Identification of an ellipsoidal defect in an elastic solid using boundary measurements

Elastostatic problem of identification of an ellipsoidal cavity or inclusion (rigid or linear elastic) in an isotropic, linear elastic solid is considered. The reciprocity gap functional method is used for solving the problem. It is shown that the parameters of the ellipsoidal defect (coordinates of its center, the directions and magnitudes of the semiaxes and elastic moduli in the case of isotropic, linear elastic inclusion), located in an infinite elastic solid are expressed by means of the values of the reciprocity gap functional. The values of the reciprocity gap functional can be calculated if the loads and displacements corresponding to uniaxial tension (compression) of an infinite solid are known on the closed surface containing the defect inside. Applications of the results to the problem of ellipsoidal defect identification in a bounded body are discussed. A number of numerical examples showing the efficiency of the developed identification method are considered.     

Identification of parameters of a plane elliptic crack in an isotropic linearly elastic body from the results of a single uniaxial tension test

The method earlier developed by one of the authors for identifying ellipsoidal defects is numerically tested for the applicability to the problem of identification of a degenerate ellipsoidal defect, i.e., an elliptic crack. The method is based on the reciprocity functional and the assumption that the displacements are measured in a uniaxial tension test of an isotropic linearly elastic body. Calculations show that the earlier developed method is also efficient for identification of an elliptic crack and its parameters (the center coordinates, the normal to the crack plane, and the directions and lengths of the semiaxes) can be determined with high accuracy. Some examples where the crack has a non-elliptic shape are also considered. It is discovered that, in many cases, the ellipsoids that were constructed by formulas reconstructing the ellipsoidal crack from the data on the external boundary of the body that correspond to a nonelliptic crack, approximate the actual defect with sufficient accuracy. The method stability was investigated with respect to noise in the initial data.     

Discriminating linear from nonlinear elastic damage using a nonlinear time reversal DORT method

The DORT method is a selective detection and focusing technique originally developed to detect defects and damages which induce linear changes of the elastic moduli. It is based on the time reversal (TR) where a signal collected from an array of transducers is time reversed and then back-propagated into the medium to obtain focusing on selected targets. TR is based on the principle of spatial reciprocity. Attenuation, dispersion, multiple scattering, mode conversion, etc. do not break spatial reciprocity. The presence of defects or damage, may cause materials to show nonlinear elastic wave propagation behavior that will break spacial reciprocity. Therefore the DORT method will not allow focusing on nonlinear elastic scatterers. This paper presents a new method for the detection and identification of multiple linear and nonlinear scatterers by combining nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy, time reversal and DORT method. In the presence of nonlinear hysteretic elastic scatterers, forcing the solid with a harmonic excitation, the time reversal operator can be obtained not only at the fundamental frequency of excitation, but also at the odd harmonics. At the fundamental harmonic, either inhomogeneities and linear damages can be individually selected but only at odd harmonics nonlinear hysteretic elastic damages exist. A procedure was developed where by decomposing the operator at the odd harmonics, it was possible to focus on nonlinear scatterers and to differentiate them from the linear inhomogeneities. A complete mathematical nonlinear DORT formulation for 1 and 2D structures is presented. To model the presence of nonlinear elastic hysteretic scatterers a Preisach–Mayergoyz (PM) material constitutive model was used. Results relative to 1 and 2 dimensional structures are reported showing the capability of the method to focus and discern selectively linear and nonlinear scatterers. Furthermore, an analysis was conducted to study the influence of the number of sources and their location on the imaging process showing that using a higher numbers of sensors does not automatically bring to a minor uncoupled behaviour between the nonlinear targets.     

Identification of a plane crack in an elastic body by invariant integrals

We consider the problem of plane crack identification in an elastic body from the results of static tests. We show that the crack plane, its volume under homogeneous normal loading, and the coordinates of the central point are uniquely determined from the results of three static tests by uniaxial tension in three mutually perpendicular directions. We obtain explicit formulas for these crack characteristics in terms of the corresponding invariant integrals, which can be calculated if the stresses and displacements are measured on the external boundary of the body in the experiments mentioned above. These formulas are exact for the problem about a crack in an infinite medium. If the elastic body boundedness is taken into account and it is assumed that the crack characteristic dimensions are small compared with the distance from the crack to the body boundary, then the obtained formulas can be considered as approximate ones.     

The effective properties of piezocomposites, part I: Single inclusion problem

The problem of a piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusion in an infinite nonpiezoelectric matrix is very important in engineering. In this paper, it is solved via Green's function technique. The closed-form solutions of the electroelastic Eshelby's tensors for this kind of problem are obtained. The electroelastic Eshelby's tensors can be expressed by the Eshelby's tensors of the perfectly elastic inclusion problem and the perfectly dielectric inclusion problem. Since the closed-form solutions of the Eshelby's tensors of the perfectly elastic inclusion problem and the perfectly dielectric inclusion problem can be given by theory of elasticity and electrodynamics, respectively, the electroelastic Eshelby's tensors can be obtained conveniently. Using these results, the closed-form solutions of the constraint elastic fields and the constraint electric fields inside the piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusion are also obtained. These expressions can be readily utilized in solutions of numerous problems in the micromechanics of piezoelectric solids, such as the deformation and energy analysis, damage evolution and fracture of the piezoelectric materials. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Stress concentration of an ellipsoidal inclusion of revolution in a semi-infinite body under biaxial tension

Summary This paper deals with the stress concentration problem of an ellipsoidal inclusion of revolution in a semi-infinite body under biaxial tension. The problem is formulated as a system of singular integral equations with Cauchy-type or logarithmic-type singularities, where unknowns are densities of body forces distributed in the r- and z-directions in semi-infinite bodies having the same elastic constants as the ones of the matrix and inclusion. In order to satisfy the boundary conditions along the ellipsoidal boundary, four fundamental density functions proposed in [24, 25] are used. The body-force densities are approximated by a linear combination of fundamental density functions and polynomials. The present method is found to yield rapidly converging numerical results for stress distribution along the boundaries even when the inclusion is very close to the free boundary. The effect of the free surface on the stress concentration factor is discussed with varying the distance from the surface, the shape ratio and the elastic modulus ratio. The present results are compared with the ones of an ellipsoidal cavity in a semi-infinite body.accepted for publication 11 November 2003     

Universal bounds on the electrical and elastic response of two-phase bodies and their application to bounding the volume fraction from boundary measurements

Universal bounds on the electrical and elastic response of two-phase (and multiphase) ellipsoidal or parallelopipedic bodies have been obtained by Nemat-Nasser and Hori. Here we show how their bounds can be improved and extended to bodies of arbitrary shape. Although our analysis is for two-phase bodies with isotropic phases it can easily be extended to multiphase bodies with anisotropic constituents. Our two-phase bounds can be used in an inverse fashion to bound the volume fractions occupied by the phases, and when the volume fraction is asymptotically small reduce to those of Capdeboscq and Vogelius, for electrical conductivity, and Capdeboscq and Kang, for elasticity. Other volume fraction bounds derived here utilize information obtained from thermal, magnetic, dielectric or elastic responses. One bound on the volume fraction can be obtained by simply immersing the body in a water filled cylinder with a piston at one end and measuring the change in water pressure when the piston is displaced by a known small amount. This bound may be particularly effective for estimating the volume of cavities in a body. We also obtain new bounds utilizing just one pair of (voltage, flux) electrical measurements at the boundary of the body.     

Problem on an inhomogeneity in a linearly elastic space or half-space

For a weakly contrasting anisotropic inhomogeneity in a linearly elastic homogeneous space or half-space, using the perturbation method, we obtain an approximate solution and estimate its accuracy. In the case of inhomogeneity of arbitrary contrast, we reduce the problem to a system of integral equations. In the general case, it is easy to compose the procedure for solving this problem approximately. In the special case of a homogeneous anisotropic ellipsoidal inhomogeneity in space, the strain state inside the inhomogeneity turns out to be homogeneous, and we thus obtain the exact solution of the problem.     

Ellipsoidal anisotropy in linear elasticity: Approximation models and analytical solutions

The concept of ellipsoidal anisotropy, first introduced in linear elasticity by Saint Venant, has reappeared in recent years in diverse applications from the phenomenological to micromechanical modeling of materials. In this concept, indicator surfaces, which represent the variation of some elastic parameters in different directions of the material, are ellipsoidal. This concept recovers different models according to the elastic parameters that have ellipsoidal indicator surfaces. An interesting feature of some models introduced by Saint Venant is the formation of analytical solutions for basic problems of linear elasticity. This paper has two main objectives. First, an accurate definition of the variety of anisotropy called ellipsoidal is provided, which corresponds to a family of materials that depends on 12 independent parameters, including varieties of orthotropic and non-orthotropic materials. An explicit nondegenerate Green function solution is established for these materials. Then, it is shown that the ellipsoidal model recovers a variety of phenomenological and theoretical models used in recent years, specifically for geomaterials and damaged or micro-cracked materials. These models can be used to approximate the elastic parameters of any anisotropic material with different fitting qualities. A method to optimize the parameters will be given.     

A new hybrid technique for in-plane characterization of orthotropic materials

In this paper we present a novel hybrid procedure for the in-plane mechanical characterization of orthotropic materials. The material identification reverse engineering problem is solved by combining speckle interferometry and numerical optimization. The rationale behind the entire process is the following: for any specimen to be characterized and which has been subjected to some loading condition, it is possible to express the difference between experimental data and analytical/numerical predictions by means of an error function ψ, which depends on the elastic constants of the material. The ψ error will decrease as the elastic constants come close to their target values. Here, we build the ψ function as the difference between the displacement field measured with speckle interferometry and its counterpart computed by means of finite element analysis. Since the ψ function is highly non-linear, it has to be optimized with a global optimization algorithm, which perform a random search in the elastic constants design space. The hybrid material identification process finally allows us to determine values of the elastic constants. In order to prove the feasibility of the present approach, we have determined the in-plane elastic properties of an eight-ply composite laminate (woven fiberglass-epoxy) used as a substrate for printed circuit boards. The results indicate that the procedure proposed in this paper was able to accurately characterize the material under investigation. Remarkably, the elastic constants found by the identification procedure were less than 0.7% different from their target values, while the residual error between the displacements measured by speckle interferometry and those computed at the end of the optimization process was less than 3%. L. Lamberti is an Assistant Professor, and C. Pappalettere (SEM Member and President of the Italian Society of Stress Analysis) is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Experimental Mechanics, Politecnico di Bari, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Viale Japigia 182, 70126 Bari, Italy     

用压电材料进行损伤鉴别的理论与数值分析

对压电材料用于损伤监测的理论和数值分析做了一些研究。首先,设计了一种用压电材料进行损伤监测的模型。然后,对这个模型进行分析,找出简单有效的解答办法,将求解过程分解为断裂力学分析和压电分析两部分,并通过适当的假设,进行了详细的理论推导。通过正电有限元程序进行仿真计算,将数值计算结果与理论解进行比较以验证提出理论的正确性,并分析得到了裂纹参数与压电层表面电势变化之间的关系和普通弹性材料泊松比对波峰参数的影响。最后,用提出的方法验算了两个例题。从结果来看,理论结果和数值结果非常接近。     

The vibration of a half-space due to a buried mode I crack opening

The solution of a dynamic problem for calculation of a displacement field on a half-space surface caused by an internal mode I crack opening is presented. The problem is reduced to the system of boundary integral equations (BIEs). The equations of motion are solved with the use of Helmholtz potentials and applying Fourier integral transform. The effects of the crack size, the crack depth and the distance from the crack epicenter to the observation point on the parameters of elastic waves are investigated. It is established that the increasing of the defect size leads to narrowing bandwidth of elastic waves and to lowering of center frequency. The analysis given here can be used for identification of the crack growth during technical diagnostic of an industry objects and structural elements by AE method.     

Identification of small well-separated defects in an isotropic elastic body using boundary measurements

An inverse problem of identification of a finite number of small, well-separated defects in an isotropic linear elastic body is considered. It is supposed that the defects are cavities or inclusions (rigid or linear elastic). If the defects are cavities then their boundaries are supposed unloaded. If the defects are inclusions it is supposed complete bonding between the matrix and inclusions. It is assumed also that as a result of static test the loads and displacements are measured on the external boundary of the body. A method for determination of centers of the defects projections on an arbitrary plane is developed. If the defects are ellipsoids their geometrical parameters (directions and magnitudes of the ellipsoids axes) are determined also. Numerical examples illustrating efficiency of the developed method are considered.     

Bounds on the overall properties of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions

A new model is put forward to bound the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions. In the present paper, transition layer for each ellipsoidal inclusion is introduced to make the trial displacement field for the upper bound and the trial stress field for the lower bound satisfy the continuous interface conditions which are absolutely necessary for the application of variational principles. According to the principles of minimum potential energy and minimum complementary energy, the upper and lower bounds on the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions are rigorously derived. The effects of the distribution and geometric parameters of ellipsoidal inclusions on the bounds of the effective elastic moduli are analyzed in details. The present upper and lower bounds are still finite when the bulk and shear moduli of ellipsoidal inclusions tend to infinity and zero, respectively. It should be mentioned that the present method is simple and needs not calculate the complex integrals of multi-point correlation functions. Meanwhile, the present paper provides an entirely different way to bound the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions, which can be developed to obtain a series of bounds by taking different trial displacement and stress fields.     

The Influence of Indenter Tip Imperfection and Deformability on Analysing Instrumented Indentation Tests at Shallow Depths of Penetration on Stiff and Hard Materials

We report on the difficulties of extracting plastic parameters from constitutive equations derived by instrumented indentation tests on hard and stiff materials at shallow depths of penetration. As a general rule, we refer here to materials with an elastic stiffness more than 10 % of that of the indenter and a yield strain higher than 1 %, as well as to penetration depths less than ～ 5 times the characteristic tip defect length of the indenter. We experimentally tested such a material (an amorphous alloy) by nanoindentation. To describe the mechanical response of the test, namely the force-displacement curve, it is necessary to consider the combined effects of indenter tip imperfections and indenter deformability. For this purpose, an identification procedure has been carried out by performing numerical simulations (using Finite Element Analysis) with constitutive equations that are known to satisfactorily describe the behaviour of the tested material. We propose a straightforward procedure to address indenter tip imperfection and deformability, which consists of firstly taking account of a deformable indenter in the numerical simulations. This procedure also involves modifying the experimental curve by considering a truncated length to create artificially the material’s response to a perfectly sharp indentation. The truncated length is determined directly from the loading part of the force-displacement curve. We also show that ignoring one or both of these issues results in large errors in the plastic parameters extracted from the data.     

Une transformation du problème d'élasticité linéaire en vue d'application au problème de l'inclusion et aux fonctions de Green

A simple transformation of the problem of the linear elastic structure is presented. The transformed problem corresponds to a new problem of linear elastic structure with different behaviour, geometry and prescribed forces and displacements. The transformed problem can be easier to study, or can correspond to cases with well-known solutions. By means of this transformation, the problem of ellipsoidal inclusion is transformed into a problem of spherical inclusion, the analytical results known for the Eshelby tensor for an isotropic or transversely isotropic matrix are extended to more general cases of matrix behaviour, and finally, close form expressions of the Green function for an infinite medium are derived for some cases of elastic behaviour without transversal isotropy or orthotropy.     

Experimental Identification Technique of Nonlinear Beams in Time Domain

In previous papers, the authors proposed a new experimental identification technique applicable to elastic structures. The proposed technique is based on the principle of harmonic balance and can be classified as a frequency domain technique. The technique requires the excitation force to be periodic. This is, in some cases, a restriction. So another technique free from this restriction is of use. In this paper, as a first step for developing such techniques, a technique applicable to beams is proposed. The proposed technique can be classified as a time domain technique, two variations of which are proposed. The first method is based on the usual least-squares method. The second is based on solving a minimization problem with constraints. The latter usually yields better results. But in this method, an iteration procedure is used which requires initial values for the parameters. To obtain the initial values, the first method can be used. So both methods are useful. Finally, the applicability of the proposed technique is confirmed by numerical simulation as well as experiments.     

Falling of a body with a flat elastic bottom on a thin liquid layer at a small angle

Nonlinear shallow water equations and the method of matched asymptotic expansions are used to solve the problem of the impact of a box-type body with a flat bottom on a thin elastic liquid layer at a small angle in the plane formulation. It is established that, at certain values of the input parameters of the problem, the liquid pressure near the body edges becomes less than atmospheric pressure, and the liquid separates from the bottom of the box. Calculations demonstrating the influence of elastic bottom and liquid separation on the body motion are performed. It is shown that the presence of an elastic bottom significantly changes the hydrodynamic pressure distribution and can cause loads higher than in the case of a rigid body.     

On the choice of physically realizable parameters when studying the dynamics of spherical and ellipsoidal rigid bodies

The paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions whose must be satisfied by the main geometric and dynamic parameters of spherical, ellipsoidal, or parabolic rigid bodies for their physical realization. The main parameters are both the geometric characteristics of the body boundary (radius of the sphere, semiaxes of the ellipsoid, principal curvatures at the vertex, and the paraboloid center location on its symmetry axis) and the body mass and dynamic characteristics (body mass, displacement of the body center of mass from the center on the paraboloid symmetry axis or from the sphere or ellipsoid center of symmetry, the orientation of the principal central axes of inertia with respect to the principal geometric axes of the shell, and the values of the principal central moments of inertia). The physical realization is understood as the existence of an actual distribution of positive masses inside the sphere, ellipsoid, or paraboloid for which the above-listed characteristics of the body are equal to the chosen ones. Several examples from earlier-published papers dealing with the dynamics of spherical, ellipsoidal, or parabolic bodies with physically unrealizable parameters are given.