Study on Coupling Mechanism Between Highly Nonlinear Solitary Waves and Interior Delamination Composite Plate

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to detect the damage of interior delamination in composite laminate using a new non-destructive testing method of highly nonlinear solitary waves. We studied the coupling mechanism between highly nonlinear solitary waves and interior delamination composite plate. Methods The discrete element method is used for the one-dimensional particle chain, based on the residual stiffness model, Hertz's contact law and the composite plate vibration differential equation are used, we obtained the coupled differential equations for one-dimensional particle chain and interior delamination composite plate. We used the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method to solve the differential equations, and obtained the velocity curve and displacement curve of each particle in the particle chain. The influence of the thickness of the damaged composite plate, the average diameter of the interlaminar cracks, and the density of the interlaminar cracks on the reflected solitary waves are analyzed. We used one-dimensional homogeneous particle chain and one-dimensional composite particle chain to detect damaged composite plate with different material properties. Results The results shows that the reflected waves are sensitive to the thickness of the plate, the average diameter of the interlaminar cracks and the density of the interlaminar cracks. We find that the propagation time of solitary waves in the composite particle chain is shorter and faster, and the detection efficiency can be increased by 23.5% at most. Conclusions The characteristic information carried by reflected waves can be used for non-destructive testing of damaged composite plate. The research results of this paper enrich and improve the non-destructive testing of composite materials, and accelerate the practical application of one-dimensional particle chain.