The present study proposes a detection technique for delaminations in
a laminated beam. The proposed technique optimizes the spatial distrib
ution of harmonic excitation so as to magnify the difference in respon
se between the delaminated and intact beam. The technique is evaluated
by numerical simulation of two-layered aluminum beams. Effects of mea
surement and geometric noise are included in the analysis. A finite el
ement model for a delaminated composite, based on a layer-wise laminat
ed plate theory is used in conjunction with a step function to simulat
e delaminations