Acoustic emission source location in laminated plates based on virtual wave front

Sensor systems used to detect impacts on spacecraft promotes a demand for acoustic emission (AE) source location method in laminates, which is an important research field in AE. Based on the principle of virtual wave front, a new AE source location method for the laminates was derived, and a univariate function was used to present the location problem, and the golden section search method was used to solve the problem. Experiments had also been carried out on both unidirectional and bidirectional glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites laminates using a leadbreak AE source. The experimental results indicated that: this method could be used in the laminates effectively, when the wave velocity in the plate was lower, the location precision would be higher. Compared with 3 sensors array, the multi-sensor array could obtain better results. The result also provided a reference for the development of the sensor systems to detect impacts on spacecraft.