Numerical simulation of the Lamb wave propagation in honeycomb sandwich panels: A parametric study

The paper aims to describe the guided Lamb wave propagation in honeycomb sandwich panels. The application of Lamb waves is a well-known method in modern online structural health monitoring techniques. To analyze the wave propagation in such a complicated geometry with an analytical solution is hardly possible; therefore a dimensional finite element simulation is used. A piezoelectric actuator is used to excite the waves on the sandwich panel surface. The extended model of the honeycomb sandwich panel is consisting of two plate layers and a mid-core layer. In addition, a simplified model is used to reduce the computing costs, where the mid-core of the sandwich panel is replaced by a homogeneous layer. The results from the extended model and the simplified model are in most cases in a good agreement; however the limitations of using the simplified model are discussed. A parametric study is used to show the influence of the geometrical properties of honeycomb plates, the material properties of the skin plates and the loading frequency on the group velocity, the wave length and the energy transmission. Each of these properties provides valuable information to design an efficient health monitoring system. Finally, an experimental test is presented.