Low velocity impact localization on composite wing structure using error outlier based algorithm and FBG sensors

In this paper, localization of low velocity impacts was conducted on a composite wing structure using an error outlier based impact localization algorithm. Composite wing impact monitoring was performed using multiplexed FBG sensors attached to the upper surface of the wing and a high speed interrogator was used to sample the impact response signals at a frequency of 100 kHz. The error threshold parameter and Number of Additional Outliers parameter were found to have a significant effect on the localization performance of the error outlier based impact localization algorithm. Furthermore, the present research shows that, for complex composite structures, a lower error threshold is required than those required for the simple composite plate case. Additionally, using an error outlier with a limited number of selected location 'k' based impact localization algorithm, with increasing Number of Additional Outliers parameter, improves the overall localization performance. The error outlier with a limited number of selected location 'k' based impact localization algorithm successfully localized low velocity impacts on the wing structure with an average localization error of 7.8 mm and a maximum localization error of 24.6 mm.