Gain-Phase Error-Calibrated Piezoelectric Sensor Array-Based Impact Localization on Stiffened Curved Composite Structures.

Stiffened structure-induced gain-phase errors degrade the performance of the high-resolution two-dimensional multiple signal classification (2D-MUSIC) algorithm, which makes it impossible to ensure the high accuracy of impact localization results. To eliminate the localization bias caused by these errors, a calibrated 2D-MUSIC-based impact localization method is first introduced. Firstly, time-frequency characteristics of the non-stationary impact signals are evaluated by experiment to obtain a clear first wave packet or a wave packet that purely corresponds to a single mode through continuous wavelet transform (CWT). Then, the uniform linear array covariance matrix with gain-phase errors is calibrated to be constructed as a Toeplitz structural matrix. By reconstructing covariance matrix R, 2D-MUSIC-based impact localization is calibrated for stiffened curved composite structures. Experimental research on the stiffened curved composite panel is carried out, and these impact localization results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the calibrated 2D-MUSIC-based method.

Environmental Effects on Piezoelectric Sensors Array Signals and a Compensated Damage Imaging Method.

Piezoelectric sensors array based damage imaging method as a high resolution source localization algorithm is becoming a promising method in structural health monitoring (SHM) technology. However, the environmental variations could affect the gain-phase of array signal. This paper experimentally evaluates the environmental effects on piezoelectric sensors array, and presents a compensated 2D-MUSIC based damage imaging method for composite structures. Firstly, detailed analysis and comparison discussion about the gain-phase difference of array signal when the environmental parameters change, and the gain-phase changes respect to the environmental parameters could be obtained. Secondly, array error matrix is structured and substituted into the steering vector of the original 2D-MUSIC algorithm to compensate. Finally, the compensated 2D-MUSIC algorithm is applied for estimating the initial estimates of damage. After substituting these initial estimates, the cost function is minimized by adaptive iterative calculating the reasonable location of the damage source. The experiments on an epoxy laminate plate demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.

TAM and MUSIC Approach for Impact-Source Localization under Deformation Conditions.

As an impact-source-localization technique, Lamb waves are commonly used to detect low-velocity impact in composite structures. However, the performance of Lamb waves is susceptible under deformation conditions. In this paper, a novel approach combined the Toeplitz approximation method (TAM) and multiple-signal classification (MUSIC) (TAM-MUSIC) to improve impact-source-localization (angle and distance in polar coordinates) accuracy under deformation conditions. The method divided a two-dimensional search of direction and distance into two one-dimensional searches. The impact direction was calculated by the TAM, which was introduced into the steering vector of MUSIC to estimate the distance by scanning the whole monitoring area. An epoxy laminate plate experiment showed that the phase and amplitude of uniform linear-array signals had different average plate curvature that led to poor impact-source-localization accuracy using the MUSIC method. TAM provided high-resolution direction-finding capability, suitable for the pretreatment of Lamb waves. Results showed that the present method, with a small amount of computation and low memory requirement, had higher location-estimation accuracy than that of traditional methods under deformation conditions.

Minimum entropy deconvolution based on simulation-determined band pass filter to detect faults in axial piston pump bearings.

The fault diagnosis of axial piston pumps is of significance for enhancing the reliability and security of hydraulic systems. Most of the faults occurring in the mechanical components of piston pumps are exhibited as fault-excited impulses. However, the strong impact-induced natural periodic impulses under the common working conditions (i.e. reciprocating motion of pistons) inevitably cause interference that considerably affects the fault detection performance. In this study, a simulation-determined band pass filter is employed to improve the performance of minimum entropy deconvolution (MED) for the fault diagnosis of axial piston pump bearings. First, a finite element method (FEM) simulation is performed to determine the possible carrier frequency. Second, the carrier frequency is used as the center frequency in association with a fixed bandwidth to determine the band pass filter parameters. Finally, the MED technique is applied to enhance weak fault-excited impulses by means of kurtosis maximization. Thereafter, envelope spectrum analysis is applied to the enhanced signals to obtain faulty feature frequencies. Two case studies are conducted, using bearings with faults in the outer and inner races of an axial piston pumps under common working conditions. The case studies confirm the necessity and effectiveness of the proposed method for detecting bearings faults in axial piston pumps.