Accepted Manuscript

Damage localization and identification in WGF/epoxy composite laminates by

using Lamb waves: experiment and simulation

Bin Yang, Fu-Zhen Xuan, Shaojie Chen, Shaoping Zhou, Yang Gao, Biao Xiao

PII: S0263-8223(16)32737-4
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.01.015
Reference: COST 8149

To appear in: Composite Structures

Received Date: 2 December 2016

Revised Date: 29 December 2016
Accepted Date: 10 January 2017

Please cite this article as: Yang, B., Xuan, F-Z., Chen, S., Zhou, S., Gao, Y., Xiao, B., Damage localization and
identification in WGF/epoxy composite laminates by using Lamb waves: experiment and simulation, Composite
Structures (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.01.015

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Damage localization and identification in WGF/epoxy
composite laminates by using Lamb waves: experiment
and simulation

Bin Yang, Fu-Zhen Xuan*, Shaojie Chen, Shaoping Zhou, Yang Gao, Biao Xiao
School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, East China University of Science and
Technology, Shanghai, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: fzxuan@ecust.edu.cn.. Tel./fax:
+86-021-64251623.
Address: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, East China University of
Science and Technology, No.130, Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China.

Abstract:
Lamb wave propagating behavior in woven glass fiber reinforced epoxy (WGF/epoxy)
composite laminates was studied by simulation and experiment. A 3D finite element
(FE) model was built in Abaqus/Explicit software with the help of user material
subroutine to capture the wave propagating features in WGF/epoxy composite plate.
The Lamb wave tests were carried out by a non-circular array with 8 piezoelectric
(PZT) wafers. A defect imaging algorithm was developed using MATLAB based on
the ellipse theory in time-dependent domains. Two defect imaging cases were carried
out in the WGF/epoxy composite plate to verify the feasibility of the proposed
algorithm. A good agreement between the simulated waveforms and experimental
data was achieved. This indicates a great potential of the proposed algorithm in the
field of damage localization and identification for WGF/epoxy thin-walled laminates.
Keywords: Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs); Finite element analysis (FEA);
Non-destructive testing (NDT); Lamb wave

1
1. Introduction
Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) laminated composite thin-walled structures have
been widely used in many engineering fields such as aerospace, ocean engineering,
and automobile industries due to their desirable mechanical performances [1].
However, these advanced composite materials are highly susceptible to internal
damages in practice [2, 3]. These damages could be induced by the external load such
as impact and/or repeated loadings during manufacture and/or in service. They will
jeopardize the reliability of the composite structures without early warnings.
Meanwhile, the damages in the thin-walled composite laminates are usually not easily
detected by visual inspection. For structural safety, it is important to detect these
damages before they reach their threshold limit of causing catastrophic failure.
Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods are usually adopted to evaluate the health
status of engineering structures. As an improved version of traditional NDT, structural
health monitoring (SHM) has been proposed for continuous inspection of the
structures. Recently, Lamb wave based SHM system is being proposed for monitoring
the thin-walled composite structures [4, 5]. However, studies on this topic are never
enough since Lamb waves offer a great application potential in the field of damages
detecting in composite structures. A deep understanding of Lamb wave propagation in
composite laminates could help interpreting the high sensitivity of Lamb wave based
SHM system.
A wide range of analysis approaches have been covered to investigate the guided
wave propagation behavior in thin-walled composite laminates. Generally, these
methods can be divided into analytical/semi-analytical [6], numerical [7], and
experimental works [8, 9]. Among these methods, finite element (FE) simulation has
been widely adopted to predict the guided wave modes. However, most of the
available FE analyses are focused on two-dimension (2D) or small three-dimension
(3D) models to simulate the guided wave features in anisotropic media [10-11]. For
instance, Nitesh et al. [10] used 2D FE simulation on Lamb wave based nonlinear
method to detect the delamination in a composite laminate. Samir et al. [11] modeled

2
a sandwich structure with 2D composite shell element to investigate the guided wave
propagating behavior. Attribute to the importance of material performance along the
thickness direction, Ng et al. [12] discussed the necessity for applying 3D simulation
model to test guided waves in composite laminates. Therefore, in order to accurately
model the interaction effects between guided waves and damages in thin-walled
composite laminates, full 3D simulation tools are required. Although a 3D simulation
model focusing on guided wave propagating in composite laminates has been
performed in reference [13], a comprehensive 3D FE modeling of guided waves
should be addressed and needed for fundamental study.
Many vibration and ultrasound based SHM technologies have been developed
for damage detection in various medium. The former method makes use of dynamic
characteristics of a structure, while the latter technique is based on the generated
elastic stress waves. Lamb waves can travel over a long distance and they are very
sensitive to property changes in the travelled medium. Mainly due to these unique
characteristics, Lamb wave based SHM system has been widely adopted to monitor
the health status of plate-like structures [14]. Detecting and localizing the damage in
thin-walled composite laminates are the key expectations toward the development of
Lamb wave based SHM system. This system generally consists of two parts: the wave
excited system and the damage imaging algorithm. Generally, Lamb waves are
excited through the piezoelectric effect and the wave propagates in the medium
through particle vibrations between the top and bottom surfaces of a plate. The most
appropriate Lamb wave-based diagnosis algorithm is the baseline-depended method.
By analyzing the wave signal differences between the healthy and damaged
specimens, this method can easily detect the defects inner the medium. For example,
Michal et al. [15] developed a method based on the guided wave actuation for damage
localization by non-circular PZT arrays. Zima et al. [16] focused on a diagnostic
system dedicated for plate structures with a variable length linear crack using the
guided wave-based technique and an ellipse-based binary damage imaging algorithm.
It is worth mentioning that some references have studied the baseline-free algorithm

3
to locate the defects [17, 18]. However, the damage scattering signals in these
algorithms are too weak to be covered easily by structural boundary scattering, mode
conversion, operational and environmental variations. Hence, by means of the
comparison between damage signals and the baseline data, more accurate scattering
signals could be captured. In terms of the thin-walled composite laminates, the
complex wave propagating mechanism makes the damage imaging process very
complicated. More efforts should be made to develop new damage imaging
algorithms that could diagnose the laminated composites with high accuracy.
In the present paper, we built a 3D FE model to simulate the Lamb wave
propagating behavior in a thin-walled WGF/epoxy laminated composite plate. This
3D model considered the composite material performance along fill/warp fiber
direction, and thickness direction in detail. The composite laminates with ply form of
[90o/0o]4 were manufactured by vacuum assisted resin injection (VARI) processing.
Based on the non-circular PZT array arrangement, we carried out the experimental
studies to verify the Lamb wave features obtained in the simulation. To locate and
identify the defects in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates, we introduced a damage
locating algorithm in MATLAB environment. Two defect imaging cases were
performed to verify the universality of the newly developed algorithm.

2. Lamb wave in composite laminates

Lamb wave is an elastic wave generated and propagated by particle motions
between the upper and lower surface boundaries of a plate, as shown in Fig. 1. The
equations of particle motions can effectively describe the Lamb wave behavior in a
plate with free boundary condition. Dispersion and multimode phenomenon are the
nature of Lamb waves. For an isotropic medium, the constituent properties, geometry,
wave direction, and frequency will affect the Lamb wave modes. Also, the wave mode
may be changed when Lamb wave meets the boundary and defect etc. We can use
Helmholtz decomposition to solve the symmetric (S) and anti-symmetric (A) Lamb
wave equations, which can be expressed as follows:

4
Symmetric Lamb wave:

tan(qh) 4k 2 pq
 2 2 2 (1)
tan( ph) (q  k )

Anti-symmetric Lamb wave:

tan(qh) (q 2  k 2 )2
 (2)
tan( ph) 4k 2 pq

2 2
where, p 2  ( 2
 k 2
) , q 2
 ( 2
 k 2 ) , and  is the angular frequency; K is the
CL CT

wave number, and h is the half plate thickness; CL and CT are the longitudinal and
transverse wave velocities, respectively.
However, for guided wave propagating in the multi-layered composite laminate,
the wave interaction depends upon not only the individual constituents but also their
interface properties. There are totally six wave modes of which define a single guided
wave mode in laminated composite plates [19]. For an nth layer of a monoclinic
plates shown in Fig. 2, the six waves are consist of two quasi-longitudinal (L±), two
quasi-shear vertical waves (SV±), and two quasi-shear horizontal waves (SH±). The
final Lamb wave mode and its propagation in the laminates were determined by the
reflections of all the six waves and their combination/interference from the face
boundaries within each layer and the adjacent layers. If the semi-infinite half spaces
are considered to be vacuum, and the stress on the top and bottom surface are
assumed to be zero, Pant et al. [20] described the global matrix of Lamb wave as:

 Pi1  [ Z l 2,top ] [0] [0] 

 P   [Z U 
 i 2   l 2,bot ] [ Z l 3,top ] [0]   l 2 
  U   (3)
 Pi 3   [0] [ Z l 3,bot ] [  Z l 4,top ]  l 3 
 U 

 Pi 4 
  [0] [0] [ Z l 4,bot ]   l 4 

where, Pik are the displacement and stress vectors of layer-k, while Z and U are the
global matrix and amplitude vectors, respectively. It should be noted that the bonded
interfaces between each layers and fiber-matrix interface region are assumed perfect
in Eq. 3. Also, the composite layers are assumed consisting of linear elastic material.
As can be seen in Eq. 3, the wave feature of Lamb wave in a multi-layered plate

5
depends on the incident wave type, magnitude, frequency and incidence angle. In this
paper, the incident Lamb wave can be generated by the following equation:
1 2 f ct
A [1  cos( ) sin(2 f ct )] (4)
2 n
where, A is the amplitude, and fc is the frequency; n is the wave period, while t is the
wave propagating duration. Dispersion curves of a structure are the fundamental tools
to analyze the waveform in the Lamb wave based inspection system. The dispersion
curve calculated by solving Eq. 3 in Disperse software of a boundary-free
WGF/epoxy composite laminates with ply mode of [90o/0o]4 is shown in Fig. 3. It
should be noted that the Disperse software is an interactive program designed to
calculate dispersion curves for multi-layered structures. We give the symmetric (S)
and antisymmetric (A) Lamb wave modes in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates in
Fig. 3. Clearly, a less dispersive region exists in the low frequency range where the S0
and A0 modes travel at almost constant velocities. This frequently is referred to as the
non-dispersion region. As can be seen in Fig. 3, the non-dispersion region is available
when the excited frequency is less than 400 kHz, and there are merely S0 and A0
modes in this region, which indicates that the dispersion phenomenon can be
negligible. Therefore, we let n in Eq. 4 equals to 3.5 in the next simulation and
experiment, and a frequency of 60 kHz is selected. Thus, the final frequency is 210
kHz calculated by the selected frequency multiply by wave period. Meanwhile, this
selected frequency could simplify the waveform analysis in post-processing since it
can minimize the amplitude of the unwanted mode signals.

3. Simulation
As the theoretical solutions cannot capture the Lamb wave feature well
in the composite laminates by solving the wave equation such as Eq. 3,
researches on Lamb wave propagating characteristics in composite
laminates by FE before experiments are essential. In this work, the FE
simulation is performed to study Lamb wave propagating feature in the
healthy and damaged WGF/epoxy composite laminates, respectively.

6
3.1. 3D FE model description
As discussed, the simulation on Lamb wave in thin-walled composite
laminates is a 3D problem. Therefore, traditional FE models that treated
the composite laminates as shell element cannot solve the problem well
[21]. Based on the 3D FE method, Hashin criteria is adopted to predict
the Lamb wave features in multi-layered composite laminates. We compiled a
user material subroutine to predict particle vibrations along the fill
fiber, warp fiber, and thickness directions during the Lamb wave
propagating in WGF/epoxy plate. The detailed information of the
subroutine can be found in our early work in [22]. In order to be consistent
with the laminates used in the next experiment work, the ply mode of the
composite laminates in the simulation is [90o/0o]4. Simulation is carried out by
Abaqus/Explicit (Dassault Inc., France). The coordinate system and the location of the
PZT wafer actuator in the FE model are shown in Fig. 4. In details, there are four
layers with each layer thickness of 0.55 mm in the adopted composites model, and the
final dimension of the FE model is 490×350×2.2 mm3. The [90o/0o]4 laminates are
meshed with the 8-node hexahedral C3D8R element and assigned orthotropic
properties as listed in Tables 1 and 2. In the Lamb wave propagation simulation, the
mesh size must be sufficiently small that should be at least 10 nodes per wavelength
of the propagating wave [10]. The excitation frequency used is 210 kHz and its third
harmonic, 630 kHz is expected to be generated as a result of the contact nonlinearity.
Therefore, the mesh size should be small enough to be able to capture 630 kHz. A
final mesh with the element size of 0.5 mm is selected, and it is lesser than the
required threshold mesh size in the simulation.
3.2 Lamb wave feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates
Fig. 5 shows the Lamb wave propagating process as the function of exciting
duration in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates. It should be mentioned that the
composite laminates in the figure are the healthy composite panel without defects.
Typically when propagating in an isotropic plate, Lamb waves travel with the same

7
velocity omnidirectionally and the wave front forms a circle until it meets the
boundaries and/or defects in the medium. Because the energy of particle motions
along each direction in the isotropic plate is the same, the Lamb wave field around the
round PZT wafer transducer is perfectly circular [23]. As can be seen in Fig. 5,
however, the Lamb wave in WGF/epoxy forms a rhombic-like shape and its
propagating velocity along fill (90o) and warp (0o) directions of the composite
laminates is larger than other directions. The wave velocity along 45o fiber direction is
the lowest among all the directions. This phenomenon indicates that the wave velocity
in the composites is subject to the direction of propagation, and the Lamb wave
travels at distinct velocities in different directions. The simulation result matches the
wave propagating theory in laminated composite panel in Fig. 2 and can be explained
as follows: The fibers in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates are along 90o/0o
direction, and the strength and modulus along fiber direction are much higher than
other directions in the woven fabric composites. The particle elastic motions of Lamb
wave in fiber direction are stronger and this mechanism finally leads to the high wave
amplitude in the simulation. It worth mentioning that Wang et al. [24] introduced
slowness profile to visually highlight the discrepancy in the propagation of Lamb
waves in different directions. The slowness profile is a function of the reciprocal of
direction-dependent propagation velocity. Form the FE results in Fig. 5, we can
concluded that the slowness profiles of S0/A0 mode wave almost independent of the
direction in the laminate with ply mode of [90o/0o]4. Meanwhile, when the Lamb
waves meet the boundary, reflection takes place, and some wave overlap regions can
be seen in the WGF/epoxy during the wave propagating process. Also, as the nature of
guided waves, dispersion phenomenon is clearly observed in the simulation. In the
following work, these data can be used as the baseline case to help understanding the
wave propagation mechanism and defect imaging algorithm in the laminated
composites.
Fig. 6 shows the Lamb wave feature in the damaged WGF/epoxy composite
laminates as the function of Lamb wave propagating duration. In this WGF/epoxy

8
composite laminates, a circle through-hole with diameter of 12 mm is located at
(x=245 mm, y=175 mm) to simulate the defect in the composite plate. Fig. 7 is the
Lamb wave propagating behavior in the composite panel with defect coordinate of
(x=160 mm, y=240 mm). As can be seen in the figures, distinct dispersion can be
found in the simulation results. When the wave package meets the defect, reflection
and scattering occur. However, wave reflection and scattering phenomenon in Fig. 6
are clearer than that in Fig. 7. As discussed above, this is because the defect in Fig. 6
is located on the 90o/0o fiber direction in the slowness profiles, and the wave slowness
in 90o/0o direction is smaller than that in 45o direction. As a result, the wave amplitude
in Fig. 6 keeps larger even after it met the defect and consumed the energy by wave
scattering effect.

4. Experiments
The experimental setup and photograph of the Lamb wave based SHM system
are shown in Fig. 8. The researched WGF/epoxy composite laminates are
manufactured by VARI processing, and the detailed manufacturing procedure can be
found in our previous work in reference [3]. The woven glass fabrics in the
experiments are the two-dimension orthogonal plain woven fabric clothes with
surface mass density of 700 g/m2. The strand width of the fabric is 4 mm, while the
gap between each adjacent strand is 1 mm. As illustrated in the simulation section, the
dimension of the composite laminates is 490×350×2.2 mm3 with ply mode of [90o/0o]4.
A hanning-windowed signal calculated by Eq.4 is generated from the Tektronix AFG
3012C single channel arbitrary function generator. Then the signal is powered up to
20 times of the initial value by a linear high-voltage amplifier (Model EPA-104, Piezo
Systems, Inc.). The data are recorded at 2.5 GS/s through a Tektronix MDO 3012
mixed domain oscilloscope. In terms of the PZT array arrangement, non-circular PZT
wafers are used. They form a cross-like shape on the composite plate as shown in Fig.
8. Since the PZT wafer transducers can be used as the actuator and sensor
synchronously, there are totally 56 groups of signals can be obtained for one type of

9
specimen in the experiment. It should be noted that the two circular defects located at
(x=245, y=175) and (x=160, y=240) on the composite laminates, respectively.

4.1. Comparison between experimental and numerical results

The wave response of the composite laminates excited at a frequency of 210
kHz is presented in Fig. 9. It should be noted that the wave in the figure is excited by
No.2 PZT and received by No.1 and 3 PZT sensors, respectively. Together in the
figure, results between simulation and experiment are compared. It is obvious from
the wave shapes in the figures that the S0/A0 wave modes are predicted successfully,
and the simulation and experimental results match well. Typically in Fig. 9, all the
waveforms are characterized by a distinct dispersive behavior: the frequency is the
function of propagating duration. This phenomenon has been verified by the FE
results in Section 3.2. As calculated by the relationship between actuator-sensor
distance and its corresponding propagation duration, the velocity of the first wave
package is 3.7 km/s. According to the dispersion property in Fig. 3, this wave velocity
matches the feature of S0 mode wave. From the comparison between Figs. 9a, b and
Figs. 9c, d, it can be found that the arriving time of the first wave package increases
with the increase of actuator-sensor distance. These characteristics of the direct wave
in different cases also match the predicted propagation duration of S0 wave mode in
the dispersion curves. Similarly, by analyzing the relationship between velocity and
the sensor-actuator distance, we found that the second wave packages in Fig. 9 have
the A0 Lamb wave mode feature according to Fig. 3, and the third wave packages are
the scattering S0 wave packages by the boundary. The minor differences of the A0
mode amplitude in numerical and experimental results in Fig. 9 can be attributed to
the attenuation of A0 mode. As known, the particle vibrations in A0 mode are
out-of-plane dominant, which leak partial energy to the surrounding environment in
the experiments. In terms of the S0 mode, the particles have the in-plane
displacements and the energy is therefore confined within the plate in the experiments.
This vibration characteristic leads to the super similarity of S0 mode between FE and

10
experiment in Fig. 9.
4.2. Defect imaging algorithm
As described in the simulation work, Lamb wave scattering effects such as
reflection and/or mode conversion may take place when they are propagating near the
defect region in the composite laminates. In contrast, the wave scattering phenomenon
does not happen in the composite laminates without defect. Thus, this comparison
phenomenon between healthy and damaged thin-walled composite laminates provides
the application potential of Lamb waves to locate the defects in the structures.
Generally, the signal differences between damaged and un-damaged specimens are the
basic considerations when designing the imaging algorithms to locate and identify the
defects. Ellipse method is one of the most common damage imaging algorithm, and it
has been adopted in many previous researches [16, 25, 26]. This method could
determine a probable position of a defect based on wave scattering phenomenon.
Geometric relationship between the actuator-damage-sensor distance and the
time-of-flight (ToF) of the scattered wave propagation is used in ellipse method. The
solutions of the relationship between ToF, wave velocity, and the distance could
create an ellipse in the plane. Here, we will introduce an enhanced ellipse algorithm in
MATLAB environment.
The flow chart of the defect imaging algorithm is shown in Fig. 10. As the
baseline data, we firstly tested the 56 groups of Lamb wave signals of the healthy
composite laminates. It should be noted that the signals were excited by one of the 8
PZT wafers and received by the other 7 PZT wafers on the studied composite
laminates, respectively. Then, the Lamb wave signals in the damaged composite
laminates with different defect locations are captured by the experimental setup in Fig.
8. These 56 groups of signals obtained in the damaged plate were then used as the
input data to calculate the signal differences with their corresponding healthy signals
in the imaging algorithm. We divided the defect imaging algorithm into three steps:
The signal processing step firstly treated both the baseline data and the two groups of
defect signals by filtering process and de-noise procedure. After calculating the

11
envelope curves by Hilbert transform of all the Lamb wave signals, the signal
difference operation between the baseline and its corresponding damaged waves were
performed. Defect scattering signals indicated by the signal difference could be
obtained in this step. The second step is to discrete the rectangular composite laminate
plate into smaller square grids. This discrete processing is carried out along the length
(L) and width (W) direction of the plate, respectively. Thus, this process could
generate the nodes at the crossing points of meshes in composite laminates. On the
base of the known value of the wave group velocity and the identified value of the
ToF, it is possible to calculate the actuator-node-sensor distance. The calculated
distance between each node and the actuator-sensor pair makes the node lying on an
ellipse. Once the defect scattering signal happens on the node, this node will be
highlighted by deeper color. Conversely, if wave scattering does not happen from the
defect at the node, their color will be lighter. Therefore, each meshed node on the
composite plate was assigned its own color to indicate the damage level after the
discrete grid step. After normalization in the third step, we divided the imaging
process into two approaches: these colored nodes on the meshed plate are added and
multiply with each other, respectively. This method can be represented by the
schematic diagram in Fig. 11.
4.3. Defect localization and identification results
Fig. 12 shows the defect location and identification results in the two
investigated composite laminates with different defect locations by different imaging
algorithms, respectively. As can be seen, the deep color regions in Figs. 12a and b
indicate the defect location in the composite laminates calculated by the two
developed imaging algorithms, respectively. From the figure, we can concluded that
both the two algorithms could find the defect location in the composite laminates
along fiber direction very well. As discussed above, the defect region in the algorithm
is determined by wave scattering of defect and captured by all the sensor-actuator
pairs in the test. According to the slowness profile of [90o/0o]4 in the simulation
section, both the S0/A0 mode Lamb wave are independent of the direction in the

12
laminate, and their velocities/amplitudes along fiber direction are the largest.
Therefore, the wave scattering signals by defect located in (x=245, y=175) are easier
to be captured due to the fact that they have the strong propagating energy along
90o/0o fiber directions. By contrast, the defect location calculated by the same
algorithm in Fig. 12c is not as accurate as that in Fig. 12a. This phenomenon can be
explained as following: as verified by the slowness profile in the simulation, the S0/A0
Lamb waves along 45o direction are weak with regard to the signals received along
90o/0o direction. As a result, the scattering signal by the defect located in (x=160 mm,
y=240 mm) could be easily covered by noise during the experimental test. These noise
signals maybe formed by the reflected wave from the crossed points between warp
and fill fibers along 45o direction in the composite laminates. Because the addition
algorithm captures all the signal differences between defect and healthy signals, they
leave an image with a large defect region in Fig. 12c. However, the deficiencies of
using Fig. 12c to identify the damage can be overcame by the multiply algorithm in
Fig. 12d. As can be seen in Fig. 12d, this algorithm could locate the defect with higher
accuracy on the researched WGF/epoxy composite laminates.

5. Conclusions
Lamb wave propagating phenomenon and defect localization and identification
method in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates were investigated. Numerical and
experimental studies based on the Lamb wave inspection technology had been carried
out. The conclusions are summarized as follows:
(1) The Lamb wave propagating velocity along fill/warp fiber direction in
WGF/epoxy composite laminates was the largest, and this phenomenon can be
indicated by the slowness profile of anisotropic multi-layered laminates.
(2) Defect scattering waves in the simulation could be observed obviously, and
the S0/A0 wave modes were predicted successfully. The simulated wave signals
agreed very well with the experimental results, which verified the feasibility of the
adopted 3D FE model.

13
 (3) According to the slowness profile, the wave velocity/amplitude along 90o/0o
fiber direction were larger, thus both the addition and multiply algorithm could find
the 90o/0o defects in the WGF/epoxy composite laminates with high accuracy.
However, if the defect located along 45o direction in the slowness profile, the accuracy
of multiply algorithm was higher than the addition algorithm.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.
2016M601522), Special Research Foundation of Young Teachers (No. 222201617005)
and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51575185).
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16
 Figure Captions
Fig. 1. Upward and downward travelling partial waves for an isotropic medium.
Fig. 2. Guided waves in the n-layered composite laminates.
Fig. 3. Dispersion property of WGF/epoxy composite laminates with ply mode of
[90o/0o]4.
Fig. 4. Coordinate system, PZT actuator location and FE meshes of the model.
Fig. 5. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (baseline
data).
Fig. 6. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (defect
coordinate: x=245 mm, y=175 mm).
Fig. 7. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (defect
coordinate: x=160 mm, y=240 mm).
Fig. 8. Experimental setup and photograph of the SHM system.
Fig. 9. Comparison between the signals obtained in experimental and numerical
investigations with different defect coordinates: (a, b) x=245 mm, y=175 mm, and (c,
d) x=160 mm, y=240 mm.
Fig. 10. Flow chart of the defect imaging algorithm.
Fig. 11. Defect imaging algorithm based on the wave scattering phenomenon.
Fig. 12. Damage location in different WGF/epoxy composite laminates calculated by
different algorithms.

17
 Upper surface x

A mode S mode Wave propagation

direction

z Lower surface

Fig. 1. Upward and downward travelling partial waves for an isotropic medium.

18
 z

Wave propagation
direction x
Top surface
L+ SV+ SH+ L- SV- SH-
1 L+ SV+ SH+ L- SV- SH-
Interface 1
Interface n-1
n L+ SV+ SH+ L- SV- SH-
y Bottom surface

Fig. 2. Guided waves in the n-layered composite laminates. (In the figure, positive
and negative sign denotes that the wave is travelling down and up, respectively)

19
 10

S 2 A2 S3 A3 A4
8 S1

Phase Velocity/(km/s)
A1
6

4
S0
2
A0
0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Frequency/MHz
(a) phase velocity
4

S0 S1 S2
Group Velocity/(km/s)

2 A1
S3
A2 A3
A0
1 A4

0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Frequency/MHz

(b) group velocity

Fig. 3. Dispersion property of WGF/epoxy composite laminates with ply mode of
[90o/0o]4.

20
 (a) (b)
Φ10 mm
PZT actuator location (x=145, y=175)

PZT
y

(0, 0) x
Fig. 4. Coordinate system, PZT actuator location and FE meshes of the model.

21
Fig. 5. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (baseline
data).

22
Fig. 6. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (defect
coordinate: x=245 mm, y=175 mm).

23
Fig. 7. Lamb wave propagating feature in WGF/epoxy composite laminates (defect
coordinate: x=160 mm, y=240 mm).

24
 Oscilloscope
5
6 Signal
Oscilloscope
Computer generator
Tektronix MDO 3012
1 2 3 4 Amplifier
Signal generator Amplifier
Tektronix AFG 3012C Model EPA104 7
8

Fig. 8. Experimental setup and photograph of the SHM system.

25
 1.5 1.5
Experimental Experimental
Simulation Simulation
1.0 1.0
Normalized Amplitude

S0

Normalized Amplitude
S0
Boundary reflection
0.5 A0 0.5
S0
A0
0.0 0.0

-0.5 -0.5

-1.0 -1.0

-1.5 -1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 40 80 120 160
Time (microsec) Time (microsec)

(a) No.1 PZT (b) No.3 PZT

1.5
1.5 Experimental
Experimental Simulation
Simulation 1.0
Normalized Amplitude
S0
Normalized Amplitude

1.0
S0
A0 A0
Boundary reflection 0.5
0.5
S0
0.0
0.0

-0.5
-0.5

-1.0 -1.0

-1.5 -1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (microsec) Time (microsec)

(c) No.1 PZT (d) No.3 PZT

Fig. 9. Comparison between the signals obtained in experimental and numerical
investigations with different defect coordinates: (a, b) x=245 mm, y=175 mm, and (c,
d) x=160 mm, y=240 mm.

26
 Signal Processing Discrete grid processing Imaging processing

Reading the healthy Normalization

Defining the geometry
and defect signals processing and imaging
dimension of the
from experimental of each discrete node on
composite plate
tests the plate

Meshing the plate Imaging of all the

Filtering and De-noise along width and length nodes by addition/
direction multiply algorithm

Calculating the signal Calculating the

envelope curve by distance from each
Hilbert transform discrete node to
actuator-sensor pair

Calculating the signal Building the

differences between relationship between
healthy and damaged the distance and signal
specimen difference

Fig. 10. Flow chart of the defect imaging algorithm.

27
 PZT 5

PZT 6

Incidence signal
PZT 1 PZT 2 PZT 3 PZT 4

Reflection signal Defect

PZT 7

PZT 8

0 0 1 1
0 0
1 1 0
PZT
-5 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0 PZT
-6
0 0 0
PZT 0
-1 0 0
0 0 0
PZT
0 -2 0 0
0 PZT
-3 0
0 0
0 0PZ PZT 0
T-7 0
-4 0
0 0 0
0 0
0 0PZT-8 0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Fig. 11. Defect imaging algorithm based on the wave scattering phenomenon.

28
 real defect (x=245 mm, y=175 mm) real defect (x=245 mm, y=175 mm)

(a) addition algorithm (b) multiply algorithm

real defect (x=160 mm, y=240 mm) real defect (x=160 mm, y=240 mm)

(c) addition algorithm (d) multiply algorithm

Fig. 12. Damage location in different WGF/epoxy composite laminates calculated by
different algorithms.

29
Table 1
Elastic properties of WGF/epoxy composites (GPa).
E11 E22 E33 G12 G13 G23 v12 v13 v23
11.8 11.8 0.58 4.82 4.82 4.82 0.05 0.24 0.24

Table 2
Strength properties of WGF/epoxy composites (MPa).
XT YT ZT S12 S13 S23 XC YC ZC
485.05 488.91 52.14 108.4 108.4 108.4 59.94 59.58 52.14

30