PSEUDOSPECTRAL MODELLING OF THE EIGENVALUE PROBLEM OF A PIEZO-ELASTIC STRUCTURE

摘要

Operation of critical and highly stressed structural elements includes penalties of structural degradation due to cyclic loading. This is followed by low efficiencies and inflation in maintenance budget. To prolong the life cycle in key structural components, tracking and locating degradation becomes fundamental. Thus, the development of a model that monitors the response of the structure is inevitable. Piezoelectric materials represent a relatively new approach to vibration control and monitoring. By their nature, an electric potential applied across the material induces a corresponding strain. Conversely, straining the piezoelectric material induces an electric potential across it. Due to these properties, piezoelectrics can function as sensors and actuators for monitoring and controlling the response of the distributed structure. To model the natural response of the piezo-elastic structure computationally, an eigenvalue problem is considered. With the aid of the pseudospectral method, the physical eigenvalue problem is transformed to the polynomial space where the solution is sought. Results obtained from this study will then contribute towards the ability to track and locate structural degradation of key components subjected to cyclic loading.