Validation of the piezoelectric rosette technique for locating impacts in complex aerospace panels

In this paper an approach based on an array of macro-fiber composite (MFC) transducers arranged as rosettes is proposed for high-velocity impact location on isotropic and composite aircraft panels. Each rosette, using the directivity behavior of three MFC sensors, provides the direction of an incoming wave generated by the impact source as a principal strain angle. A minimum of two rosettes is sufficient to determine the impact location by intersecting the wave directions. The piezoelectric rosette approach is easier to implement than the well known time-of-flight based triangulation of acoustic emissions because it does not require knowledge of the wave speed in the material. Hence the technique does not have the drawbacks of time-of-flight triangulation associated to anisotropic materials or tapered sections. The experiments reported herein show the applicability of the technique to high-velocity impacts created with a gas-gun firing spherical ice projectiles. The experimental testing involved the following six specimens: an aluminum panel, a quasi-isotropic CFRP composite panel, a highly anisotropic CFRP composite panel, a stiffened aluminum panel, a stiffened quasi-isotropic CFRP composite panel, and a stiffened anisotropic CFRP composite panel.

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