Lamb Wave Based Damage Detection in Aluminium Plate Using Minimum Number of Transducers

Structural damage causes immense monetary loss and even loss of life. Therefore, there is need of a system which continuously monitors for damages in structure and warn about the presence of damages before the catastrophic failure. This can be achieved by Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques. The present work focuses on localization of damage in an aluminium plate using minimum number of transducers. Experimental study is carried out on a specimen plate without damage and specimen plate having damage, and signals are collected at various locations of sensors using piezoelectric wafer transducers (PWT). Three PWTs, arranged in triangular as well as in liner fashion. Data obtained from three sensors are processed with the help of wavelet transform for calculation of time of fight and damage is located with a fair accuracy with both the arrangements of the transducers.