Multi-Variant Damage Assessment in Composite Materials Using Acoustic Emission

The accurate evaluation of the structural health of in-service fibre-reinforced polymer components is particularly interesting. Acoustic emission has been widely studied for monitoring damage initiation and propagation in such materials. However, the accurate identification of exact damage modes together with the accurate quantification of damage severity through analysis of acoustic emission signals remain challenging. The present study explores the applicability of frequency-based multi-variant analysis for identifying damage modes and quantifying the level of sustained damage in fibre-reinforced composites, highlighting the limitations of existing methods.