Latest revision as of 16:06, 25 November 2022

Summary

We advance this field by systematically exploring nonlinear interactions of A0 Lamb mode signals with delamination defects of various sizes and interlaminar locations, to facilitate the characterization of delaminations. The interrogation signal, in this regard, is a modulated sinusoid whose frequency varies in steps of 20 kHz between 40 kHz and 100 kHz. Commercial FEM software is used for modelling the contact at delamination interfaces and for simulating the Lamb wave propagation through the waveguide with delamination defect. It is demonstrated that the intermittently acting contact pressure between the two surfaces of delamination acts as a source of nonlinearity, resulting in generation of higher order harmonics of interrogation frequency. A metric for measuring nonlinearity, the nonlinearity index (NI), is used to quantify the strength of wave-damage interactions over a range of interrogation frequencies. The NI index is observed to vary with both the interlaminar location as well as the width of the delamination. The maximum value of NI is further influenced by the frequency of excitation signal. To infer the effect of delamination parameters on the NI, a concept of a concept of contact energy intensity is introduced, which is largely dependent on the size and the interlaminar position of the delamination. The nonlinearity index patterns are explained by combining the intensity of the contact energy with the phase difference between waves traveling through the sub-laminations and the flexural rigidity of the two sub-laminates at the delamination location. The inferences provided can potentially be used for determining the interlaminar location and width of delamination employing higher harmonic Lamb wave signals generated by the breathing delamination.

Abstract

Full Paper