Finite element based structural damage detection using artificial boundary conditions

• Main Author: Arteaga, Rafael A. Lagunes.
• Other Authors: Gordis, Joshua H.
• Published: Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/3257

Finite element models can be used to discern the location and severity of damage in structures. This is frequently pursued by using the differences in measured and computed natural frequencies, in conjunction with the sensitivities calculated using the FE model. Given that a modal test produced a limited number of natural frequencies for a structure, the concept of Artificial Boundary Conditions (ABC) was developed, which yields additional natural frequency information for a structure. This is accomplished by artificially imposing additional boundary conditions to the measured data. In this thesis, the use of ABC to produce an improved set of structural sensitivities is explored. It is shown that the selection of ABC sets is best guided by the strain energy distribution in the structure.