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Nanoparticle- (NP-) doped optical fibres show the potential to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and thus the sensitivity of optical fibre strain detection for structural health monitoring. In this paper, our previous experimental/simulation study is extended to a design study for strain monitoring. 100 nm spherical gold NPs were randomly seeded in the optical fibre core to increase the intensity of backscattered light. Backscattered light spectra were obtained in different wavelength ranges around the infrared C-band and for different gauge lengths. Spectral shift values were obtained by cross-correlation of the spectra before and after strain change. The results showed that the strain accuracy has a positive correlation with the relative spectral sensitivity and that the strain precision decreases with increasing noise. Based on the simulated results, a formula for the sensitivity of the NP-doped optical fibre sensor was obtained using an aerospace case study to provide realistic strain values. An improved method is proposed to increase the accuracy of strain detection based on increasing the relative spectral sensitivity, and the results showed that the error was reduced by about 50%, but at the expense of a reduced strain measurement range and more sensitivity to noise. These results contribute to the better application of NP-doped optical fibres for strain monitoring., Structural Integrity & Composites, Group Rans, Group Benedictus, Group Groves

In this paper, the effect of interface properties on the compressive failure behavior of 3D woven composites (3DWC) is investigated by incorporating a micromechanics-based multiscale damage model (MMDM). The correlation between the mesoscopic stress of yarns and microscopic stress of constituents is established by defining a stress amplification factor. With the microscopic stresses, the fiber breakage and matrix failure can be separately evaluated at the microscale, without assuming the yarns as transversely isotropic homogeneous materials. Especially, the interfacial debonding between yarns and matrix is also a dominant damage mode within 3DWC. Given that there is still a lack of studies on the influence of interfacial properties on the compressive failure behavior of 3DWC, it is meaningful to perform numerical parametric studies to reveal how the interface properties contribute to the damage mechanisms of 3DWC under compressions. The predicted results indicate that with the increase of interface strengths and fracture toughness, the compressive resistance of 3DWC can be significantly improved, resulting in higher strength and failure strain. Additionally, the studied 3DWCs with weak, medium and strong interfaces exhibit different damage development processes., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

Health indicators are indices that act as intermediary links between raw SHM data and prognostic models. An efficient HI should satisfy prognostic requirements such as monotonicity, trendability, and prognosability in such a way that it can be effectively used as an input in a prognostic model for remaining useful life estimation. However, discovering or designing a suitable HI for composite structures is a challenging task due to the inherent complexity of the evolution of damage events in such materials. Previous research has shown that data-driven models are efficient for accomplishing this goal. Large labeled datasets, however, are normally required, and the SHM data can only be labeled, respecting prognostic requirements, after a series of nominally identical structures are tested to failure. In this paper, a semi-supervised learning approach based on implicitly imposing prognostic criteria is adopted to design a novel HI suitable. To this end, single-stiffener composite panels were subjected to compression-compression fatigue loading and monitored using acoustic emission (AE). The AE data after signal processing and feature extraction were fused using a multi-layer LSTM neural network with criteria-based hypothetical targets to generate an intelligent HI. The results confirm the performance of the proposed scenario according to the prognostic criteria., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

Embedding fiber optic sensors (FOSs) within parts for strain measurement is attracting widespread interest due to its great potential in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). This work proposes a novel method of embedding FOSs using capillaries within solid structures and investigates fiber positions and orientation uncertainties within capillaries of different sizes and their influences on strain measurement accuracies. To investigate how the fiber positions and orientation variations influence strain measurement accuracy, both analytical and numerical models are utilized to predict strain distributions along embedded fibers at different positions and with different orientations within the specimen. To verify the predictions, a group of specimens made of Aluminum 6082 was prepared, and the specimens in each group had capillaries of 2 mm, 4 mm, and 6 mm diameters, respectively. Fibers were embedded within each specimen using the capillaries. Four-point bending static tests were conducted for each specimen with embedded FOSs, performing in situ strain measurement. Subsequently, the specimens were partitioned into several pieces, and the cross sections were observed to know the real positions of the embedded fiber. Finally, the strain predictions at the real locations of the fiber were compared with the measured strain from the embedded FOSs. The predicted strain distributions as a function of the fiber positions alone and as a function of both the fiber positions and orientations were compared to assess the influence of fiber orientation change. The results from a combination of analytical, numerical, and experimental techniques suggest that the fiber position from the capillary center is the main factor that can influence strain measurement accuracies of embedded FOSs, and potential fiber misalignments within the capillary had a negligible influence. The fiber position-induced measured error increases from 10.5% to 18.5% as the capillary diameter increase, Structural Integrity & Composites

The present work aims at understanding the stochastic matrix crack evolution in CFRP cross-ply laminates under tension–tension fatigue loading. An experimental campaign was carried out on twenty-three specimens at different stress levels, while two optical techniques were used for the in-situ monitoring of the accumulation of transverse matrix cracks. The results showed a significant scatter in crack evolution among specimens. This stochastic behaviour was further investigated using image analysis and numerical modelling. It was found that transverse matrix cracks can be classified into the independent and dependent cracks based on a critical crack spacing. Furthermore, the severity of interaction among cracks was quantified by introducing a dependent crack ratio. Finally, a strength-based probabilistic model was proposed to describe the scattering regime of the crack evolution. The agreement between model and test results indicates that local strength variations of 90 plies are the dominant scattering source governing the initial fatigue resistance to cracking and determining the accumulation of transverse matrix cracks among specimens. These results may provide a new insight into the stochastic nature of matrix cracking in composite laminates and aid in the design of fatigue resistance properties., Structural Integrity & Composites

To move towards a condition-based maintenance practice for aircraft structures, design of reliable health management methodologies is required. Development of diagnostic methodologies is commonly realised on simplified sample structures with assumptions that methodologies can be adapted for application to realistic aircraft structures under in-service conditions. Yet such actual applications are not conducted. In this work, we study the development of diagnostic methodologies to training structures and their application to dissimilar testing structures. A heterogeneous population is considered, consisting of single-stiffener composite panels for methodology development and training and a multi-stiffener composite panel for application and testing. Characteristics as its composite material, lay-up, and temperature condition are constant while topologies and applied loads differ between the dissimilar structures. Damage in the structural panels is monitored on multiple diagnostic levels using a variety of structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques, including acoustic emission and distributed strain sensing. Specifically, we develop diagnostic methods for localising and monitoring disbond growth after impact using strain data collected during fatigue testing of multiple single-stiffener panels and apply these for disbond monitoring in an upscaled version of a multi-stiffener panel. In this manner, this study aids in the maturement and application of SHM methodologies to realistic aircraft structures., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

A health indicator (HI) is a valuable index demonstrating the health level of an engineering system or structure, which is a direct intermediate connection between raw signals collected by structural health monitoring (SHM) methods and prognostic models for remaining useful life estimation. An appropriate HI should conform to prognostic criteria, i.e., monotonicity, trendability, and prognosability, that are commonly utilized to measure the HI's quality. However, constructing such a HI is challenging, particularly for composite structures due to their vulnerability to complex damage scenarios. Data-driven models and deep learning are powerful mathematical tools that can be employed to achieve this purpose. Yet the availability of a large dataset with labels plays a crucial role in these fields, and the data collected by SHM methods can only be labeled after the structure fails. In this respect, semi-supervised learning can incorporate unlabeled data monitored from structures that have not yet failed. In the present work, a semi-supervised deep neural network is proposed to construct HI by SHM data fusion. For the first time, the prognostic criteria are used as targets of the network rather than employing them only as a measurement tool of HI's quality. In this regard, the acoustic emission method was used to monitor composite panels during fatigue loading, and extracted features were used to construct an intelligent HI. Finally, the proposed roadmap is evaluated by the holdout method, which shows a 77.3% improvement in the HI's quality, and the leave-one-out cross-validation method, which indicates the generalized model has at least an 81.77% score on the prognostic criteria. This study demonstrates that even when the true HI labels are unknown but the qualified HI pattern (according to the prognostic criteria) can be recognized, a model can still be built that provides HIs aligning with the desired degradation behavior., Structural Integrity & Composites

Strain-based structural health monitoring (SHM) relies on high performance strain sensing methods. Gold nanoparticle (NP) doped fibre optic sensors not only have the potential to increase the intensity of the backscattered signal to increase the signal to noise ratio but also have plasmon resonance peaks in the visible light range. The spectral peak shift of the plasmon resonance may be used for strain sensing. In this paper, the spectral peak shift of the plasmon resonance of an optical fibre containing gold NPs under axial strain was analysed. A modified Lorentz-Drude (LD) model with the T-matrix method was used and the spectral peak shifts of spheroidal NPs under strain were calculated. An approximate analytical expression was derived for faster calculation. The modelling presented in this paper shows that the ratio of the change of the peak wavelength to the strain can be related to the refractive index (RI) change of the optical fibre under strain, the shape change of the gold NP, and the RI change of the gold NP. The peak shift was also observed experimentally in an optical adhesive containing gold NPs under compression. The peak shifts were analysed at different RI of the optical fibres, 1.35, 1.45, 1.55 and 1.65 respectively, in order to cover the range of RI of fused silica and some polymer materials. The results confirm experimentally that the applied axial strain can induce the peak wavelength shift by the NPs. By choosing a different optical fibre or the properties of the NPs, the wavelength change ratio has the potential to be tuned, which may be used for highly sensitive strain sensing., Structural Integrity & Composites

Continuous ultrasonic welding is a promising high-speed and energy-efficient joining technique for thermoplastic composite structures. However, in the current state-of-the-art research on the topic numerous deconsolidation voids could be identified at the welding interface, which results in a strength knock-down. The aim of this study is, therefore, to improve the quality of continuous ultrasonically welded joints by adding a consolidation shoe to the welding setup. To determine the required consolidation pressure, the size of the shoe, and its distance from the sonotrode a stepwise approach was followed based on the static ultrasonic welding process. The closest consolidation distance, best representing the static welding conditions, did not improve the weld quality as significant porosity was still found in the weld line and in the adherends. However, for the furthest consolidation distance high-quality continuous welds were obtained with almost no porosity and a high strength., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, Structural Integrity & Composites

With the increased use of composites in aircraft, many new successful contributions to the advancement of the structural health monitoring (SHM) field for composite aerospace structures have been achieved. Yet its application is still not often seen in operational conditions in the aircraft industry, mostly due to a gap between research focus and application, which constraints the shift towards improved aircraft maintenance strategies such as condition-based maintenance (CBM). In this work, we identify and highlight two key facets involved in the maturing of the SHM field for composite aircraft structures: (1) the aircraft maintenance engineer who requires a holistic damage assessment for the aircraft’s structural health management, and (2) the upscaling of the SHM application to realistic composite aircraft structures under in-service conditions. Multi-sensor data fusion concepts can aid in addressing these aspects and we formulate its benefits, opportunities, and challenges. Additionally, for demonstration purposes, we show a conceptual design study for a fusion-based SHM system for multi-level damage monitoring of a representative composite aircraft wing structure. In this manner, we present how multi-sensor data fusion concepts can be of benefit to the community in advancing the field of SHM for composite aircraft structures towards an operational CBM application in the aircraft industry., Structural Integrity & Composites

Ply-block size and stress level effect on accumulation of transverse cracks and delamination are investigated during early fatigue life of CFRP laminates. Tension-tension fatigue tests under different stress levels were performed for two cross-ply configurations. Edge observation with digital cameras, digital image correlation and acoustic emission were employed for in-situ damage monitoring. Transverse cracks were dominant for [0/902]s laminates with almost non-existent delamination, while different interactive levels between both damage mechanisms occurred for [02/904]s laminates. Poisson's ratio identifies whether early fatigue damage is dominant by transverse cracks or involves delamination. Cumulative AE energy is a helpful indicator of crack density., Structural Integrity & Composites

In this paper, with the final aim of shape sensing for a morphing aircraft wing section, a developed multimodal shape sensing system is analysed. We utilise the method of interrogating a morphing wing section based on the principles of both hybrid interferometry and Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) spectral sensing described in our previous work. The focus of this work is to assess the measurement performance and analyse the errors in the shape sensing system. This includes an estimation of the bending and torsional deformations of an aluminium mock-up section due to static loading that imitates the behaviour of a morphing wing trailing edge. The analysis involves using a detailed calibration procedure and a multimodal sensing algorithm to measure the deflection and shape. The method described In this paper, uses a standard single core optical fibre and two grating pairs on both the top and bottom surfaces of the morphing section. A study on the fibre placement and recommendations for efficient monitoring is also included. The analysis yielded a maximum deflection sensing error of 0.7 mm for a 347 × 350 mm wing section., Structural Integrity & Composites

A novel micromechanics-based multiscale progressive damage model, employing minimal material parameters, is proposed in this paper to simulate the compressive failure behaviours of 3D woven composites (3DWC). The highly realistic constructions of microscopic and mesoscopic representative volume cells are accomplished, and a set of strain amplification factor is employed to bridge the meso-scale and micro-scale numerical calculations. Considering that the multiple failure mechanisms of 3DWC under compression are all caused by the matrix failure from the microscopic perspective, a new method incorporating the micromechanics of failure (MMF) theory and 3D kinking model is developed to identify the micro matrix failure associated with the kinking of yarns, inter-fiber fracture and pure matrix failure. As a result, only the matrix parameters are required for the failure simulation of 3DWC, eliminating the necessity of using other material parameters such as the fracture toughness and failure strengths of fiber yarns, which are generally difficult to accurately obtain through experiments. The newly proposed damage model is numerically integrated into ABAQUS with a user-defined subroutine UMAT. The numerical predictions and the experimental results exhibit good agreement, verifying the feasibility and accuracy of the novel damage model., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

Recently, companies all over the world have been focusing on the improvement of autonomous health management systems in order to enhance performance and reduce downtime costs. To achieve this, the remaining useful life predictions have been given remarkable attention. These predictions depend on the proper designing process and the quality of health indicators (HI) generated from structural health monitoring sensors based on prior established multiple prognostic evaluation criteria. Constructing such HIs from noisy sensory data demands powerful models that enable the automatic selection and fusion of features taken from those relevant measurements. Deep learning models are promising to autonomously extract features in scenarios with a huge volume of data without requiring considerable domain expertise. Nonetheless, the features established by artificial neural networks are complicated to comprehend and cannot be regarded as physical system characteristics. In this regard, the goal of this paper is to extend a new model; an interpretable artificial neural network that enables the automatic selection and fusion of features to construct the most appropriate HIs with remarkably fewer parameters. This model consists of additive and multiplicative layers that provide a feature fusion that better reflects the system’s physical properties. Additionally, the weights are discretized in two ways: a) using a ternary form with values {-1, 0, 1}, and b) relaxing the aforementioned ternary form by rounding the weights at the first decimal point in the range of [-1, 1]. Both discretization techniques have the ability to softly control the number of parameters that should be ignored. This trick guarantees interpretability for the neural network by extracting simple yet powerful equations representing the constructed HIs. Finally, the model’s performance is evaluated and compared with other approaches using a practical case study. The results show that the proposed approach's designe, Structural Integrity & Composites

Prediction models for fatigue in engineering applications are developed within a fatigue analysis framework, deliberately selected in some cases, but mostly chosen without substantiation. The proposition of this paper is that selecting the most appropriate framework can only be done with the knowledge and a complete overview of existing frameworks and their systematic categorization. In particular for composite materials, where due to coexistence of different mechanisms and their complex interaction under fatigue loading, only a unified approach can characterize the complete fatigue phenomenon. To that aid, this paper provides a complete overview of existing fatigue analysis frameworks for various materials along with such systematic categorization. Each analysis framework is based on a specific methodology that evolved over time. Hence, this overview is provided following the time stamp evolution of each methodology within different analysis frameworks. With such an overview, one can conclude that for fatigue analysis of composite materials, the theory of the thermodynamics of the irreversible processes and continuum damage mechanics framework provides the required unified approach. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that many material classes, like metals and composites, can be analysed using a common framework. This common framework has similarity up to a certain level, and at the detailed level, it differs by addressing the difference in material class-specific mechanisms., Structural Integrity & Composites

For pick-and-place processes to become widely implemented in industry a consistent and acceptable product quality needs to be achieved. One important quality criterion is the fiber angle deviations in the reinforcement. Handling a reinforcement will subject it to forces due to e.g. gravity and accelerations. These forces can result in in-plane shear and subsequently in fiber angle deviations. The current work looks at predicting and preventing in-plane shear induced fiber angle deviations by studying the positioning of pick-up points. In the state of the art the positioning of individual pick-up points is typically either not discussed or is based on the mould where the fabric is to be draped on – not on the effect of the handling on the fabric. The relationship between the positioning of the pick-up points and the behavior of the fabric should however also be considered. Finite element simulations validated through experimental work will be used to study the influence of pick-up point location on the in-plane shear strain for a bi-axial Non Crimp Fabric [NCF]. In [1] tolerances have been set for the fiber angle deviations, additionally the relationship between in-plane shear strain and fiber angle deviations has been demonstrated for the specific NCF. These results are used in the present work to evaluate the results from the simulations. The current work will demonstrate that it is possible to control the in-plane shear induced fiber angle deviations by varying the position and number of the pick-up points. Additionally, It will show whether simulations for the positioning of pick-up points on large reinforcements can be simplified by looking at one instance of a repeating pattern. The paper will provide a framework for the determination of positioning of pick-up points while predicting and preventing in-plane shear induced fiber angle deviations., Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory, Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites

The present work aims at investigating the progressive damage accumulation process of CFRP laminates in an interactive scheme, with a special focus on the early fatigue life where mainly matrix-dominant damage accumulates and stiffness degrades significantly. An in-situ damage monitoring system, containing edge observation, digital image correlation and acoustic emission techniques, was established to characterize and quantify the accumulation of transverse cracks and delamination. Two cross-ply configurations ([0/902]s and [02/904]s) and different stress levels were involved in the experimental campaign. Dependent crack ratio was proposed to reflect the interaction among transverse cracks, and saturated crack density was used to represent the interactive level between transverse cracks and delamination. Results showed that generation of transverse cracks and their interaction govern the early fatigue damage accumulation of the [0/902]s laminates, while not only the interaction among cracks but also the interaction between both damage mechanisms were observed for the [02/904]s laminates., Structural Integrity & Composites

The plasmon resonance spectral peak of a gold spherical nanoparticle (NP) will shift when the NP shape is changed from sphere to spheroid. This may be used as a novel strain detection method with gold NPs embedded in a medium of different refractive index (RI). Applying a strain to the external medium will cause a change in the shape of the NP from spherical to spheroidal. In our previous work, it was found that when the RI change of the medium surrounding the NPs is close to zero, the shape change induced plasmon resonance spectral peak shift will become important. In order to obtain only the wavelength shift values caused by the shape change of the NPs, the RI of medium surrounding the gold NPs is set at a constant of 1.45 and the RI of the gold NP is assumed unchanged. The T-matrix method is used to calculate the scattered light and light extinction by the NP morphing. The diameters of the gold NPs are set from 100 nm to 400 nm, with the size interval at 10 nm, to cover a wide size range for typical sizes of gold spherical NPs. The spectra of the light scattering and light extinction were calculated on the Delft University high performance computing cluster. The results show that the plasmon resonance spectral peak shift is related to the size of the NPs. Larger sizes of gold NPs have larger peak shift values, but there is an inflection point around 200 nm and the bandwidth of the resonance peak becomes larger which will cause a difficulty in precisely locating the peak., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

For pick-and-place processes to become widely implemented in industry a consistent and acceptable product quality needs to be achieved. In the state of the art it is assumed that reinforcements will be in perfect condition at the start of forming or draping. In reality the handling process can already result in undesired deformations. The current work will look at fiber angle deviations that occur during this process due to in-plane shear. It is shown that bounds can be set for these fiber angle deviations based on experimental work. Periodic representative volume element homogenization is used to obtain homogenized material properties for a bi-axial non-crimp fabric with a specific construction. With these material properties the in-plane shear strain, and thus the fiber angle deviations, can be predicted. The presented methodology and results obtained using it can be a basis in the design process for automated handling of reinforcements and for in-situ quality control of the pick-and-place process., Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory, Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering is one of eight faculties at Delft University of Technology. It is one of the most comprehensive academic and innovation communities worldwide focusing on aerospace engineering. Its 120 professors and 70 researchers are mentoring and teaching around 2,800 BSc/MSc students and more than 350 PhD candidates while working in all aerospace disciplines. It’s a powerhouse in aerospace education, research, and innovation, within the top 10 in the world. Our priority themes? Sustainable aerospace, digital transformation, including Artificial Intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Here’s our story., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites, Communication LR, Flight Performance and Propulsion, Control & Operations, Aircraft Noise and Climate Effects, Flow Physics and Technology, Support Aerospace Engineering, Space Engineering, Space Systems Egineering, Aerospace Engineering

In this paper, a reliable progressive fatigue damage model (PFDM) for predicting the fatigue life of composite laminates is proposed by combining the normalized fatigue life model, nonlinear residual degradation models and fatigue-improved Puck criterion. To balance the accuracy of life predictions and computational efficiency, an adaptive cyclic jump algorithm is developed and implemented within the PFDM. The sensitivity of life prediction to cyclic jump parameter has been greatly reduced by correlating the cyclic jump with the increment time and viscous coefficient. Therefore, the cyclic jump parameter can be arbitrarily selected within a relatively large range to obtain convergent results. When incorporating the adaptive cyclic jump algorithm, there is no need to define a standard for determining the material failure in numerical calculations, which effectively eliminates an artificially induced uncertainty in life predictions. Two sets of experiments are conducted to validate the proposed PFDM. The numerical predictions including static failure strength and fatigue life correlate reasonably well with the available experimental data., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

Nanoparticle (NP) doping of optical fibres can be used to increase the intensity of the backscattered light used for distributed strain sensing and has shown the advantages of high precision strain detection and multiplex sensing experimentally. However, the backscatter spectral characteristics of NP-doped optical fibres have not been described even though they are quite different from the spectra from fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) or commercial single mode fibres. In this paper, gold NPs, used as the contrast agent in the optical fibre to increase the intensity of the backscattered light, were investigated from the aspect of their spectra. A single scattering model with Mie theory and an effective refractive index (RI) model were used to evaluate the backscattered light spectra and the Monte Carlo Method was used for seeding NPs. The results showed that the strain responsivity of gold-NP doped fibres with low volume ratio doping (single scattering restriction) are close to FBGs and commercial fibres. High volume ratios of gold NP doping increase the imaginary part of the RI of the optical fibre, which has a significant influence on the spectra in the wavenumber domain. These theoretical insights may promote the future engineering design of NP-doped fibre sensors., Structural Integrity & Composites

Health management methodologies for condition-based maintenance are often developed using sensor data collected during experimental tests. Most tests performed in laboratories focus on a coupon level or flat panels, while structural component testing is less commonly seen. As researchers, we often consider our experimental tests to be representative of a structure in a final application and consider the developed methodologies to be transferrable to these real-life structures. Yet, structures in their final applications such as wind turbines or aircraft are often larger, more complex, might contain various assembly details, and are loaded in complex conditions. These factors might influence the performance of developed diagnostic and prognostic methodologies and should therefore not be ignored. In our work, we consider the aspects of upscaling structural health monitoring (SHM) methodologies for stiffened composite panels with the design of the panels inspired by an aircraft wing structure. For this, we examine two levels of panels, namely a single- and multi-stiffener composite panel, where we consider the single-stiffener panel to be a representative lower-level version of the multi-stiffener panel. Multiple SHM sensors (acoustic emission, Lamb waves, strain sensing) were installed on both composite panels to monitor damage propagation during testing. We identify and analyse challenges and further discuss considerations that must be taken during upscaling of diagnostics and prognostics, and with that, aid in the development of health management methodologies for condition-based maintenance., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

With the increased use of composites in aircraft, many new successful contributions to the advancement of the structural health monitoring (SHM) field for composite aerospace structures have been achieved. Yet its application is still not often seen in operational conditions in the aircraft industry, mostly due to a gap between research focus and application, which constraints the shift towards improved aircraft maintenance strategies such as condition-based maintenance (CBM). In this work, we identify and highlight two key facets involved in the maturing of the SHM field for composite aircraft structures: (1) the aircraft maintenance engineer who requires a holistic damage assessment for the aircraft’s structural health management, and (2) the upscaling of the SHM application to realistic composite aircraft structures under in-service conditions. Multi-sensor data fusion concepts can aid in addressing these aspects and we formulate its benefits, opportunities, and challenges. Additionally, for demonstration purposes, we show a conceptual design study for a fusion-based SHM system for multi-level damage monitoring of a representative composite aircraft wing structure. In this manner, we present how multi-sensor data fusion concepts can be of benefit to the community in advancing the field of SHM for composite aircraft structures towards an operational CBM application in the aircraft industry., Structural Integrity & Composites

Strain-based structural health monitoring (SHM) relies on high performance strain sensing methods. Gold nanoparticle (NP) doped fibre optic sensors not only have the potential to increase the intensity of the backscattered signal to increase the signal to noise ratio but also have plasmon resonance peaks in the visible light range. The spectral peak shift of the plasmon resonance may be used for strain sensing. In this paper, the spectral peak shift of the plasmon resonance of an optical fibre containing gold NPs under axial strain was analysed. A modified Lorentz-Drude (LD) model with the T-matrix method was used and the spectral peak shifts of spheroidal NPs under strain were calculated. An approximate analytical expression was derived for faster calculation. The modelling presented in this paper shows that the ratio of the change of the peak wavelength to the strain can be related to the refractive index (RI) change of the optical fibre under strain, the shape change of the gold NP, and the RI change of the gold NP. The peak shift was also observed experimentally in an optical adhesive containing gold NPs under compression. The peak shifts were analysed at different RI of the optical fibres, 1.35, 1.45, 1.55 and 1.65 respectively, in order to cover the range of RI of fused silica and some polymer materials. The results confirm experimentally that the applied axial strain can induce the peak wavelength shift by the NPs. By choosing a different optical fibre or the properties of the NPs, the wavelength change ratio has the potential to be tuned, which may be used for highly sensitive strain sensing., Structural Integrity & Composites

Ply-block size and stress level effect on accumulation of transverse cracks and delamination are investigated during early fatigue life of CFRP laminates. Tension-tension fatigue tests under different stress levels were performed for two cross-ply configurations. Edge observation with digital cameras, digital image correlation and acoustic emission were employed for in-situ damage monitoring. Transverse cracks were dominant for [0/902]s laminates with almost non-existent delamination, while different interactive levels between both damage mechanisms occurred for [02/904]s laminates. Poisson's ratio identifies whether early fatigue damage is dominant by transverse cracks or involves delamination. Cumulative AE energy is a helpful indicator of crack density., Structural Integrity & Composites

In this paper, with the final aim of shape sensing for a morphing aircraft wing section, a developed multimodal shape sensing system is analysed. We utilise the method of interrogating a morphing wing section based on the principles of both hybrid interferometry and Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) spectral sensing described in our previous work. The focus of this work is to assess the measurement performance and analyse the errors in the shape sensing system. This includes an estimation of the bending and torsional deformations of an aluminium mock-up section due to static loading that imitates the behaviour of a morphing wing trailing edge. The analysis involves using a detailed calibration procedure and a multimodal sensing algorithm to measure the deflection and shape. The method described In this paper, uses a standard single core optical fibre and two grating pairs on both the top and bottom surfaces of the morphing section. A study on the fibre placement and recommendations for efficient monitoring is also included. The analysis yielded a maximum deflection sensing error of 0.7 mm for a 347 × 350 mm wing section., Structural Integrity & Composites

Continuous ultrasonic welding is a promising high-speed and energy-efficient joining technique for thermoplastic composite structures. However, in the current state-of-the-art research on the topic numerous deconsolidation voids could be identified at the welding interface, which results in a strength knock-down. The aim of this study is, therefore, to improve the quality of continuous ultrasonically welded joints by adding a consolidation shoe to the welding setup. To determine the required consolidation pressure, the size of the shoe, and its distance from the sonotrode a stepwise approach was followed based on the static ultrasonic welding process. The closest consolidation distance, best representing the static welding conditions, did not improve the weld quality as significant porosity was still found in the weld line and in the adherends. However, for the furthest consolidation distance high-quality continuous welds were obtained with almost no porosity and a high strength., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, Structural Integrity & Composites

The substantiation of fatigue crack closure corrections is disputed, based on the closure stress definition. The ΔKeff equation lacks a physical explanation. An inconsistency is observed between the opening stress Sopphen as used by this equation and the physical opening stress Sopphys. This Sopphys is related to Sopphen through an energy equivalent area approach. Furthermore, an elastic spring model is used as a physical approach to crack closure effects. An FEA approach generates Sopphys values, which are reworked into Sopphen. This physical model agrees well with existing closure corrections, and is able to provide a physical explanation for their necessity., Structural Integrity & Composites

This paper addresses the sensitivity of the ultrasonic welding process for joining dissimilar composites to variations in either the welding force or amplitude of vibrations. For that, carbon fibre (CF)/epoxy specimens were welded to CF/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) specimens, through a polyetheretherimide (PEI) coupling layer co-cured with the CF/epoxy material. It was found that reducing either the welding force or the amplitude of vibrations caused an increase in the heating time and maximum temperatures between the coupling layer and CF/epoxy adherend. In addition, local signs of thermal degradation were found in the CF/epoxy adherend even at welding conditions that resulted in the highest strength. However, such alterations were not significant enough to have an apparent effect on the maximum lap shear strength of the welded joints., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites

Predictive maintenance, as one of the core components of Industry 4.0, takes a proactive approach to maintain machines and systems in good order to keep downtime to a minimum and the airline maintenance industry is not an exception to this. To achieve this goal, practices in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) complement the existing Non-Destructive-Testing (NDT) have been established in the last decades. Recently, the increasing computational capability such as utilization of a graphical processing unit (GPU) in combination with advanced machine learning techniques such as deep learning has been one of the main drivers in the advancement of predictive analytics in condition monitoring. In our previous work, we proposed a novel approach using deep learning for guided wave based structural health called DeepSHM. As a study case, we treated an ultrasonic signal from guided Lamb wave SHM with a convolutional neural network (CNN). In that work, we only considered a single central frequency excitation. This led to a single governing wavelength which is normally good for the detection of a single damage size. In classical signal processing, applying a broader excitation frequency poses an analysis and interpretation nightmare because it contains more complex information and thus is difficult to understand. This problem can be overcome with deep learning; however, it creates another problem: while deep learning typically results in a more accurate result prediction, it is specifically made for solving only certain types of tasks. While many papers have already introduced deep learning for diagnostics, many of these works are only proposing novel predictive techniques, however the mathematical formalization is lacking, and we are not informed about why we should treat acoustic signal with deep learning. So, the basis of ‘explainable AI’ for SHM and NDT is currently lacking. For this reason, in this paper, we would like to extend our previous work into a more generalized., Structural Integrity & Composites

To improve resolution of in-situ measurement of crack closure and opening in fatigue, potential drop (PD) measurement technique has been further developed to measure thousands of times through each load cycle with high precision. The results are interpreted with physical phenomena like strain, Poisson's effect, piezo-resistivity, plasticity, and crack growth. Application of the technique to fatigue crack growth tests on aluminum 2024-T3 CCT specimens at different maximum stresses and stress ratios, demonstrate that indeed variations in PD can be associated to development of plasticity and crack opening and closure. Hence, the technique allows to measure timing and magnitude of crack opening and closure stresses in-situ in fatigue crack growth experiments., Structural Integrity & Composites

There has been an increase in the use of ultrasonic arrays for the detection of defects in composite structures used in the aerospace industry. The response of a defect embedded in such a medium is influenced by the inherent anisotropy of the bounding medium and the layering of the bounding medium and hence poses challenges for the interpretation of the full matrix capture (FMC) results. Modeling techniques can be used to understand and simulate the effect of the structure and the defect on the received signals. Existing modeling techniques, such as finite element methods (FEM), finite difference time domain (FDTD), and analytical solutions, are computationally inefficient or are singularly used for structures with complex geometries. In this paper, we develop a novel model based on the Gaussian-based recursive stiffness matrix approach to model the scattering from a side-drilled hole embedded in an anisotropic layered medium. The paper provides a novel method to calculate the transmission and reflection coefficients of plane waves traveling from a layered anisotropic medium into a semi-infinite anisotropic medium by combining the transfer matrix and stiffness matrix methods. The novelty of the paper is the developed model using Gaussian beams to simulate the scattering from a Side Drilled Hole (SDH) embedded in a multilayered composite laminate, which can be used in both immersion and contact setups. We describe a method to combine the scattering from defects with the model to simulate the response of a layered structure and to simulate the full matrix capture (FMC) signals that are received from an SDH embedded in a layered medium. The model-assisted correction total focusing method (MAC-TFM) imaging is used to image both the simulated and experimental results. The proposed method has been vali-dated for both isotropic and anisotropic media by a qualitative and quantitative comparison with experimentally determined signals. The method proposed in this paper is, Structural Integrity & Composites

This study forms a part of the research in using nanoparticles (NPs) to increase the intensity of light scattering signal in the optical fibres. Increasing the intensity of the backscattered light signal in the optical fibres shows the potential to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in order to improve the sensitivity of the backscatter reflectometry. Doping NPs into the optical fibres can greatly increase the scattered light. However, it is not easy to manufacture NP-doped optical fibres to test different designs. To overcome this problem, in our former work we used the method of dropping refractive index matching liquid containing gold NPs at the optical fibres end tips to investigate the intensity change of the scattered light from the interfaces. In this paper, some new initial experimental results for the scattered light between the optical fibre end tips are shown. Gold NPs have been mixed into the optical adhesive (Norland) and is then dropped and cured at the optical fibre end tips. A backscatter reflectometer (LUNA ODiSI-B) was used in the experiment to measure the intensity of scattered light distribution between the optical fibre end tips. We investigated 4 cases of light scattering between the optical fibre end tips: (i) the backscattered light intensity distribution in the case of the air gap between the optical fibre end tips; (ii) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive between the optical fibre end tips; (iii) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive containing gold NPs (gold nanopowder (<100 nm), Sigma Aldrich) between the optical fibre end tips before curing process and (iv) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive containing gold NPs between the optical fibre end tips after the curing process. Our initial findings are that the scattered light by gold NPs at the optical fibre interfaces can be detected by the backscatter reflectometer. By obtaining the differ, Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

Continuous ultrasonic welding is a promising technique for joining thermoplastic composites structures together. The aim of this study was to gain further insight into what causes higher through-the-thickness heating in continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites as compared to the static process. Thermocouples were used to measure temperature evolutions at the welding interface and within the adherends. To understand the mechanisms causing the observed temperature behaviours, the results were compared to temperature measurements from an equivalent static welding process and to the predictions from a simplified heat transfer model. Despite the significantly higher temperatures measured at the welding interface for the continuous process, viscoelastic bulk heat generation and not thermal conduction from the interface was identified as the main cause of higher through-the-thickness heating in the top adherend. Interestingly the top adherend seemed to absorb most of the vibrational energy in the continuous process as opposed to a more balanced energy share between the top and bottom adherend in the static process. Finally, the higher temperatures at the welding interface in continuous ultrasonic welding were attributed to pre-heating of the energy director due to the vibrations being transmitted downstream of the sonotrode, to reduced squeeze-flow of energy director due to the larger adherend size, and to heat flux originating downstream as the welding process continues., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, Structural Integrity & Composites

The effect of temperature on the lap shear strength (LSS) and failure mechanisms of ultrasonically welded carbon fibre reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (CF/PPS) joints was investigated, correlating the weld performance to the crystallinity degree of PPS at the weldline. The single-lap shear tests were carried out at temperatures ranging from –50 °C to 120 °C on three series, one with amorphous and two with semi-crystalline weldline. The overall trend was decreasing LSS with increasing temperature and the largest LSS reduction was observed above the glass transition temperature. Fractographic analysis revealed that the main failure mechanism at –50 °C was matrix fracture while fibre/matrix debonding became more pronounced with increasing temperature. It was demonstrated that higher degree of crystallinity of PPS at the weldline was beneficial at high temperatures (90 °C and 120 °C) most likely due to the higher fibre/matrix interfacial strength compared to amorphous PPS. The amorphous weldline was shown to be advantageous at -50 °C, probably due to the higher toughness and ductility of amorphous PPS., Structural Integrity & Composites, Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics

Conducting damage diagnostics on stiffened panels is commonly performed using a single SHM technique. However, each SHM technique has both its strengths and limitations. Rather than straining the expansion of single SHM techniques going beyond their intrinsic capacities, these strengths and limitations should instead be considered in their application. In this work, we propose a novel fusion-based methodology between data from two SHM techniques in order to surpass the capabilities of a single SHM technique. The aim is to show that by considering data fusion, a synergy can be obtained, resulting in a comprehensive damage assessment, not possible using a single SHM technique. For this purpose, three single-stiffener carbon–epoxy panels were subjected to fatigue compression after impact tests. Two SHM techniques monitored damage growth under the applied fatigue loads: acoustic emission and distributed fiber optic strain sensing. Four acoustic emission sensors were placed on each panel, thereby allowing for damage detection, localization, type identification (delamination), and severity assessment. The optical fibers were adhered to the stiffener feet’ surface, and its strain measurements were used for damage detection, disbond localization, damage type identification (stiffness degradation and disbond growth), and severity assessment. Different fusion techniques are presented in order to integrate the acoustic emission and strain data. For damage detection and severity assessment, a hybrid health indicator is obtained by feature-level fusion while a complementary and cooperative fusion of the diagnostic results is developed for damage localization and type identification. We show that damage growth can be monitored up until final failure, thereby performing a simultaneous damage assessment on all four SHM levels. In this manner, we demonstrate that by proposing a fusion-based approach toward SHM of composite structures, the intrinsic capacity of each SHM technique can, Structural Integrity & Composites

A conventional distributed fiber optic sensing system offers close to linear sensitivity along the fiber length. However gold nanoparticles (NP) have been shown to be able to enhance the contrast ratio to improve the quality of signal detection. The challenge in improving the contrast of reflected signals is to optimise the nanoparticle doping concentration over the densed sensing length to make best use of the distributed fiber sensing hardware. In this paper, light enhancement by spherical gold NPs in the optical fibers was analyzed by considering the size-induced NP refractive index changes. This was achieved by building a new model to relate backscattered light from a gold NP suspension between the optical fiber end tips and backscattered light from gold NPs in the core of the optical fiber. The paper provides a model to determine the optimized sizes and concentrations of NPs for sensing at different desired penetration depths in the optical fiber., Structural Integrity & Composites

This paper investigates the loading rate effect on both mechanical properties and damage accumulation process of [0°2/90°4]S carbon fiber-polymer laminates under tensile loading. In-situ edge observations, Acoustic Emission and Digital Image Correlation techniques were utilized simultaneously to monitor the state of damage in real time. Results showed that the axial modulus and strength were less sensitive to loading rates than failure strain, which increased with the decrease of the loading rate. In the viewpoint of damage accumulation process, high density and uniform distribution of transverse matrix cracks, and H-shape crack patterns, incorporating inter-laminar cracks, were more likely to occur at low loading rates while variable crack spacing occurred at higher rates. When loading rates were lower than a certain level, maximum transverse matrix crack density decreased slightly due to the restriction of relatively widely generated inter-laminar cracks. Furthermore, the cumulative acoustic emission energy of low-frequency signals was linearly correlated to transverse matrix crack density, providing a promising way to quantify crack accumulation in real time. Finally, spatial consistence was observed between transverse matrix cracks at edges and stress concentrations at the exterior 0° ply, and the peaks of axial strain at local concentration regions locate either near the newest cracks or at the place with minimum crack spacing., Structural Integrity & Composites

Optical fibre backscatter reflectometry is an important technique for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). In recent years, increasing the intensity of backscattered light in backscatter reflectometry has shown the advantage of improving the signal detection in shape sensing and temperature detection due to the increase of signal to noise ratio and this approach could potentially be used to improve the performance of an SHM system. Doping nanoparticles (NPs) is a method to increase the intensity of backscattered light in distributed fibre optic sensing. The increased intensity of light backscattered by the NPs needs to be investigated to design suitable optical sensing fibres with NPs for backscatter reflectometry. In this work NPs were added to refractive index matching liquid and tested with commercial NP suspensions experimentally between the tips of two optical fibres. An estimate of the intensity of backscattered light from the NPs in this structure was performed by simulation to give a better understanding of the expected levels of intensities of scattered light from NPs in this distributed fibre optic sensing configuration. We present analytical models based on Mie theory and the Monte Carlo Method. Simulated results are presented, for a broad bandwidth Gaussian spectra shape incident light with a central wavelength around 1550 nm, to match the experimental conditions in this work. The novelty is in developing this model for scattered light by NPs at optical fibre interfaces and the evaluation of the possibility of detection by the calculated scattered intensity levels., Structural Integrity & Composites

This study aims at assessing the sensitivity of the ultrasonic welding process for joining epoxy- to thermoplastic-based composites sensitivity to the heating time. For that, carbon fibre (CF)/epoxy adherends with a co-cured PEI coupling layer were ultrasonically welded to CF/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) adherends at different heating times. Process-induced changes in the meso and microstructure of these welds were identified and correlated to the weld strength. Subsequently, a processing interval, i.e., a range of heating times resulting in less than 10% decrease of weld strength, was defined. As, expected, the dissimilar composite welded joints were more sensitive to the heating time than the CF/PEEK to CF/PEEK welded joints. However, this effect was less pronounced than expected, since a relatively wide processing interval could be obtained provided that the coupling layer had a sufficient thickness., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites

This study investigates the fracture onset and crack deflection in multi-material adhesive joints with thick bond-lines (≈10 mm) under global mode I loading. The role of adherend-adhesive modulus-mismatch and pre-crack length are scrutinized. The parameters controlling the crack path directional stability are also discussed. Single-material (i.e. steel-steel and GFRP-GFRP) and bi-material (i.e. steel-GFRP) double-cantilever beam joints bonded with a structural epoxy adhesive are tested. The joints are modelled analytically, considering a beam on elastic-plastic foundation, to include characteristic length scales of the problem (e.g. adhesive thickness, plastic zone) and numerically using Finite Element Model. An empirical relation, in terms of geometrical and material properties of the joints, that defines the transition between non-cohesive and cohesive fracture onset is found. Above a specific pre-crack length the stress singularity at pre-crack tip rules over the stress singularity near bi-material corners, resulting in mid-adhesive thickness cohesive fracture onset. However, the cracking direction rapidly deflects out from the adhesive layer centre-line. Positive T-stress along the crack tip is found to be one of the factors for the unstable crack path., Structural Integrity & Composites

An important figure was omitted from this article, as Fig. 11 was repeated in Fig. 12. The image below shows the correct version of Fig. 12 that should have appeared in the article. [Figure presented], Structural Integrity & Composites

A realistic wear test was developed for porous thermal insulation systems exposed to high temperature turbulent gas flow, because it is essential for the development of existing and new concepts of such insulation and therefore also for the performance of processes that depend on such insulation. Wear is crucial and often dominant for the long-term performance of thermal insulation and, because of the complex nature of insulation wear under exposure of high-temperature turbulent flow, realistic testing capability is a necessary tool for improvement. A test rig was developed to subject fibrous ceramic insulation, the most encountered type of thermal insulation, to conditions representative for in-service use and to enable investigation of the occurring phenomena and behaviour. This rig can accommodate a range of different insulation configurations and is compatible with many turbulent flow sources. This test rig, its components, the experimental procedure, its accuracy and representative results are presented., Structural Integrity & Composites, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies

A case study is presented in which the first steps are made towards the development of a structural health monitoring (SHM) data fusion framework. For this purpose, a composite single-stiffener panel is subjected to compression-compression fatigue loading (R = 10). The carbon-epoxy panel contains an artificial disbond of 30 mm, which was created using a Teflon insert during manufacturing and placed between the skin and the stiffener foot. Under the applied fatigue load, the disbond is expected to grow and its propagation is monitored using two SHM techniques, namely acoustic emission (AE) and Rayleigh-scattering based distributed fiber optic strain sensing. Four AE sensors are placed on the skin, thereby allowing for disbond growth detection and localization. On each stiffener foot, fiber optic sensors are surface-bonded to monitor the growth of the disbond under the applied fatigue loading. The distributed strain measurements are used to localize and monitor the disbond growth. The strength of each technique is utilized by fusing the data from the AE sensors and the fiber optic sensors. In this manner, a data-driven approach is presented in which a data fusion of the different techniques allows for monitoring the damage in the stiffened panel on multiple SHM levels, including disbond growth detection and localization., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

A case study is presented in which the first steps are made towards the development of a structural health monitoring (SHM) data fusion framework. For this purpose, a composite single-stiffener panel is subjected to compression-compression fatigue loading (R = 10). The carbon-epoxy panel contains an artificial disbond of 30 mm, which was created using a Teflon insert during manufacturing and placed between the skin and the stiffener foot. Under the applied fatigue load, the disbond is expected to grow and its propagation is monitored using two SHM techniques, namely acoustic emission (AE) and Rayleigh-scattering based distributed fiber optic strain sensing. Four AE sensors are placed on the skin, thereby allowing for disbond growth detection and localization. On each stiffener foot, fiber optic sensors are surface-bonded to monitor the growth of the disbond under the applied fatigue loading. The distributed strain measurements are used to localize and monitor the disbond growth. The strength of each technique is utilized by fusing the data from the AE sensors and the fiber optic sensors. In this manner, a data-driven approach is presented in which a data fusion of the different techniques allows for monitoring the damage in the stiffened panel on multiple SHM levels, including disbond growth detection and localization., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

This paper addresses the sensitivity of the ultrasonic welding process for joining dissimilar composites to variations in either the welding force or amplitude of vibrations. For that, carbon fibre (CF)/epoxy specimens were welded to CF/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) specimens, through a polyetheretherimide (PEI) coupling layer co-cured with the CF/epoxy material. It was found that reducing either the welding force or the amplitude of vibrations caused an increase in the heating time and maximum temperatures between the coupling layer and CF/epoxy adherend. In addition, local signs of thermal degradation were found in the CF/epoxy adherend even at welding conditions that resulted in the highest strength. However, such alterations were not significant enough to have an apparent effect on the maximum lap shear strength of the welded joints., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Structural Integrity & Composites

This study forms a part of the research in using nanoparticles (NPs) to increase the intensity of light scattering signal in the optical fibres. Increasing the intensity of the backscattered light signal in the optical fibres shows the potential to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in order to improve the sensitivity of the backscatter reflectometry. Doping NPs into the optical fibres can greatly increase the scattered light. However, it is not easy to manufacture NP-doped optical fibres to test different designs. To overcome this problem, in our former work we used the method of dropping refractive index matching liquid containing gold NPs at the optical fibres end tips to investigate the intensity change of the scattered light from the interfaces. In this paper, some new initial experimental results for the scattered light between the optical fibre end tips are shown. Gold NPs have been mixed into the optical adhesive (Norland) and is then dropped and cured at the optical fibre end tips. A backscatter reflectometer (LUNA ODiSI-B) was used in the experiment to measure the intensity of scattered light distribution between the optical fibre end tips. We investigated 4 cases of light scattering between the optical fibre end tips: (i) the backscattered light intensity distribution in the case of the air gap between the optical fibre end tips; (ii) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive between the optical fibre end tips; (iii) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive containing gold NPs (gold nanopowder (<100 nm), Sigma Aldrich) between the optical fibre end tips before curing process and (iv) the backscattered light intensity distribution with optical adhesive containing gold NPs between the optical fibre end tips after the curing process. Our initial findings are that the scattered light by gold NPs at the optical fibre interfaces can be detected by the backscatter reflectometer. By obtaining the differ, Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Structural Integrity & Composites

The effect of temperature on the lap shear strength (LSS) and failure mechanisms of ultrasonically welded carbon fibre reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (CF/PPS) joints was investigated, correlating the weld performance to the crystallinity degree of PPS at the weldline. The single-lap shear tests were carried out at temperatures ranging from –50 °C to 120 °C on three series, one with amorphous and two with semi-crystalline weldline. The overall trend was decreasing LSS with increasing temperature and the largest LSS reduction was observed above the glass transition temperature. Fractographic analysis revealed that the main failure mechanism at –50 °C was matrix fracture while fibre/matrix debonding became more pronounced with increasing temperature. It was demonstrated that higher degree of crystallinity of PPS at the weldline was beneficial at high temperatures (90 °C and 120 °C) most likely due to the higher fibre/matrix interfacial strength compared to amorphous PPS. The amorphous weldline was shown to be advantageous at -50 °C, probably due to the higher toughness and ductility of amorphous PPS., Structural Integrity & Composites, Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics

Continuous ultrasonic welding is a promising technique for joining thermoplastic composites structures together. The aim of this study was to gain further insight into what causes higher through-the-thickness heating in continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites as compared to the static process. Thermocouples were used to measure temperature evolutions at the welding interface and within the adherends. To understand the mechanisms causing the observed temperature behaviours, the results were compared to temperature measurements from an equivalent static welding process and to the predictions from a simplified heat transfer model. Despite the significantly higher temperatures measured at the welding interface for the continuous process, viscoelastic bulk heat generation and not thermal conduction from the interface was identified as the main cause of higher through-the-thickness heating in the top adherend. Interestingly the top adherend seemed to absorb most of the vibrational energy in the continuous process as opposed to a more balanced energy share between the top and bottom adherend in the static process. Finally, the higher temperatures at the welding interface in continuous ultrasonic welding were attributed to pre-heating of the energy director due to the vibrations being transmitted downstream of the sonotrode, to reduced squeeze-flow of energy director due to the larger adherend size, and to heat flux originating downstream as the welding process continues., Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, Structural Integrity & Composites