An Integrated Health Monitoring Method for Structural Fatigue Life Evaluation Using Limited Sensor Data

• Main Authors: Jingjing He, Yibin Zhou, Xuefei Guan, Wei Zhang, Yanrong Wang, Weifang Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-11-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: limited sensor data; structural health monitoring; empirical mode decomposition; fatigue life evaluation
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/9/11/894

A general framework for structural fatigue life evaluation under fatigue cyclic loading using limited sensor data is proposed in this paper. First, limited sensor data are measured from various sensors which are preset on the complex structure. Then the strain data at remote spots are used to obtain the strain responses at critical spots by the strain/stress reconstruction method based on empirical mode decomposition (REMD method). All the computations in this paper are directly performed in the time domain. After the local stress responses at critical spots are determined, fatigue life evaluation can be performed for structural health management and risk assessment. Fatigue life evaluation using the reconstructed stresses from remote strain gauge measurement data is also demonstrated with detailed error analysis. Following this, the proposed methodology is demonstrated using a three-dimensional frame structure and a simplified airfoil structure. Finally, several conclusions and future work are drawn based on the proposed study.