Numerical approach for ultrasonic imagining of defects in composites

The article presents the approach for damage characterization in composite aerospace structures for the ultrasonic non destructive evaluation technique. The damages which affect the structural integrity of such components are the following: disbonds, delaminations, foreign object inclusions and many others. Different NDE techniques are used for the characterization of composite structures. There are numerous limitations and advantages of each technique. One of the most suitable techniques for that purpose is the ultrasonic one. The most important issue in that method is proper selection of inspection parameters and the next issue is signal processing. The approach to signal processing may contain analysis in the frequency and time domain of one and two dimensional signals. Moreover for the size of the damage evaluation, the amplitude (signal value) is used very often. In the article, the 2D signal value evaluation approach is presented. The article will highlight the problems and advantages of signal processing and will show new possibilities of 3D composite characterization (e.g. ply stacking sequence).