Damage source localization based on acoustic emission technology in high-demanding aircraft structure fatigue tests

In response to the challenge of traditional acoustic emission (AE) source localization methods in achieving ideal source localization in high-noise complex aircraft structural fatigue tests, an intelligent damage source precise localization method has been proposed based on the traditional time difference mapping (TDM) localization method. The method includes intelligent noise reduction of the monitoring signals and precise extraction of the arrival time of acoustic emission wave, and improvements were made to the traditional TDM localization method. The results of fatigue tests on aluminum alloy notched specimens demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately locate acoustic emission sources under high-noise environments, effectively enhancing the damage monitoring capability in aircraft structural fatigue tests based on acoustic emission technology.