ABSTRACT
Abstract Detection o f delamination cracks for laminated composite structures is very important to improve structural reliability o f laminated composite structures. This requires real time delamination detection technologies. For the composite laminates that are reinforced with carbon fiber, an electric potential method uses the reinforcement carbon fiber itself as sensors. The adoption o f carbon fiber as sensors does not cause the strength reduction o f smart structures induced by imbedding sensors into the structures. With graphite/epoxy composites, it had been proved that the delamination crack was detected experimentally in our previous paper. In the present study, therefore, analytical investigations were conducted to investigate the effectiveness o f the method for delamination cracks for detection o f internal delamination cracks. As a result, this method was shown to be attractive for detection o f internal delamination cracks, and the crack size, position and stacking sequences have large effect on the change o f electric resistance.
