Low Proof Load Prediction of Ultimate Strengths of Fiberglass/Epoxy I-Beams Using Acoustic Emission

<p>Acoustic emission (AE) nondestructive testing was used to monitor fiberglass/epoxy I-beams. The experiment consisted of loading the I-beams in cantilever fashion with a hydraulic ram. While testing, AE waveforms were collected from the onset of loading to failure. After acquisition, the AE data from each test were filtered to include only data collected up to 50% of the theoretical ultimate load for further analysis.</p> <p>A Kohonen self-organizing map was utilized to separate each individual data point (hit) into failure mechanism clusters. Then a multiple linear regression analysis was performed using the percentage of hits associated with each failure mechanism along with the epoxy type to develop a prediction equation. The results of this analysis provided a prediction to within a 36.0% error. A second analysis was performed utilizing a back propagation neural network. The inputs to the network included a categorical variable for the epoxy type together with the amplitude frequencies from 30-100 dB. The optimized network contained two hidden layers having nine neurons apiece. Here the ultimate load prediction was within 48 lbf for a 9.5% error. Thus, the back propagation neural network produced far better results than the SOM/multiple linear regression, probably because of nonlinearities in the data and unwanted noise.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Aerospace Engineering

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Year

2001

Author dc:creator

• Fatzinger, Edward C., Jr.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Eric v. K. Hill
• Frank J. Radosta
• Ashok H. Gurjar

• load
• fiberglass
• epoxy
• I-beams
• acoustic emission
• Aerospace Engineering

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/57

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.erau.edu:db-theses-1075