On the detectability of transverse cracks in laminated composites through measurements of electrical potential change

Abstract

For structures made of laminated composites, real-time structural health monitoring is necessary as significant damage may occur without any visible signs on the surface. Inspection by electrical tomography seems a viable approach as the technique relies on voltage measurements from a network of electrodes over the boundary of the inspected domain to infer the change in conductivity within the bulk material. The change in conductivity, if significant, can be correlated to the degradation state of the material, allowing damage detection. We focus here on the detection of the transverse cracking mechanism which modifies the in-plane transverse conductivity of ply. The quality of detection is directly related to the sensitivity of the voltage measurements with respect to the presence of cracks. We demonstrate here from numerical experiments that the sensitivity depends on several parameters, such as the anisotropy in the electrical conductivity of the baseline composite ply or the geometricalparameters of the structure. Based on these results, applicability of electrical tomography to detect transverse cracks in a laminate is discussed.