Experimental study on employing flexural wave measurement to characterize delamination in beams

Flexural wave analysis has been applied to the detection and quantitative assessment of delaminations in structures. To validate analytical methods, an extensive experimental study is conducted. The test beam is of infinite length, and a delamination of prescribed length is artificially created at predetermined locations. Using two different types of excitations and measurements, the effect on the beam response of delamination length and depth, the beam material, excitation frequencies and location of excitation are analyzed. A technique for predicting the location and size of the delamination is also proposed. On each case, good comparison between analytical and experimental results is achieved.