Modelling and Analysis of Plates Under Simulated Damage Using FEM

Structures undergo damages over time due to various reasons. Early detection of the damages saves the structure from being operationally deficient and/or experiencing failure during its service life. The literature suggests that a damage acts as a source of acoustic emission (AE) whereby the emitted acoustic waves propagate through the structure. AE sensors placed at selected locations of the structure can capture the AE waves, which can be further processed to detect the damage. However, the first step towards such detection is to understand the behaviour of the structure/structural components under a known damage. Plate is a very common structural component having a simple geometry. Accordingly, the present work makes an effort to study the response of plates under a known damage through numerical modelling using finite element method (FEM). Responses are obtained at the plate centre, which corresponds to an AE sensor for different locations of the damage. The damage is simulated by using a suitable mathematical function. In order to compare the numerically obtained results with experimental outputs, which is obtained in terms of voltage, the sensor also needs to be modelled. Therefore, the present FE model integrates the plate along with the AE sensor mounted on it. The modelling is carried out using ABAQUS software, and the obtained results are further processed through MATLAB for the purpose of filtering. The final results from the present FE model are compared with the corresponding results from experimentation which is carried out in-house in laboratory. The performance of the FE model is found to be satisfactory.