Health assessment of bonded composite repairs with frequency response techniques

摘要

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technology may be applied to composite bonded repairs to enable the continuous through-life assessment of the repair's efficacy. This paper describes an SHM technique for the detection of debonding in composite bonded patches based on frequency response. The external doubler repair, commonly used to patch aircraft structures, is examined in this paper. An experimental investigation was conducted using carbon/epoxy doubler repairs bonded to carbon/epoxy substrates, with piezoelectric devices used to measure variations in the frequency response of the repaired structure due to debonding of the external doubler. Three piezoelectric devices were adhered to the structure; the actuator to the external doubler and two sensors to the parent panel. To simulate real repair design requirements (minimum surface perturbation) piezoelectric devices were installed on 'internal' surfaces. Clearance for the actuator was created by the removal of damaged material. The frequency response signature of the repaired structure with simulated debonds is analysed with respect to the response of fully bonded repairs. Results are discussed with implications for the development of a technique to monitor the integrity of external bonded repairs.