Date of Award
12-2009
Degree Name
Master of Science in Engineering
Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
First Advisor
Dr. Muralidhar K. Ghantasala
Second Advisor
Dr. Daniel Kujawski
Third Advisor
Dr. Bade Shrestha, S.O.
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Ho Sung Lee
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Campus Only
Abstract
A novel fatigue damage monitoring (FDM) sensor for detecting and monitoring the fatigue damage and estimating the remaining life of machine components subjected to cyclic loads is conceived. Sensor consists of alternate slots and strips having different strain magnification factor with respect to the nominal strain. The sensor is designed in such a way that the strips will experience the strains which closely resemble the actual strain distribution in the critical area of the component. The sensor is attached to the surface of structural member which is being monitored. The strips fail in a sequential manner from the strip experienced the highest strain magnification to the lowest. Each strip failure corresponds to the particular fatigue damage accumulated by the structure being diagnosed. This information allows for predicting remaining component life. One of the major advantages of this sensor is that it can be used with or without associated signal conditioning and processing hardware, facilitating ease of use and significant cost reduction.
This project mainly involves the design and theoretical and experimental analysis. At the outset the sensor is designed using simple analytical modeling methods. However, this design is further optimized using numerical simulation techniques. Simulations were carried out using elastic and elasto-plastic stress-strain characteristics. The details of the simulations along experimental studies are discussed in this thesis.
Recommended Citation
Gokanakonda, Subash, "Design and Analysis of a Fatigue Monitoring Sensor" (2009). Masters Theses. 282.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/282