Application of electrical impedance tomography to an anisotropic carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite laminate for damage localization. (26th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nonn, Susanne; Schagerl, Martin; Zhao, Yingjun; Gschossmann, Sandra; Kralovec, Christoph
• Is Part Of: Composites science and technology. Volume 160(2018)
• Page Start: 231
• Page End: 236
• Publication Date: 2018-05-26
• Subjects: Carbon fibers -- Smart materials -- Electrical properties -- Anisotropy -- Electrical impedance tomography; Composite materials -- Periodicals; Composite materials; Fibrous composites; Periodicals; 620.118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compscitech.2018.03.031
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0266-3538

Abstract

Abstract: Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an emerging method for assessing the structural condition of composite structures. In this work, EIT's damage localization capability is investigated through its application upon a commercial laminated anisotropic carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate. Aluminum rivets were used as electrodes. EIT reconstructs the spatial conductivity within a defined space by using its boundary voltage response. The algorithm starts with a forward simulation of the voltage distributions within the boundary, hence the orthotropic conductivity of the CFRP plate was first characterized experimentally. It was found that the inhomogeneous fiber contacts through the thickness are influencing the reconstruction results. A detailed 3D finite element simulation was built to model the conductivity distribution. Different current injection patterns were attempted with their reconstruction results being evaluated via four criteria. It was found that the diagonal current injection and the difference evaluation lead to the best results.