fields were acquired for a broad range of frequencies by 3D scanning laser Doppler vibrometry. Second, SHM measurements in the CFRP plate were collected at constant temperature using a distributed transducer network and a surface-mounted reversible defect model. Initial results serving as validation are presented and discussed.

Reference:

Moll, J. ; Kathol, J.; Fritzen, C.-P.; Moix-Bonet, M.; Rennoch, M.; Koerdt, M.; Herrmann, A.; Sause, M. & Bach, M., Open Guided Waves – Online Platform for Ultrasonic Guided Wave Measurements, Structural Health Monitoring, 2018 (accepted in November 2018)