Non-destructive testing (NDT) of glass-fibre reinforced polyester (GRP) composite materials has been becoming increasingly important due to their wide applications in engineering components and structures. Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) has promising potential in this context because it is a non-contact, whole-field and real-time measurement system. This potential has never been fully exploited and there is only limited knowledge and understanding available in this area. This reality constrains the wide popularity and acceptance of ESPI as a novel NDT technique. Therefore it is of considerable importance to develop an understanding of the capability of ESPI with respect to damage evaluation in GRP composite materials. The research described in this thesis is concerned with an investigation into the applicability of ESPI in the NDT of GRP composite materials. Firstly, a study was carried out to determine excitation techniques in terms of practicality and effectiveness in the ESPI system. Three categories of defects were artificially introduced in GRP composite materials, namely holes, cracks and delaminations each with different geometrical features. ESPI was then employed to evaluate the three kinds of defects individually. It has been found that cracks and holes on back surfaces can be defined when the technique is used in conjunction with thermal excitation. Internal Temperature Differential (ITD) induced fringe patterns were more efficient than External Thermal Source (ETS) induced fringe patterns with regard to detecting the presence of holes and cracks. In the case of delamination, ESPI was found to be capable of detecting the damage when used in combination with mechanical excitation originating from a force transducer hammer. The geometrical features and magnitudes of delaminations were also established as being quantifiable. The validation of ESPI as an NDT technique was carried out in an attempt to establish a better understanding of its suitability and have more confidence in its applications. Four damaged specimens were Subjected to ESPI examination in conjunction with visual inspection, ultrasonic C-scan and sectioning techniques. The geometrical features and magnitudes of damage evaluated using ESPI showed a good correlation with those evaluated by conventional techniques. Poor visibility and readability is an inherent problem associated with ESP! due to an overlapping between the noise and signal frequencies. An improvement of image quality is expected in an attempt to achieve a wide acceptance of ESPI as a novel NDT technique. It has also been demonstrated that this problem can be tackled using optical phase stepping techniques in which optical phase data can be extracted from the intensity fringes. A three-frame optical phase stepping technique was employed to produce the "wrapped" and "unwrapped" phase maps which are capable of indicating internal damage with high visibility and clarity. Finally ESPI was practically employed to evaluate damage in GRP composites introduced by quasi-static and dynamic mechanical loading. It was found that ESP! was capable of monitoring the progressive damage development of specimens subjected to incremental flexural loading. The initial elastic response, damage initiation, propagation and ultimate failure of specimens were clearly characterised by the abnormal fringe pattern variations. In a similar manner, ESPI was employed to evaluate the low velocity falling weight impact induced damage. A correlation was established between the magnitude of damage and the impact event parameters as well as the residual flexural properties.

Ce travail a pour but d'étudier la tolérance à l'impact de 3 stratifiés carbone/époxy soumis simultanément à différents types de chargements hygrothermiques et mécaniques. Ces stratifications présentant des caractéristiques mécaniques globales particulières d'isotropie, il s'agit ici de déterminer l'influence de la séquence d'empilement sur le développement de l'endommagement lors d'un impact. Dans un premier temps, la cinétique de vieillissement hygrothermique des trois stratifications est étudiée et analysée. Ensuite, leur tolérance à un unique impact ainsi qu'à des impacts répétés est évaluée. L'endommagement résultant de ces impacts est analysé par contrôle ultrasonore. La morphologie générale et l'amplitude de l'endommagement dans la profondeur des matériaux sont mises en relation avec les propriétés mécaniques et la séquence d'empilement spécifique à chaque stratifié. Dans un deuxième temps, l'influence combinée de plusieurs sollicitations est étudiée. Différents scénarii associant un vieillissement hygrothermique ainsi qu'un ou deux impacts sont mis en oeuvre. L'endommagement résultant est mis en rapport avec les temps relatifs de vieillissement et la position des impact durant le cycle de vieillissement. Ensuite, l'influence d'une précharge de traction sur la tolérance à l'impact est mise en évidence. Un montage spécifique a été conçu et fabriqué pour réaliser ces tests. Enfin, l'association d'un vieilllissement hygrothermique et d'une précharge de traction est abordée afin d'identifier la sollicitation la plus pénalisant en terme de tolérance et d'impact / This study examines impact damage processes in three types of CFRP composite materials simultaneously subjected to different hygrothermal and mechanical loading conditions. The composite structures tested are chosen for having particular global isotropic responses when loaded, the aim being to ascertain the exact influence of lay-up sequence on impact damage propagation. The work is presented in four main sections. Firstly by establishing hygrothermal ageing dynamics for the three composite structure types and their behaviour when impacted once or several times ; impact damage is measured and analysed using ultrasonic method. The extent and general morphology of the damage through the material thickness is correlated with mechanical properties and lay-up sequence specific to each material. Secondly the influence of simultaneous load combinations is examined. These include different durations of hygrothermal ageing associated with single or double impacts.The resulting damage incurred is analysed with respect to overall ageing time and time during the ageing cycle when the impact was applied. Thirdly the effect of tensile loading during impact on damage within the material was studied. This was achieved using a specially designed test apparatus that allows loading and impacting conditions to be independently modified. By associating a high-speed digital camera to film specimen impacts it is possible to evaluate a relationship between overall composite specimen stiffness and the impact damage. Finally, in order to identify the most unfavourable situation with regard to impact damage resistance an association between hygrothermal ageing and an applied tensile load is examined