Detection of Damage in Aerospace Structures Using Optimization Techniques on Impact Tests Results

Abstract

The present work has the objective of analyzing the spectrum of vibration of a cantilever beam with non-homogeneous mass distribution and, by comparing its response to a numerical model, create an error function between both responses that, as it is shown, allow us to determine if there is - and where to find - a failure over the real structures surface, based only on its vibrational characteristics. The methodology created consists of registering the energy of impact tests using an accelerometer sensor applied to a hammer that hits the beam and another accelerometer that is attached to the beam itself, with a known failure. The data collected, registered and sent to a computer, is used to create an equation for the beam movement in time domain, which feeds an optimization algorithm that creates a virtual non-homogenous beam that represents the best the real one, making it possible to find the failure’s position.