A built-in active sensor network for health monitoring of composite structures

An embedded sensor network technique was developed for improving the overall integrity of functionalized composite structures engaged in aircraft. A set of miniaturized piezoelectric wafers was designed and circuited to configure a built-in active actuator/sensor network, which was immobilized into multi-layered composite laminates. The propagation characteristics of Lamb waves generated and collected by this built-in sensor network in carbon fibre-reinforced composite laminates were investigated. The influence of a stiffener and of the excitation frequency on the propagation of the Lamb waves generated was evaluated. A study was carried out to assess delamination in CF/EP (carbon fibre/epoxy) woven laminates, by fusing information from multiple sensing paths of the embedded network on the basis of the Hilbert transform, signal correlation and probabilistic searching. An excellent identification capability indicates the considerable application potential of the proposed sensor network approach in providing high-fidelity data acquisition and condition monitoring for composite aircraft structures.

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