Acoustic emission monitoring of fatigue damage progression in composite ship structures: A constitutively-informed approach to acoustic emission source classification

AE-based structural integrity monitoring of composite structures potentially offers the means to gain knowledge on in-service damage accumulation, as well as mitigation of some of the risks associated with in-service damage. However, validation of any identified classes of AE events with regard to their underlying source mechanics is generally limited to data-centred metrics in existing literature. The approach in this project applies a mechanics-informed perspective on AE event classification by using the fatigue cycle phase as hit labels and validating this labelling with the stiffness degradation measured using DIC. A promising correlation is found between this labelling and the coupon stiffness degradation.
Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace Structures and Materials