RESIDUAL STRENGTH EVALUATION OF IMPACTED GRP LAMINATES WITH ACOUSTIC-EMISSION MONITORING

This paper deals with tensile resting of GRP laminates containing impa ct damage generated with different impact energies. Acoustic emission (AE) detection and analysis was used to attempt the prediction of resi dual tensile strength after impact (RTSAI). A modified version of a pr evious model for residual strength of center-hole composite laminates is Its rationale is the introduction of a non-dimensional stress to ma ke the composite laminate AE response independent of damage geometry. The experimental results show that AE activity is strictly correlated to RTSAI rather than to impact energy. Experimental agreement with the model is verified for both impacted and center-hob composite samples.