Laser-generated ultrasonic guided waves in fiber-reinforced plates-theory and experiment

A pulsed laser source and a capacitance transducer detector have been used to record the propagation of guided waves in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite laminates. Despite the multimode nature of the recorded data, it is shown that the phase velocity dispersion curve of the a/sub 0/ mode can be extracted readily from the waveforms. Experimental dispersion curves have been compared to phase velocity predictions from a global matrix theory. Reasonable correlation between theory and experiment is obtained, demonstrating the validity of the calculations and experimental method.