Distributed coordination algorithm for impact location of preciseness and real-time on composite structures

It is well known that the major drawback of composite materials is their susceptibility to impact damage. Many investigations on the impact location have been undertaken in order to keep up the integrity and operation safety of these structures. In practical applications of structural health monitoring, how to obtain a fast and accurate impact location is an important problem to be addressed deeply. In the paper, a distributed coordination algorithm is presented to deal with the impact location problem in composite structures. The triangulation method and the inverse analysis method communicate and share the results with each other, and coordinate to solve the problem in parallel for the impact localization, and finish the task not solved by only a method. The proposed approach is illustrated through an experiment on a T-30 carbon fiber laminated composite structure. The result shows that the method can fast and effectively locate the impact source. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.