Preliminary Study of Ultrasonic Detection of Cracks Through Thick Composite Doublers

摘要

Composite doublers have been introduced as a repair method to take a substantial portion of the structural load away from the region around a crack in aluminum aircraft structures. The subsequent use of nondestructive evaluation methods to test the quality of the composite doubler bond and to characterize the crack beneath the doubler is described. In particular, the use of scanning ultrasound methods is evaluated along with appropriate analysis methods to characterize the crack.