Viscosity-driven attenuation of elastic guided waves in layered composite structures

Along with the amplitude and dispersion directivity, conditioned by the material anisotropy, source-induced elastic guided waves in layered fiber-reinforced polymercomposite structures exhibit non-neglectable attenuation due to the polymer matrix viscosity. The latter should be adequately accounted for in ultrasonic nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring systems for their reliable operation. In the current paper, the influence of attenuation on guided wave propagation in anisotropic laminates is investigatedexperimentally and numerically. In the computational model, viscosity driven wave amplitudedecay is addressed through the complex stiffness matrix, and semi-analytical integral approach is employed for parametric analysis. Experimental measurements are performed for piezoelectrically excited guided waves with scanning laser Doppler vibrometry technique.