Localization of skin-core disbond damage in a honeycomb core sandwich composite structure using the A0 guided wave mode

Honeycomb core sandwich composite structures (HCSCSs) find extensive applications in the marine, aerospace, and defense sectors owing to their lightweight characteristics. However, they are prone to damage due to the disbond between the skin-core interfaces, resulting in catastrophic failure if undetected. This study aims to develop a new framework for the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of HCSCSs numerically using the fundamental antisymmetric mode (A0) of guided wave propagation to locate such damages efficiently. The wavefield patterns clearly distinguished an intact HCSCS from a disbond defect HCSCS. A significant amplification of the A0 mode is observed due to disbond damage. The disbond damage is localized using the total focusing method with full matrix capture (TFM-FMC) algorithm-based NDE framework. The proposed health monitoring framework effectively detected disbond damage in an HCSCS.