A hierarchical multistage holistic model for acoustic emission source monitoring in composites

Abstract This paper introduces a multistage smart structural health monitoring (SHM) model for carbon-fibre composites, with a focus on multiple types of acoustic emission (AE) source localization and classification. The SHM model uses time–frequency data from various AE events (such as tool drops, impact, and artificial debonding) across different zones of a composite structure. The SHM strategy demonstrates a robust smart monitoring of composites with high accuracy. Further, a hypothesis testing has been carried out that supports the superiority of a 2-stage identification process, revealing statistically significant higher accuracy and confidence intervals across all zones and AE source types. This research establishes a novel framework for solving a hierarchical multistage holistic damage source identification problem, offering robustness in identifying various damage scenarios and quantifying associated prediction uncertainties.