Ultrasonic damage detection in CRFP with stiffeners

The results of ultrasonic Lamb wave detection of impact damages of laminates with stiffeners are presented. Based on previous investigations good damage identification ability of unnotched laminates was shown. However large structures designed using carbon fiber reinforced laminates often have different stiffeners that make the damage monitoring task more complicated. In this research two different experimental laminates with stiffeners were subjected to impact damage and then tested using the embedded ultrasonic technique based on piezotransducer network. Obtained results were analyzed from two points of view: location accuracy and classification ability. It was shown that the impacted areas outside the stiffeners positions are successfully revealed with an acceptable accuracy. While the detection of BVID in the area above the stiffener provide high location errors.