Papers by Author: Matthew P. Cartmell

Abstract: The main aspect of the paper is to give an answer to the question of what specific kind of defect has actually occurred in a structure and how to distinguish between different kinds of discontinuities. For this purpose composite rods and beams with fatigue cracks, step changes in cross-sectional area and small changes in material properties have been investigated. The objective of the work has been to propose a signal processing methodology based on wavelet transformation for identification of specific discontinuity. The identification of a fatigue crack from other discontinuities has been demonstrated. It has been also found that the proposed methodology might be useful for precise indication of the size of the identified fatigue damage.

Abstract: This study investigates a possibility for representing, interpreting and visualising the vibration response of aircraft panels using time domain measurements. The aircraft panels are modelled as thin orthotropic plates and their vibration response is simulated using FE modelling. The vibration response of a thin aluminium panel is simulated using FE modelling. The first ten resonant frequencies are estimated for the FE model and for the dynamically tested panel. They were found to show somewhat low sensitivity to damage. Then the simulated vibration response of the panel is transformed and expanded in a new phase space. This presents an alternative way to study and analyse the dynamics of a structure. A two dimensional phase space is used in this investigation. Thus instead of studying the single dimension measured vibration characteristics one is faced with expanded two dimensional variables which can be visualised and this facilitates the comparison between the damaged and the non-damage states.

Abstract: Recent NATO funded research on methods for detection and interpretation methodologies for damage detection in aircraft panel structures has motivated work on low-order nonlinear analytical modelling of vibrations in cracked isotropic plates, typically in the form of aluminium aircraft panels. The work applies fundamental aspects of fracture mechanics to define an elliptical crack, and the local stress field and loading conditions, arbitrarily located at some point in the plate, and then derives an analytical expression for this that can be incorporated into the PDE for an edge loaded plate with various possible boundary conditions. The plate PDE is converted into a nonlinear Duffing-type ODE in the time domain by means of a Galerkin procedure and then an arbitrarily small perturbation parameter is introduced into the equation in order to apply an appropriate solution method, in this case the method of multiple scales. This is used to solve the equation for the vibration in the cracked plate for the chosen boundary conditions, which, in turn, leads to an approximate analytical solution. The solution is discussed in terms of the perturbation approximations that have been applied and highlights the phenomenology inherent within the problem via the specific structures of the analytical solution.

Abstract: This work was motivated by the recent NATO funded research on preventing disasters from collapse and improving the safety of aircraft structures. It considers the problem for vibrationbased damage detection in aircraft panels modelled as isotropic plates. The explored method does not use any assumptions of model or linearity, it is simply based on pure signal analysis of the vibration response of plates. FE modelling is used to model the plate’s dynamic response in its intact and in its damaged state. The signals obtained are analysed using multivariate analysis applied in the measured frequency domain. This reduces the data dimensionality and is expected to have a clustering effect. At this stage the measured data is transformed into features – new variables- which have smaller dimension than the initial ones and make the categories more distinguishable. Then a very simple pattern recognition (PR) method is applied to discriminate between the two categories of data -data coming from the undamaged plate and data coming from the damaged plate. This is the second stage when the obtained features are used for the actual recognition between the defined categories. The paper suggests the use of the Karhunen-Loeve transform in order to extract features from the measured frequency response functions of the plate. When the data dimensionality is brought down to two the response of the plate can be visualised. The clustering effect on the features coming from undamaged plate and those from the damaged is obvious.

Abstract: Recent EPSRC funded research at Glasgow University, Swansea University, and Virginia Polytechnic and State University, and collaborative work with the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, on the application of shape memory alloy (SMA) elements integrated within glass epoxy composite plates and shells is currently leading to the design of a novel smart bearing based on the principle of antagonistic action. In this system a ball bearing is fitted halfway down a glass epoxy composite tube, entering through one end of the tube. The tube has both ends rigidly built in to the support frame. The tube is divided into two regions, one on each side of the centrally located bearing. SMA strips are bonded in two independent sets of four, each set running axially along half the length of the tube and separated by 90 º around the tube. The four strips in each set are electrically connected in series to a high current power supply that can be switched in or out, and the current set, as required. This provides a convenient and fast way of heating each set of SMA strips through the martensite-to-austenite transformation temperature, and provides a significant axial contraction load on the tube in either direction. Previous FE analysis has provided predictions for converting an axial contraction load into useful stiffening of the structure in the radial and hoop directions. This introduces the potential for modification of the dynamic performance of the flexible rotor. In addition to separate heating each half of the active bearing has its own independent forced-air cooling system. Previous work by one of the authors, and others, has shown that a single SMA/composite active bearing can be very effective in both altering the natural frequency of the fundamental whirl mode as well as the modal amplitude. The drawback with that design has been the disparity in the time constant between the relatively fast heating phase and the much slower cooling phase which is reliant on forced air, or some other form of cooling. This form of design means that the cooling phase of one half, still using forced air, is significantly assisted by switching the other half into its heating phase, and vice versa, thereby equalising the time constants, and giving a faster push-pull load on the centrally located bearing; a loading which is termed ‘antagonistic’ in this paper. The experimental system is discussed in terms of potential performance and control issues.