Damage Assessment with Laser Ultrasonics in 3D-Printed Plate

The growing use of 3D-printed (additively manufactured) structural components implies the need to develop effective methods of damage assessment. This study focuses on guided wave propagation and its interaction with structural damage. The waves were excited using a laser scanning system which allows for easy excitation of the waves at various points at the surface. Also, the excitation is broadband, giving the ability to excite more guided wave modes at once. The combined laser scanning with a single piezoelectric measurement transducer takes advantage of reciprocity to reconstruct the full propagating wavefield. The investigated sample was printed from an aluminum alloy. The first set of measurements was realized for an intact (healthy) sample. Next, an artificial damage was introduced in order to study the wave interaction with it. Machine learning-based signal process algorithms were developed to analyze the wave interaction with the damaged plate. The obtained results show a good potential of guided wave-based techniques for the structural health monitoring of 3D-printed structures.