Structural health monitoring of riveted aircraft panels is a real challenge for maintenance engineers. Here, a diffused Lamb wave field is used for fatigue-crack detection in a multi-riveted strap-joint aircraft panel. The panel is instrumented with a network of low-profile surface-bonded piezoceramic transducers. Various amplitude characteristics of Lamb waves are used to extract information on fatigue damage. A statistical outlier analysis based on these characteristics is also performed to detect damage. The experimental work is supported by simplified modelling of wave scattering from crack tips to explain complex response features. The Local Interaction Simulation Approach (LISA) is used for this modelling task. The results demonstrate the potential and limitations of the method for reliable fatigue-crack detection in complex aircraft components.
