Smart FRP Composite Sandwich Bridge Decks in Cold Regions

INE/AUTC 12.0

Aided diagnosis of structural pathologies with an expert system

Sustainability and safety are social demands for long-life buildings. Suitable inspection and maintenance tasks on structural elements are needed for keeping buildings safely in service. Any malfunction that causes structural damage could be called pathology by analogy between structural engineering and medicine. Even the easiest evaluation tasks require expensive training periods that may be shortened with a suitable tool. This work presents an expert system (called Doctor House or DH) for diagnosing pathologies of structural elements in buildings. DH differs from other expert systems when it deals with uncertainty in a far easier but still useful way and it is capable of aiding during the initial survey 'in situ', when damage should be detected at a glance. DH is a powerful tool that represents complex knowledge gathered from bibliography and experts. Knowledge codification and uncertainty treatment are the main achievements presented. Finally, DH was tested and validated during real surveys.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Detecting multiple cracks in beams using hierarchical genetic algorithms

This study deals with a method to identify multiple cracks in a beam. The novelty of this study is the use of a hierarchical genetic algorithm to detect the number, location, and the extent of multiple cracks. To demonstrate the feasibility of the present method, this algorithm is applied to the identification of double or triple cracks in a beam as well as four cracks. The detected crack locations and sizes are in excellent agreement with the actual ones. The numerical simulation reveal the HGA substantially reduces the total number of FE computation required and they are many orders smaller compared to conventional GA. The results also demonstrate the advantages of HGA from the viewpoints of its ability to avoid premature convergence

Integrating the finite element method and genetic algorithms to solve structural damage detection and design optimisation problems

This thesis documents fundamental new research in to a specific application of structural box-section beams, for which weight reduction is highly desirable. It is proposed and demonstrated that the weight of these beams can be significantly reduced by using advanced, laminated fibre-reinforced composites in place of steel. Of the many issues raised during this investigation two, of particular importance, are considered in detail; (a) the detection and quantification of damage in composite structures and (b) the optimisation of laminate design to maximise the performance of loaded composite structuress ubject to given constraints. It is demonstrated that both these issues can be formulated and solved as optimisation problems using the finite element method, in which an appropriate objective function is minimised (or maximised). In case (a) the difference in static response obtained from a loaded structure containing damage and an equivalent mathematical model of the structure is minimised by iteratively updating the model. This reveals the damage within the model and subsequently allows the residual properties of the damaged structure to be quantified. Within the scope of this work is the ability to resolve damage, that consists of either penny-shaped sub-surface flaws or tearing damage of box-section beams from surface experimental data. In case (b) an objective function is formulated in terms of a given structural response, or combination of responses that is optimised in order to return an optimal structure, rather than just a satisfactory structure. For the solution of these optimisation problems a novel software tool, based on the integration of genetic algorithms and a commercially available finite element (FE) package, has been developed. A particular advantage of the described method is its applicability to a wide range of engineering problems. The tool is described and its effectiveness demonstrated with reference to two inverse damage detection and quantification problems and one laminate design optimisation problem. The tool allows the full suite of functions within the FE software to be used to solve non-convex optimisation problems, formulated in terms of both discrete and continuous variables, without explicitly stating the form of the stiffness matrix. Furthermore, a priori knowledge about the problem may be readily incorporated in to the method

Recent advances in intelligent-based structural health monitoring of civil structures

This survey paper deals with the structural health monitoring systems on the basis of methodologies involving intelligent techniques. The intelligent techniques are the most popular tools for damage identification in terms of high accuracy, reliable nature and the involvement of low cost. In this critical survey, a thorough analysis of various intelligent techniques is carried out considering the cases involved in civil structures. The importance and utilization of various intelligent tools to be mention as the concept of fuzzy logic, the technique of genetic algorithm, the methodology of neural network techniques, as well as the approaches of hybrid methods for the monitoring of the structural health of civil structures are illustrated in a sequential manner

Experimental sensitivity analysis of sensor placement based on virtual springs and damage quantification in CFRP composite

This paper suggests a method for vibration sensor placement in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite structures in small structure applications where the measuring instrument weight can affect the vibrational characteristics. Considering the actual weight of the beam and the actual weight of the vibrational sensor and connecting cables. We performed a set of structural vibration experiments in various sensor positions and used the experimental results as a reference through the inverse problems technique. And Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for numerical modelling, in which the sensors are modelled as an additional mass on the beam and the virtual springs are modelled with variable rigidity. We employ the Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization Algorithm (TLBO) to identify the optimal sensor placement location. The results indicate that this application can explain the effect of sensor placement. In a second application, we consider the problem of the cracked beam and the prediction of damage severity and crack depth with the help of a formulation for crack location. Results of this Application show that the proposed approach can serve in solving both problems.

Experimental sensitivity analysis of sensor placement based on virtual springs and damage quantification in CFRP composite

This paper suggests a method for vibration sensor placement in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite structures in small structure applications where the measuring instrument weight can affect the vibrational characteristics. Considering the actual weight of the beam and the actual weight of the vibrational sensor and connecting cables. We performed a set of structural vibration experiments in various sensor positions and used the experimental results as a reference through the inverse problems technique. And Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for numerical modelling, in which the sensors are modelled as an additional mass on the beam and the virtual springs are modelled with variable rigidity. We employ the Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization Algorithm (TLBO) to identify the optimal sensor placement location. The results indicate that this application can explain the effect of sensor placement. In a second application, we consider the problem of the cracked beam and the prediction of damage severity and crack depth with the help of a formulation for crack location. Results of this Application show that the proposed approach can serve in solving both problems.