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A new physical parameter is presented and it is applied to damage detection to address the two main challenges in the field of vibration-based structural health monitoring: the sensitivity of detection and the requirement of data of the baseline state. The parameter is also shown to be not affected by noise in the detection ambience. Assuming the damaged structure to be a linear system, its response can be expressed as the summation of the responses due to the undamaged and the damaged part. If the part of the response due to the damage is isolated, it forms what can be regarded as the damage signature. In this paper, the occurrence of damage signature is investigated when the damaged structure is excited at one of its natural frequencies, and it is called partial-mode contribution. The existence of damage signature as partial-mode contribution is first verified using an analytical derivation. Thereupon, its existence is ascertained using finite element models and by doing experiments. The limits of size of the damage that can be determined using the method are also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a combined analytical and experimental damage assessment method using curvature mode shapes is developed. The curvature mode is selected due to its sensitivity to the presence of the damage and the localized nature of the changes. An analytical relationship between the damaged and the healthy beams is formulated, for which the effect of damage in the form of stiffness loss is accounted. This relationship is later used to estimate the extent of damage from the experimentally identified changes in structural dynamic characteristics. Surface-bonded piezoelectric sensors are used to directly acquire the curvature modes of composite structures, which simplify the identification procedure. The specimens are made of carbon/epoxy laminated composite beams. Several different types of damages are introduced in the beams (i.e., delamination, impact, and saw-cut damages) to simulate possible damage scenarios. Several limitations and remarks of the proposed experimental and damage identification approaches are discussed. The study shows that the present technique using curvature mode shapes and piezoelectric materials can be used effectively to locate the damage in the laminated composite structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use a circular distribution to quantify certain domain properties and model the hysteresis behavior of piezoceramic materials. The model is constructed by bridging the characteristics of microscopic domain distribution into the macroscopic (or bulk) behavior. Contributions, other than those associated with the polarization of domains, to bulk quantities are also counted. A domain orientation distribution function is first selected and the corresponding distribution function parameters are chosen as the internal state variables. For the two-dimensional model, a von Mises-Fisher circular distribution is used. Instead of micromechanical analysis of domain motions that would involve large computation efforts, the delineation of domain evolution is simplified by considering the evolution of the domain orientation distribution, which is determined by the dynamic variations of the internal state variables. We also develop a procedure to identify the material constants introduced in the constitutive equations. The models are used to quantitatively characterize various hysteresis loops observed in piezoceramic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a dislocation-based plasticity model is formulated in the framework of continuum mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics for solids under high strain rates. Specifically, the formation of a dislocation network behind the shock front, associated plastic flow, resulting heating due to plastic work, and evolution of the morphology of the polycrystalline structure are modeled. The associated changes of dynamic strength or yield stress with the increasing shock strength due to nucleation of dislocations at the shock front are modeled. The microstructural characteristics of the dislocation network are modeled by selected internal state variables. The irreversible nonequilibrium processes at high strain rates are modeled by selected nonequilibrium state variables and their evolution equations. The results clearly show the increased localized heating due to increased dynamic strength and the associated plastic flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use a circular distribution to quantify certain domain properties and model the hysteresis behavior of piezoceramic materials. The model is constructed by bridging the characteristics of microscopic domain distribution into the macroscopic (or bulk) behavior. Contributions, other than those associated with the polarization of domains, to bulk quantities are also counted. A domain orientation distribution function is first selected and the corresponding distribution function parameters are chosen as the internal state variables. For the two-dimensional model, a von Mises-Fisher circular distribution is used. Instead of micromechanical analysis of domain motions that would involve large computation efforts, the delineation of domain evolution is simplified by considering the evolution of the domain orientation distribution, which is determined by the dynamic variations of the internal state variables. We also develop a procedure to identify the material constants introduced in the constitutive equations. The models are used to quantitatively characterize various hysteresis loops observed in piezoceramic materials.

Self-heating or dissipation of piezoelectric ceramic elements is observed to be severe under dynamic operations even in the linear range. In this paper, a nonequilibrium thermodynamic model is developed to delineate the coupled irreversible mechanical, electric, and thermal processes, which jointly contribute to dissipation. Specifically, additional nonequilibrium state variables, also known as thermodynamic fluxes, are brought in to describe each of these processes. The characteristic relaxation of these processes is modeled. The nonnegative rate of entropy production is found to be in quadratic form of thermodynamics fluxes. The energy balance equation, which governs the transformation between different energy forms, is obtained in the framework of extended irreversible thermodynamics. Using this model, the dissipation of a piezoceramic stack actuator under harmonic electric or mechanical loadings in linear operation range is studied. The harmonic-balance methods are utilized as solution techniques. In contrast to the existing piezoelectric dissipation models, the dissipation by the developed model is verified to nonlinearly depend on operating frequency, with a peak dissipation occurring at some operating frequency that is related to characteristic relaxation of irreversible processes. The measurements of newly introduced parameters are also discussed.