Geometry-based spatial acoustic source location for spaced structures

This study presents a new source localization methodology to identify the spatial location of active flaws on spaced structures using the acoustic emission (AE) method. The methodology uses the geometric boundaries and the local coordinate system to find the shortest direct paths from the acoustic source to the AE sensors. The structural elements are modeled as 1D so that the source location is determined using linear equations in the local coordinate system. The local source location is converted into the global coordinate system to determine the source location in space. The approach has been successfully demonstrated using computer and laboratory simulations. The use of linear equations to solve the spatial location of the acoustic source in multi-dimensional space reduces the computational load as compared to the conventional 2D and 3D location algorithms.