Aerotecnica Missili & Spazio, The Journal of Aerospace Science, Technology and Systems

Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures

A. Alaimoa , A. Milazzoa , C. Orlando
a a

Universit` a degli Studi di Palermo Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale Aerospazialee Geotecnica

Abstract

The main target of the present paper is represented by the fracture mechanics characterization of delaminated composite structures actively repaired through piezoelectric patches. A boundary element code, formulated for anisotropic piezoelectric solids, including, as limiting case, the applicability to linear elastic anisotropic materials has been then implemented. The modeling of the delaminated composite structures as well as of the assembled structures, made of the damaged components and the patches, has been achieved through the multidomain technique. Moreover, to take into account for the adhesive layer between the host structures and the piezoelectric patches, a spring-model has been also implemented. The BE code has been validated for the analysis of cracked isotropic structures repaired through active patches. Then it has been applied to study the electromechanical performances of piezoelectric devices used to actively repair delaminated composite components. Numerical analyses performed on a drop-ply delaminated composite structures by varying the patch congurations as well as the repair positioning have provided useful information on the application of the active repair technology.

1. Introduction Edge delamination or delamination in general represents one of the most dangerous failure mode of composite laminates [1]. It represents basically a fracture problem involving an interfacial crack between two highly anisotropic ber-composite laminae under loading mixed mode and, since it involves not only geometric discontinuities (i.e. free edges, interlaminar cracks, and variation of ply properties in the transverse direction) but also the coupling between Mode I, II and III of fracture in a layered anisotropic material system, it is very complex in nature and extremely difcult to solve in general [2]. Moreover, since no closed form solution for the 3-D problem exists, numerical methods, such as the nite element method [35] and the boundary element method [68] are used to analyze interlaminar stresses and consequently to better understand the behavior of this kind of damage. Delamination cracks, when left unattended, can grow at an alarming rate due to the singularity in stresses and strains near the damaged region. Delamination detection is then a primary concern in order to avoid the deterioration of the structural performances [9] and even catastrophic failures. In most conditions, the service lifetime of damaged components can be extended with repairs instead of immediate replacement. Therefore, eective repair of structural damages is an
c AIDAA, Associazione Italiana di Aeronautica e Astronautica

important and practical topic. Conventional repair methods usually involve welding, riveting or mounting additional patches to the parent structure without removing the damaged portion, and their limitation have been reviewed [10]. On the other hand the increasing development of the Smart Materials, such as piezoelectric and shape memory alloys, opens new opportunities for improved repair techniques as an alternative to the conventional repair methods. Among these emerging methods, the active repair appears to be the more attractive, particularly in the framework of the Smart Structures technology for the SHM (Structural Health Monitoring). In fact, by integrating into the host structural component not only smart sensors, capable to monitor the health condition of the structure, but even piezoelectric actuators, that, based on the converse piezoelectric eect, can allow to reduce the crack opening, a real-time active repair system [11] can be obtained. To the authors knowledge, the technological aspects of the active repairs, despite its importance in aerospace structures, have not been yet encountered since preliminary numerical analyses need to be performed in order to ascertain the feasibility on the use of piezoelectric patches and then to provide valuable design guides to integrate it into the host damaged structures. For this reasons, studies on the electromechanical behavior of piezoelectric active repairs has been recently proposed by Wang et al. [12]. They developed an analytical model 54

Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures

55

for a cracked beam repaired with piezoelectric patches with the aim to reduce the singularity at the crack tip by inducing a local moment. Two dimensional nite element analysis was performed by Liu [11, 13] to study active repairs for cracked structures by using multi-layered piezoelectric patches. In the eld of composite materials, the active repair technology has been recently applied to delaminated beam by Duan et al. [14]. They studied actively repaired delaminated beam through the nite element method instead of the simple beam theory proposed by Wang et al. [15]. In this paper a BE procedure is employed to study the eect of piezoelectric active repairs on the fracture mechanics behavior of delaminated composite structures. The boundary element formulation is then implemented for elastic anisotropic and piezoelectric anisotropic media. The modeling of the laminated composite structures is achieved through the multidomain technique [16] which allows the analysis of heterogeneous solids by subdividing the original domain into homogeneous subregions. The multidomain technique is also used to model delamination cracks and in order to take into account for the adhesive layer between the host structure and the piezoelectric patches, the boundary element code is provided with the so called spring-model. The aforementioned technique allows to consider for imperfect interface between two dierent domains by assuming linear relationships between the interface tractions, in normal and tangential directions, and the respective discontinuity in displacements. An energy based criterion [14] is chosen to identify the repair conditions and for this reason the fracture mechanics behavior of the damaged structures is characterized in terms of the total Energy Release Rate. For a better understanding of the repair mechanism the phase angle is also analyzed. At rst the BE code is validated through the analysis of homogeneous isotropic damaged structures actively repaired through piezoelectric patches [11, 13]. Then lots of analyses are performed on a drop-ply delaminated structure previously studied by Beuth [17] and Narayan et al. [18] to represent a bi-dimensional simplication of the adhesive joints between composite aircraft fuselage skins and stieners. The numerical results allow the choice of the best position for the active repairs. Moreover, it follows from the analysis, that the better way to repair the delaminated structure is to bond the active patch into the skin since, by bonding the repair into the stieners, less reduction of the total energy release rate is achieved. 2. BI formulation Model and generalized Spring

is solved in terms of generalized displacements U = T u1 u2 u3 , that are mechanical displacements and electric potential, and generalized tractions T T = t1 t2 t3 , that are mechanical tractions and the normal component of the electric displacement [16]. Generalized plain strain elasticity and in-plane electrostatic have been also assumed. Considering a particular electro-elastic state dened by the generalized displacement eld Uj associated with the concentrated generalized body forces Fj acting in an innite domain and applied at the point P0 , the reciprocity theorem for this particular and the actual electro-elastic states leads to the analogous of the Somigliana identity for the electromechanical problem [16]. More particularly, by using four independent fundamental solutions Uj [16], the boundary integral representation can be expressed in matrix form as follows c U(P0 ) +

(T U U T)d =

U Fd (1)

In Eq.1 the Kernels U and T are dened as U = [Uij ] T = [Tij ]

T

(2)
T

being Uij and Tij the i th component of the generalized displacements and tractions of the j th fundamental solution. The matrix c is dened by [16] c =

T d

(3)

The boundary integral formulation is numerically implemented by using the boundary element method [19], which provides a linear algebraic resolving system expressed in terms of generalized displacements and tractions nodal values and P, respectively H + GP = 0 (4)

The electro-mechanical problem, describing the twodimensional behavior of anisotropic piezoelectric domain with boundary lying in the x1 x2 plane,
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In Eq. 4, H and G represent the inuence matrices for displacements and tractions respectively [20]. The linear algebraic system expressed by Eq. 4, coupled with the proper boundary conditions, allows the solution of the problem for a single elastic anisotropic or piezoelectric anisotropic domain. On the other hand, the study of heterogeneous anisotropic media, like composite laminates, as well as the modeling of the damaged structures with the bonded patches can be achieved through the multidomain technique [16, 19]. The aforementioned method represents a straightforward extension of the BEM procedures and is based on the subdivision of the original domain into homogeneous subregions so that Eq. 4 still hold for each single sub-domain and the following relationships can

56 be written
M i Hi ij ij = j =1 j =1 M i Gi ij Pij

A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando

(i = 1, 2, . . . , M ) (5)

dinate systems centered at each node to the interface boundary of the i -th domain, as shown in Fig. 1, the imperfect interface conditions can be summarized as follows
j ij i N = N + N ij j i + T T = T

where M is the number of subregions considered while the superscript i indicates the quantities associated with the i -th subdomain. Provided that for i =j the nodes belong to the external boundary of the i -th subdomain, the subscripts ij refer to the quantities related to the nodes belonging the interface between the i i th and j -th sub-domains. In Eq.5 Hi ij and Gij are the matrices of inuence coecients pertaining to the i quantities ij and Pi ij , respectively. To obtain the solution of the problem, the generalized displacement continuity and generalized traction equilibrium conditions along the interfaces between contiguous subdomains need to be restored as follows
j i ij = ji

with

ij N = kN Pi N

ij with T = kT Pi T

(8)

j = i + ij

with ij = ke Di N

where kN and kT denote the interface compliance coecients along normal and tangential directions, while ke is the electric ctitious compliance coecient to be set to zero in order to restore the continuity of the electric potential between two contiguous sub-regions. Consequently in the global coordinate system the interface Spring Model writes
j i ji = ij + Kij Pi ij

i = 1, ..., M 1; j = i + 1, ..., M

i = 1, ..., M 1; j = i + 1, ..., M

(6)

(9)

Pi ij =

Pj ji

If imperfect bonding is assumed, indicating by ij the vector of the generalized displacement jumps across the interface between the i -th and j -th subdomains, the compatibility conditions are written as
j i ji = ij + ij

where Kij is a matrix containing the interface compliance coecient expressed in the global reference. For imperfect bonding Eq.5 still holds with the following convention used for j < i
j i ij = ji j Pi ij = Pji

i = 1, ..., M 1; j = i + 1, ..., M

(7)

(10) Hi ij = Hi ji Gi ij = Gi ji + Kij Hi ji The system of Eq.5 and the interface conditions for both perfect, Eq.6, or imperfect bonding, Eq.7, provide a set of relationships, which, coupled with the boundary conditions applied on the external boundaries, allow to determine the electromechanical response of each sub-domain. An iterative procedure need to be used to avoid overlap between interface coincident nodes. The algorithm employed in the present paper detects the contact conditions by checking the sign of the normal component of the mechanical displacement jump at the interface. In the case of detected contact the compliance constant kN , is incrementally reduced in order to avoid overlapping at the interface and to ensure numerical stability. 3. Adhesive layer modeling strategies

The Spring Model is then implemented by expressing the normal and tangential components of the interij ij face mechanical displacement jumps, N and, T , as function of the normal and tangential components of the nodal mechanical tractions. It is worth nothing that, in order to maintain a compact notation, a ctitious jump in the electric potential, expressed as function of the normal component of the electric displacement, is also introduced. Referring to local coor-

Interface coincident nodes j

kN

X2 Ti

Nj Ni

Tj X1

kT

Figure 1. Imperfect interface representation

The Spring Model, whose implementation has been described in the previous paragraph, allows the modeling of imperfect interfaces between contiguous media through and uncoupled set of relationships between interlayer tractions and displacement jump components characterized by the compliance constants kN and kT . The modeling of the bonding layer through an equivalent zero-thickness elastic interface may be then achieved by linking the mechanical properties of the adhesive to the compliance interface constants [20].
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Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures

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Due to the small thickness of the bonding layer and by virtue of the generalized plane strain hypothesis, it may be assumed that the non zero components of the strain eld, characterizing the adhesive layer, are 22 and 12 . It follows that, by assuming the x2 axis along the thickness direction, the isotropic adhesive constitutive equations are written as

conditions. In order to nd the best repair conguration, dierent kind of patch arrangements and dierent positions of the active repairs are considered. According to the repair criterion involved in this study, the Energy Release rate characterizing the fracture mechanics behavior of each conguration is computed. Moreover, in order to caught the mode mix and to better understand the repair mechanism, the behavior 1 (1 + )(1 2 ) 22 = S22 22 with S22 = of the phase angle at dierent value of the applied E 1 (11) voltage is also studied [18]. 1 12 = S66 12 with S66 = 4.1. Isotropic damaged structure (single layer G patch) In Eq.11 E, G and are the Youngs Modulus, the The cantilever beam, shown in Fig. 2, is considShear Modulus and the Poissons ratio of the adhesive. ered for the analysis. The geometry of both the host The link between the aforementioned quantities and the spring interface compliance constants kN and kT can be obtained by comparing Eq.8 and Eq.11. Both x2 equations represent in fact the adhesive constitutive L F laws which relates the peel and the shear stresses and tractions at the interface to the respective strains and a displacements. It follows that the interface compliance H elastic constants kN and kT can be obtained from and x1 of Eq.11, see [20], by considering that S22 and S66 h represent compliance coecients per unit thickness, L1 thus one can write
, kN = ta S22 kT = ta S66

(12) Figure 2. Repaired structure conguration

being ta the adhesive thickness. 4. Results and discussion The boundary element analysis of damaged structures actively repaired through piezoelectric active patches are discussed in the following. Due to available data found in the literature, the BE code are rstly applied and validated for the analysis of a cracked isotropic structure with active piezoelectric patches. Two dierent repair congurations are considered that is the single and multilayered patch. Moreover, to highlight the eect of the adhesive on the electromechanical performances of the repaired structures, both perfect and imperfect interface conditions are considered. For each conguration analyzed, the repair voltage Vr is computed, being the applied voltage at which the damaged structure can be considered repaired. In order to nd the aforementioned condition, an Energy Based Repair Criterion [11] is used. According to it, a structure is considered to be repaired when the total Energy Release Rate reaches its minimum value. Once the code is validated, a delaminated drop-ply composite structure, that can be commonly used to model the overlap region between a composite skin and the stringer ange [17,18], is analyzed. A free edge delamination is considered at the interface between the skin and the stiener, where high interlaminar stresses are evidenced. The fracture mechanics behavior of the delaminated structure is analyzed under dierent repair
Aerotecnica Vol.88, No.1/2, January-June 2009

structure and the piezoelectric patch (single and multilayered, see Fig. 3) and the boundary conditions are taken from Liu [11]. The material properties of



Figure 3. Single and multilayered patch conguration

the host structures and of the piezoelectric material are summarized in table 1 while the Young Modulus and the Poisson Ratio of the adhesive are E = 3GP a and = 0.4 respectively. By considering an adhesive thickness ta = 0.1mm and according to the adhesive modeling strategy adopted in the present work the compliance interface constants corresponding to the material properties of the adhesive layer are kN =

58 1.56 105 m/GP a and kT = 9.33 105 m/GP a. As just pointed out by Liu [11], for the particular

A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando

Table 1 Material properties

Elastic const. (GP a) C11 = 139 C22 = 115 C12 = 74.3 C13 = 77.8 C44 = 25.6 P ZT 4 Piezo const. (C/m2 ) e21 = 5.2 e22 = 15.1 e14 = 12.7 Dielectric const. (pC/V m) 11 = 6447 22 = 5617 PMMA Young Poisson Mod. ratio (GP a) E = 3.3 = 0.35

analyzed and the eect of the adhesive thickness on its performances is also investigated. Analyses are then carried out for two dierent values of the adhesive layer thickness ta. Numerical results for multi-layered perfectly bonded patch and for adhesively bonded patches, with ta = 0.1mm and ta = 0.mm, are shown in Fig. 4. The results obtained in the case of perfectly

0.55 0.5 0.45 0.4 Perfect Bonding Adhesive (t = 0.1 mm)

a a

Adhesive (t = 0.2 mm)

boundary conditions considered Mode I of fracture is predominant and then the behavior of the damaged beam can be fully characterized by the KI values. For this particular load case the repair condition is then reached when the stress intensity KI reaches its minimum value. In order to compare the results with those obtained by Liu [11] in the case of perfectly bonded interface, the following denition of the stress intensity factor is used KI kI = (13) being KI the stress intensity factor computed by using the displacement correlation method [20]. In table

kI / kI0

0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2

100

200
Vr [Volt]

300

400

500

Figure 4. multilayered patch SIF distribution

Table 2 SIF and repairing voltages for single patch.

Perfect bonding kI /kI 0 Passive Active 0.4067 0.1782 Vr [V ] Adhesive kI /kI 0 0.4193 0.1780
adh Vr [V ] adh V Vr r Vr

1290

1400

8.5 %

2 the minimum values of the stress intensity factor and the corresponding repair voltage Vr are shown for both perfect and imperfect interface conditions. It is worth nothing that the stress intensity factors kI are expressed in dimensionless unit by dividing for kI 0 , being the stress intensity factor characterizing the fracture mechanics behavior of the unrepaired beam [20]. From table 2 it can be pointed out that the eect of the adhesive layer is to reduce the repair performances of the patch. In fact, an increasing of the repair voltage of about 8.5% is evidenced. 4.2. Isotropic damaged structure (multi-layer patch) The multi-layered piezoelectric patch conguration, whose equivalent circuit model is shown in Fig. 3 is

bonded interface match very well to those obtained by Liu [11]. In fact a 1.6% dierence between the repairing voltage obtained by the present approach and that obtained by a nite element analysis [11] is observed. As shown in Fig.4, the electromechanical response of the multi-layered patch is inuenced by the adhesive layer with the same mechanism as for the single one. Moreover, by increasing the adhesive thickness, more voltage needs to be applied to repair the damaged structure. This trend is shown in Fig.4 and is pointed out in table 3, where the repairing voltage for both adhesive thickness (values in square brackets refer to ta = 0.2mm) are shown.

Table 3 SIF and repair voltage for the multi-layered patch

Perfect bonding kI /kI 0 Passive Active 0.4107 0.1642 125 Vr [V ] Adhesive kI /kI 0 0.4464 [0.5007] 0.1582 [0.1566]
adh Vr [V ] adh V Vr r Vr

135 [150]

8% [20 %]

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Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures

59

4.3. Drop-ply delaminated composite structure The active repair performances of dierent patch congurations and the correspondent fracture mechanics behavior of the drop-ply structure, shown in Fig.6, are discussed in this section. This kind of geometry has been chosen since it can be used for the modeling of skin-stiener delamination [21] as will be briey described in the following. 4.3.1. Problem denition It is well known that the internal pressure load or the deformations associated with the post buckling behavior of a stiened panel can lead to severe bending and shear loads on the skin near the ange termination line. These loads may induce large peel and shear stresses at the interface between the stiener ange and the skin which are sucient to cause stiener debonding from the skin [21]. Such a situation and in particular the loads at the Skin-Stiener interface due to post buckling are depicted in Fig. 5. This gure

a H3 H2 H1 h Lp L2 L3 P

Figure 6. Drop-ply conguration and boundary conditions

3.18mm, H3 = 1.9mm. An edge delamination, having length a = 10.2mm, is located at the interface between the stiener ange and the skin. Moreover, the analyzed structure is clamped at the left side and a distributed shear force per unit length P = 21.0KN/m is applied on the right hand side of the skin. For all the three repair congurations analyzed, shown in Fig.3 and 7, a thickness h = 1.5mm and a length Lp = 2 a are considered. In the case of multi-layered cong-

M Q F

Table 4 Material properties

Flange termination line

Figure 5. Load at the Skin-Stiener Interface due to postbuckling

Elastic const. (GP a) C11 = 139 C22 = 115 C12 = 74.3 C13 = 77.8 C44 = 25.6

PZT-4 Piezo const. (C/m2 ) e21 = 5.2 e22 = 15.1 e14 = 12.7

Dielectric const. (pC/V m) 11 = 6447 22 = 5617

Graphite-Epoxy E, G 12 13 GP a E11 = 134 0. 3 E22 = 10.2 E33 = 10.2 G12 = 5.52 G13 = 5.52 G23 = 3.43

also shows a local delaminated region and the proper equivalent boundary conditions that is possible to extract from the whole stiened panel and that can be modeled through the bi-dimensional model of Fig.6. In this study the delaminated drop-ply laminate repaired with active piezoelectric patches is analyzed under the shear load case. 4.3.2. Geometry and boundary element model The drop-ply conguration analyzed, see Fig. 6, consists of 0 and 90 graphite-epoxy plies while PZT4 material is used to arrange the active patches. The material properties of both the unidirectional ply and the piezoelectric materials are listed in table 4 and have been taken from Narayan et al. and Liu et al., respectively [11, 18]. The geometry of the host structure is characterized by the following dimension: L3 = 50.8mm, L2 = 35.6mm, H1 = 5.08mm, H2 =
Aerotecnica Vol.88, No.1/2, January-June 2009

uration, obtained by stacking 10 piezoelectric layers with alternatively opposite poling directions, see Fig. 3, the active repair is achieved through the elongation of the patch that induce a bending moment into the host structure. Such a bending moment is opposite to the applied load if the patch is bonded on the skin. On the other hand, as will be shown in the following, if the patch is bonded on the stiener ange, the induced bending moment doesnt oppose to the shear external load and, consequently, the active repair cannot be achieved. If the bimorph or double-bimorph patches are used, the applied voltage directly induce bending deformations allowing the active repair with less shear stress transfer at the interface between the patch and the damaged structure. The boundary element model is obtained by using the multidomain

60

E l e c t r o d e s

A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando

 

the repaired structure is studied in terms of the total energy release rate, GT , and according to the energy based repair criterion, previously described, the structure is considered to be repaired when GT reaches its minimum value. Moreover, due to the mode mix usually associated to delamination at bi-material interface, the phase angle is also investigated. The distribution with respect to the applied voltage is in fact useful to understand the repair mechanism. In

Figure 7. Bimorph and double bimorph patch conguration

0.6
[ [ [ [    

technique. The boundary element mesh for the host delaminated structure consists of 434 linear elements and is obtained by assembling 3 sub-regions, one for each ply as shown in Fig. 8. Mesh renement is used

0.4

0.01

Crack Tip

0.005

Figure 8. Boundary element mesh

GT/G0
0.2 0 0 1000 2000 3000

V (Volt)
at the crack tip in order to caught the stress singularities and to obtain an accurate prediction of the energy release rate. The multi-layered patch model consists of 250 linear elements and 10 subregion are used to stack the active repair. On the other hand, 50 and 100 linear elements are used for the bimorph and the double-bimorph patch respectively. 4.3.3. Multi-layered patch conguration The following analyses deal with the Multi-layered patch conguration and both the skin and stiener patches are considered. With the aim to determine the best repair conditions, the active patch performances and the fracture mechanics behavior of the repaired structure are investigated for dierent position of the piezoelectric device with respect to the crack tip. Parametric studies are then performed in terms of the parameter , representative of the relative position between the crack and the patch. It is dened as follows = xG xT a (14)

Figure 9. Total Energy Release Rate distribution (Skin Patch)

In Eq. 14, xG and xT are the coordinates along the x1 axis of the crack tip and of the patch geometric center, respectively. The fracture mechanics response of

Fig.9 the total Energy Release rate distribution versus the applied voltage V is plotted for dierent values of the distance parameter . The total energy release rate is expressed in dimensionless unit by dividing GT to G0 , being G0 the total energy release rate characterizing the fracture mechanics behavior of the unrepaired structure. It is worth nothing that the computed value of G0 = 1.43 104M P a m agrees very well to that found by Narayan et al. [18] through a nite element analysis. From Fig. 9 it can be pointed out that the repair voltage Vr , whose values are listed in table 5, is function of the relative position between the patch and the crack tip. Among the dierent position analyzed, the minimum value of the repair voltage is obtained for = 0. For this reason, the patch position associated to this value of could be apparently considered the better one since less energy is needed to reach the minimum value of GT . As a matter of fact, since the minimum value of GT is a function of as shown in Fig.9
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Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures Table 5 Vr and corresponding minimum total Energy release rate
= 0.6 Multi Layered Vr (Volt) GT min /G0 Bimorph Vr (Volt) GT min /G0 Double Bimorph Vr (Volt) GT min /G0 2140 0, 87E 4 9700 1, 59E 4 5120 1, 59E 4 =0 1830 0, 2E 2 6400 1, 1E 5 2340 1, 1E 5 = 0.3 2020 0, 62E 1 5800 3, 2 E 4 1750 3, 2E 4 = 0.6

61

0.6
V=0 V=1000 V=1605 V=1830 V=2500

0.4

5550 3, 4E 4 1400 3, 4E 4

G1/G10
0.2 0
Crack Tip

2320 0, 9E 1

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Crack Mouth

, the better position of the patch results for = 0.6. At = 0.6, in fact, for an applied voltage V, the minimum GT is obtained. It is worth nothing that the position associated to = 0.6 results the better one even for the passive patch condition obtained by setting the voltage V to be equal to zero. With the aim to underline the eect of the adhesive on the patch performances and on the fracture mechanics response of the damaged structure, the GT /G0 and distributions versus the applied voltage are plotted in Fig.10 for = 0.

Figure 11. Normal component of the crack surface relative displacements ( = 0)

In Fig. 11, 12 the normal and tangential crack surface relative displacements are plotted for dierent values of the applied voltage.

0.4

0.5
GT/G0

\angle

70

V=0 V=1000 V=1605 V=1830 V=2500

\ angle

0.3 GT/G0

50

0.2

30
Crack Tip Crack Mouth

0.1 10 0 0 1000 2000 V(Volt) 3000

G7/G70

0.4

-0.4

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Figure 12. Tangential component of the crack surface relative displacements ( = 0)

Figure 10. GT /G0 and distribution for = 0 (solid adhesive, dashed perfect)

It can be observed that the eect of the nite stiness of the interface between the patch and the host structure is to increase the repair voltage and the correspondent value of the minimum total energy release rate.
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These displacements are expressed in dimensionless unit by dividing N and T by N 0 and T 0, being N 0 and T 0 the normal and tangential components of the crack relative displacements of the unrepaired structure. Through the analysis of these displacement distributions and of the phase angle behavior of Fig. 10 it is possible to understand the multilayered patch repair mechanism. Lets consider the imperfect bonding distribution of Fig. 10. For 0 < V < Vc , being

62 Vc = 1605V olt the applied voltage at which the crack surfaces enter in contact, the phase angle distribution appears quite constant; this means that the mode mix doest change and that the reduction of GT through the reduction of both the normal and tangential crack relative displacements, see Fig. Fig. 11 and 12. When the contact is reached, a rapid decreasing of the phase angle is evidenced and this behavior continues till the repair voltage Vr = 1830V olt is applied. This means that the delamination behavior tends to mode I since the decreasing of the tangential relative displacements is still evident while for Vc < V < Vr the normal relative displacements remain quite the same. Once the minimum total energy release rate is reached, condition that corresponds to a minimum of and of the tangential relative displacements, the normal displacements remain constant while the tangential displacements turn to increase. This leads to an increasing of the phase angle and consequently of the total energy release rate.

A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando

Fig. 14 and Fig. 15 show the normal and tangential crack surface relative displacements for dierent values of the applied voltage. From these gures it can be pointed out that both the phase angle and the absolute values of the tangential relative displacements always increase till their maximum values. This means that the reduction of the normal relative displacements at the crack tip is not enough to lead to a reduction of the total energy release rate.

0.8

V=0 V=500 V=1000 V=1500 V=3500

G1/G10
0.4 0
Crack Tip

1.8
GT/G0

Crack Mouth

\angle

70

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6 50 \ angle

1.4 GT/G0

1.2

30

Figure 14. Normal crack surface relative disp., = 0.3 (Flange patch)

1 10 0.8 0 1000 2000 V(Volt) 3000

0
V=0 V=500 V=1000 V=1500 V=3500

-1

Figure 13. GT /G0 and distribution for = 0.3 (Flange Patch)

The multi-layered patch conguration is also analyzed when bonded on the ange of the stiener. It is worth to underline that this patch positioning is worst than the previous one since the repair performances decrease in terms of both the minimum value of GT and of the repair voltage Vr . This is due to the fact that the bending moment induced by the patch doesnt oppose to the applied shear loads, even though it tends to reduce crack relative normal displacements. The distributions of GT /G0 and versus the applied voltage are plotted in Fig. 13 for = 0.3, while

Crack Tip

G7/G70
-2 -3
Crack Mouth

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Figure 15. Normal crack surface relative disp., = 0.3 (Flange patch)

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Piezoelectric Patches for the Active Repair of Delaminated Structures

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4.3.4. Bimorph and double bimorph patch conguration A scheme of the bimorph and double-bimorph piezoelectric devices can be found in Fig. 7 where the circuital dierences among congurations analyzed are shown. As previously discussed, the bimorph and the double bimorph patches undergo bending deformations under an applied voltage and for this reason, considering the same number of piezoelectric laminae to arrange the patch, these congurations appears more eective than the multilayered one. The last

0.5
GT/G0

100
\angle

0.4 0.3 GT/G0 0.2 0.1

80

40

20

0
0

0.6

0
[  [  [ 

4000

8000 V(Volt)

12000

0.4

GT/G0

Figure 17. GT /G0 and distribution for = 0.6 (Bimorph patch)

0.2

0 0 4000 8000 12000 0

V (Volt)

V=0 V=5000 V=9500 V=10000 V=13000

G7/G70

-0.4

Figure 16. Total Energy Release Rate distribution (Bimorph Patch)

-0.8

repair conguration, in fact, indirectly induce bending deformation into the host structure through the shear stresses at the interface. To quantify the differences between the two congurations lets consider a bimorph and a bilayer patch at = 0.3. The two patches have the same number of ply but the repair voltage of the bimorph is 64% less than the bilayer one. For a better understanding of the bimorph patch repair mechanism, the total energy release rate distributions versus the applied voltage are plotted in Fig. 16. From Fig. 16 it stems that the best location for the bimorph device is at = 0.3 because the maximum reduction of the energy release rate is obtained with the lowest repairing voltage. From the same gure it appears that, using the bimorph patch located at = 0., once the GT /G0 reaches its minimum value it remains constant even if the applied voltage is higher than the repairing one. The phase angle distribution for this conguration is plotted in Fig.17, while the normal and tangential components of the crack relative displacements for dierent values of V are plotted in Fig.18 and Fig.19.
Aerotecnica Vol.88, No.1/2, January-June 2009

Crack Tip

Crack Mouth

0.4

0.8

Figure 19. Tangential crack surface relative displacements, = 0.6 (Bimorph patch) 5. Conclusions The fracture mechanics behavior of delaminated composite structures actively repaired through piezoelectric patches has been investigated by using a boundary element code. The assembling of the host structures with the active repairs has been achieved through the multidomain technique and a spring interface model has been also implemented in order to take into account the adhesive layer. The analyses performed on both the multilayered and bimorph active repair congurations have highlighted that the best repair performances are obtained by stacking the piezo-

\ angle

60

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A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando

0.6
V=0 V=10000 V=13000

12.

0.4

13.

0.2

14.

15.
0

16.
Crack Tip

0.4

0.8

Crack Mouth

17.

Figure 18. Normal crack surface relative displacements, = 0.6 (Bimorph patch)

18.

19.

electric devices in anti-parallel arrangement. Moreover the best patch location has been found to be on the external skin surface where the active repair is able to reduce the crack opening. Parametric studies have also provided useful information about the positioning of the patch with respect to the crack tip. REFERENCES
1. G. Dav` , A. Milazzo, Boundary Element Solution for the Free Edge Stresses in Composite Laminates, Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 877884, 1997. 2. S.S. Wang, Edge Delamination in Angle-Ply Composite laminates, AIAA Journal, Vol. 26, pp. 256264, 1989. 3. E.F. Rybicki, Approximate Three-Dimensional Solutions for Symmetric Laminates Under Inplane Loading, Journal of Composite Materials, Vol. 5, pp. 354360, 1971. 4. S.S. Wang, R.J. Stango, Optimally Discretized Finite Elements for Boundary Layer Stresses in Composite Laminates, AIAA Journal, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 614620, 1983. 5. J.D. Whitcomb, I.S. Raju , J.G. Goree, Reliability of the Finite Element Method for Calculating Free Edge Stresses in Composite Laminates, Computers and Structures, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 2337, 1982. 6. G. Dav` , A. Milazzo, Boundary Element Solution for the Free Edge Stresses in Composite Laminates, Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 877884, 1997. 7. G. Dav` , A. Milazzo, Boundary Bending Stress Fields in Composite Laminate Beams By Boundary Integral Formulation, Computers and Structures, Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 267 276, 1999. 8. G. Dav` , A. Milazzo, Boundary Integral Formualation for Composite Laminates in Torsion, AIAA Journal, Vol. 35, No. 10, pp. 16601666, 1997. 9. A. Todoroki, M. Ueda, Low cost delamination monitoring of CFRO beams using electrical resistance changes with neural network, Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 15, N 7584, 2006. 10. A.A. Baker, L.R.F. Rose, R. Jones, Advances in the Bonded Composite Repair of Metallic Aircraft Structure, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2002. 11. T.J.C. Liu, Fracture mechanics and crack contact analyses of the active repair of multi-layered piezoelectric patches

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bonded on cracked structures, Theoretical Applied Fracture mechanics, Vol. 47, pp.120132, 2007. Q. Wang, S.T. Quek, K.M. Liew, On the repair of a cracked beam with a piezoelectric patch, Smart Mater Struct, Vol. 11, pp. 404410, 2002. T.J.C. Liu, Crack repair performance of piezoelectric actuator estimated by slope continuity and fracture mechanics, Engng Fract Mech, Vol. 75, pp. 25662574, 2008. W.H. Duan, S.T. Quek, Q. Wang, Finite element analysis of the piezoelectric-based repair of delaminated beam, Smart Materials and Structures, doi:10.1088/09641726/17/01/015017. S.S. Wang, F.G. Yuan, A hybrid nite element approach to composite laminate elasticity problem with singularity. J. Appl. Mech, Vol. 50, pp. 835844, 1983. G. Dav` , A. Milazzo, Multidomain boundary integral formulation for piezoelectric material fracture mechanics, Int. Journal of Solids and structures, Vol. 38, pp. 70657078, 2001. J.L. Beuth, Separation of crack extension modes in orthotropic delamination models International Journal of Fracture, Vol. 77, pp. 305321, 1996. S.H. Narayan, J.L. Beuth, Designation of mode mix in orthotropic composite delamination problems, International Journal of Fracture Vol. 90, pp. 383400, 1998. P.K. Banerjee, R. Buttereld, Boundary Element Methods in Engineering Science, mcGraw-Hill maidenhead, 1981. A. Alaimo, A. Milazzo, C. Orlando, Boundary elemene analysis of adhesively bonded piezoelectric active repair, Engineering fracture Mechanics, Vol. 76, pp. 500511, 2009. J.H. Starnes, N.F. Knight, M. Rous, Postbuckling behavior of Selected Flat Stiened Graphite-Epoxy panels Loaded in Compression, AIAA Journal, Vol. 23, No.8, pp. 1236 1246, 1985.

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