Bolted joint is a basic form of connection which is widely used in engineering. The stress concentration near the distributed bolts in connection structure is possible to cause structural damage. The failure of the joint may lead to serious accidents. The acoustic emission (AE) wave generated by the structural damage can be used to localize the damage source. In this paper, a localization method of bolted joints damage with two AE sensors is developed based on arrival time difference (ATD) database. Firstly, the finite element model with the double-row bolt connection structure is established to obtain the damage signals at difference posi-tions, and the localizing method of bolted joints damage with only two AE sensors is pro-posed with ATD database. Secondly, the optimal method of sensors' positions is explored, which is relative to the layout of two sensors. Finally, the feasibility of presented localization method of bolted joints damage with two AE sensors is verified by experiments. The results show that the presented bolted joints damage localization method based on two AE sensors has good applicability and high success rate.
