Simultaneous Monitoring of Impact Locations and Damages in Composite Laminates Using Piezoceramic Sensors

Abstract

Low-velocity impact is a major concern in the design of structures made of advanced laminated composites, because it can cause extensive delaminations inside composites that can severely degrade the load-carrying capability. To develop the impact monitoring techniques providing on-line diagnostics of smart composite structures can be helpful in the health monitoring of structures susceptible to impacts. In this paper, we discuss the signal processing techniques for the simultaneous monitoring of impact locations and damages using piezoceramic sensors (PZT).