Towards an efficient inverse characterization of the viscoelastic properties of anisotropic media based on the ultrasonic polar scan

Composite materials (e.g. carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)) are increasingly used for critical components in several industrial sectors (e.g. aerospace, automotive,…). Their anisotropic nature makes it difficult to accurately determine material properties or to assess internal damages. To resolve these challenges, the Ultrasonic Polar Scan (UPS) technique has been introduced. In a UPS experiment, a fixed material spot is insonified at a multitude of incidence angles Ψ(θ,φ) for which the transmission amplitude as well as the associated arrival time (time-of-flight) are measured. Mapping these quantities on a polar diagram represents a fingerprint of the local viscoelasticity of the investigated material. In the present study, we propose a novel two-stage inversion scheme which is able to infer both the elastic and the viscous properties. In the first step, we solve the inverse problem of determining the elastic constants from time-of-flight UPS recordings. The second stage handles a similar inverse problem, but now operates on the amplitude landscape of a UPS experiment for determining the viscous part of the viscoelastic tensor. This two-stage procedure thus yield the viscoelastic tensor of the insonified material spot. The developed characterization scheme has been employed on both virtual (numerical) UPS recordings, to test the effectiveness of the method, and experimental UPS recordings of unidirectional C/E plates.

ISBN:9780735416444

Publication year:2018

BOF-keylabel:yes

IOF-keylabel:yes

Authors from:Higher Education