INTERACTION OF GUIDED LAMB WAVES WITH DELAMINATIONS AND DISCONTINUITIES IN COMPOSITE PLATE-LIKE STRUCTURES

Delamination is one of the critical failure modes that laminated composites structures encounter during their fabrication and/or in-service. When guided Lamb wave (A(o)) is employed for sizing of delamination, it is necessary to understand the wave interaction with the defect. Studies were carried out on the interaction of Ao mode with symmetric and asymmetric delaminations and transmission of turning modes in the sub-laminates. An attempt was also made to understand the propagation of Ao mode in composite structural T-joint. During the interaction of Ao mode with structural discontinuity in a T-joint, generation of a new mode, So, and propagation of turning modes were observed. Length and width of interface delamination in composite T-joint have been worked out using D-scan and B-scan respectively. All studied were carried out through numerical simulations and experimental verifications through Non-Contact Ultrasound (NCU) technique.