Use of projection moiré for measuring the instantaneous out-of-plane deflections of composite plates subject to bird strike

For the new generation aircraft families, the use of fibre-reinforced plastics is considered for the leading edge of the wings. However, this leading edge is very prone to bird strike impact.This paper presents the use of the projection moiré technique to measure the instantaneous out-of-plane deflections of composite plates subject to bird strike. Very strict constraints with regard to (i) high-speed image acquisition, (ii) vibrations of the impact chamber, and (iii) projection and observation angles, complicated substantially the development of the set-up. Moreover, the high frame rates (12,000 fps) required a very intensive illumination.In the optimized configuration, a specially designed grating with gradually changing period is projected by means of special halide hydride lamps through one of the side windows of the impact chamber onto the composite plate riveted in a steel frame. The digital high-speed camera is mounted on the roof of the impact chamber and records through a mirror the object surface with the projected fringe pattern on it.Numerical routines based on local Fourier transform were developed to process the digital images to extract the phase and the out-of-plane displacements. The phase evaluation is possible due to the carrier frequency nature of the projected moiré pattern. This carrier frequency allows separation of the unwanted additive and multiplicative fringe pattern components in the frequency domain via the application of a proper mask. The numerical calculations were calibrated for the bird strike on an aluminum plate, where the plastic deformation could be checked after the test.