Investigating different damages in a hybrid composite plate completely immersed in water using Ultrasonic waves
Date
2024
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Abstract
The present research investigates the ability of ultrasonic waves in
detecting and localizing different types of damage in a hybrid metal-composite
laminate fully immersed in water through the permanently attached piezoelectric
(PZT) transducers (PZT). Based on the wave-structure analysis and dispersion
diagrams obtained for the hybrid metal-composite laminate, a suitable wave
excitation frequency is selected for conducting numerical simulations. Accordingly, a
gaussian-windowed tone burst signal centered at 250 kHz is applied at the PZT to
generate ultrasonic waves in the test specimen. It is found that Scholte wave mode is
generated and propagates along the water-solid interface in addition to the anti symmetric guided wave modes. Further, mode conversion is observed during the wave
mode-damage interaction. Comparing the pristine and damaged specimens,
additional wave packets are seen to be propagating within the specimen that is
revealed by analyzing the time-domain waveforms. This information can be further
utilized in detecting as well as localizing the damage in the specimen. The location of
damage found is well in harmony with the physical locations of damage. Thus, the
proposed methodology is found to be capable of investigating the health status of
immersed hybrid laminates non-destructively using ultrasonic waves with the help
of simple and cost-effective PZT sensors.