SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

Modelling NDT for Aircraft industries...

Fabrice Foucher (CEDRAT SA), Sbastien Lonn (CEA LIST) .

he increasing use of composite materials in aircraft, particularly carbon-fiber reinforced epoxy composites (CFRP), presents new challenges for NonDestructive Testing operations to ensure reliable control of these parts and the detection of potential delaminations. The aircraft industry is showing a growing interest in the simulation of NDT techniques adapted to composite structures, particularly using ultrasound, as simulation provides powerful tools to analyze experimental results and optimize control configurations. The CIVA nde modelling platform, which now addresses the three major NDT techniques (ultrasonics, eddy current, radiography), includes models to accurately analyze phenomena involved in the propagation of ultrasonic waves in a composite body.

realistic testing congurations in terms of probes (monolithic, phased arrays), aws, specimen geometries (canonical shapes, parametrically dened or 2D/3D CAD defined) and structures. More particularly, the models are used and validated in order to simulate ultrasonic bulk wave propagation in anisotropic materials, dened in homogeneous or heterogeneous media (set of different homogeneous media), see for instance [2]. In order to efciently simulate multilayer composite structures, the strategy has been to implement homogenization algorithms which consider the different phenomena involved in composite structures and at the same time, is able to represent the composite using one equivalent homogeneous anisotropic material. Thus, once the structure is homogenized, it is possible to run a CIVAnde simulation using existing tools (beam or defect response computation). For unidirectional fiber composite materials, the model developed under CIVAnde uses the acoustic and mechanical properties of the structures component materials to calculate the elastic constants of an equivalent orthotropic structure as well as related attenuation coefcient values (accounting for multiple diffusion and viscoelastic losses). Then, a second homogenization process, using a so-called Ray Theory Based Homogenization method (RBH) seeks to predict an anisotropic equivalent material representative of an arrangement of

Figure1: Micrograph of a 2mm thick RTM plate showing four plies of three unidirectional layers - courtesy of Dassault Aviation.

Wave propagation in a typical composite structure

Figure 1 is a macrograph of a typical RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) composite structure used in aeronautics. Parts or RTMs are made of plies of carbon bers in a mould giving overall geometry, before resin is injected at high pressure. Ultrasonic attenuation is possibly high and strongly variable (up to 15dB) in these parts which posses an irregular inner structure. To be able to simulate this kind of structure accurately, modelling tools need to account for the multiple scattering by bers coupled with viscoelastic losses that occur in UT wave propagation.

a)

Composites under CIVAnde

Simulation codes developed at CEA and included in the CIVAnde software p l a t f o r m a i m a t p r ov i d i n g c o s teffective tools to predict the results of inspection techniques. It includes beam propagation and aw interactions models [1]. CIVA nde has been continuously extended through the development of simulation models to incorporate

b)
Figure 2: a) Individual layer. b) ply arrangement dened in CIVAnde

(b)

Figure 2: c) Equivalent homogenized orthotropic material calculated by CIVAnde (stiffness constants of the anisotropic matrix).

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Flux Solutions & Mechatronics Products - N 56 - May 2008

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
Modelling NDT for Aircraft industries...
Fabrice Foucher (CEDRAT SA), Sbastien Lonn (CEA LIST) . several unidirectional ber sub-layers of arbitrary thicknesses and orientation (typically 0/45/90/135/180 combinations). This second one can be applied to a heterogeneous medium when the geometry of the component means that ber layers are not exactly parallel (see g. 3a). For more details on these homogenization techniques, readers can refer to the following papers: [3], [4], [5]. The integration of these 2 methods under CIVA nde allows NDT processes in a composite structure to be simulated with very reasonable calculation times. Users can select the individual ber and matrix acoustic properties (velocities, density, etc) from the materials database then dene the ber diameter and the percentage of fiber in the composite alloy (g 2a). Finally, by dening the number of plies in the whole assembly and their relative orientation (g 2b), CIVAnde will compute the equivalent orthotropic structure to account for in the simulation (g 2c). Besides giving equivalent isotropic or anisotropic structures, these two homogenization models also provide attenuation coefcient values.

(continued)

a)

b)

As you can see in the gure below, a really good correlation between measurements and computations was obtained.

Figure 3: a) Experimental set up: Carbon-epoxy piece with parallel and non parallel layers (slope: 8)courtesy of EADS IW. b) UT Beam in a horizontal plane, comparison measurements/calculations.

Conclusion
The particular nature of composite materials, which are increasingly present in aircraft structures, presented new challenges for non-destructive techniques for precise detection of any delaminations. The implementation of homogenization algorithms in the CIVAnde software combined with accurate beam computation predictions and defect responses in anisotropic heterogeneous structures in the tool have made the simulation of this type of structure possible and relatively easy.

Experimental validation
Below is an experimental carbon-epoxy mock-up which has been used for the validation of the models implemented under CIVAnde (as part of a joint project with EADS Innovation Works and the CEA LIST). It consists of two horizontal areas with two different thicknesses, separated by a tapered region in which the number of ber layers increases progressively. An immersion transducer is used at vertical incidence (diameter 12.7mm, frequency 5Mhz). Four transducer positions were studied and one compared the measured and simulated ultrasonic beam by sizing the -6dB beam spot width and its deflection. For modelling purpose, the tapered part was divided into 4 sub-assemblies in order to account for different orientations for the plies planes, which are clearly non parallel in this case.

References
[1] P. Calmon, A. Lhmery, I. LecoeurTabi, R. Raillon, L. Paradis, Models for the computation of ultrasonic elds and their interaction with defects in realistic NDT configurations, Nucl. Eng. and Design 180, 271, 1998. [2] Simulation tools for predicting non destructive testing of heterogneous and anisotropic structures, S. Mahaut, S. Chatillon, N. Leymarie, F. Jenson and P. Calmon, To be published in

the proceedings of The International Congress of Ultrasonics, Vienna, April 9-12 2007, paper 1652 [3] Lonn S., Lhmery A., Calmon P., Biwa S. and Thvenot F., Modelling of ultrasonic attenuation in uni-directional ber reinforced composites combining multiple-scattering and viscoelastic losses, in Review of Progress in QNDE, Vol.23, eds. D. O. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti, AIP Conference Proceedings, Melville, New-York, 2004. [4] A simulation study to explain the variability of ultrasonic attenuation measurement in RTM composites, S. Lonn, A. Lhmery and F. Thvenot, Review of Progress in QNDE 23, ed. by D. O. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti (AIP Conference Proceedings 700, Melville, 2004), pp. 898-905. [5] Ultrasonic eld computation into multilayered composite materials using a homogenization method based on ray theory, S. Deydier, N. Gengembre, P. Calmon, V. Mengeling, O. Ptillon, Review of Progress in QNDE 24, ed. by D. O. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti (AIP Conference Proceedings 760, Melville, 2005), pp. 1057-1064.

Flux Solutions & Mechatronics Products - N 56 - May 2008