Gain-Phase Error-Calibrated Piezoelectric Sensor Array-Based Impact Localization on Stiffened Curved Composite Structures

Stiffened structure-induced gain-phase errors degrade the performance of the high-resolution two-dimensional multiple signal classification (2D-MUSIC) algorithm, which makes it impossible to ensure the high accuracy of impact localization results. To eliminate the localization bias caused by these errors, a calibrated 2D-MUSIC-based impact localization method is first introduced. Firstly, time-frequency characteristics of the non-stationary impact signals are evaluated by experiment to obtain a clear first wave packet or a wave packet that purely corresponds to a single mode through continuous wavelet transform (CWT). Then, the uniform linear array covariance matrix with gain-phase errors is calibrated to be constructed as a Toeplitz structural matrix. By reconstructing covariance matrix R, 2D-MUSIC-based impact localization is calibrated for stiffened curved composite structures. Experimental research on the stiffened curved composite panel is carried out, and these impact localization results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the calibrated 2D-MUSIC-based method.