As an impact-source-localization technique, Lamb waves are commonly used to detect low-velocity impact in composite structures. However, the performance of Lamb waves is susceptible under deformation conditions. In this paper, a novel approach combined the Toeplitz approximation method (TAM) and multiple-signal classification (MUSIC) (TAM-MUSIC) to improve impact-source-localization (angle and distance in polar coordinates) accuracy under deformation conditions. The method divided a two-dimensional search of direction and distance into two one-dimensional searches. The impact direction was calculated by the TAM, which was introduced into the steering vector of MUSIC to estimate the distance by scanning the whole monitoring area. An epoxy laminate plate experiment showed that the phase and amplitude of uniform linear-array signals had different average plate curvature that led to poor impact-source-localization accuracy using the MUSIC method. TAM provided high-resolution direction-finding capability, suitable for the pretreatment of Lamb waves. Results showed that the present method, with a small amount of computation and low memory requirement, had higher location-estimation accuracy than that of traditional methods under deformation conditions.
Keywords: Lamb waves; Toeplitz approximation method; composite structures; deformation conditions; impact-source localization; multiple-signal classification.