Through the use of an acoustic emission (AE) data acquisition system, a Kohonen self-organizing map, and a back-propagation neural network, AE data from 7075-T6 aluminum specimens were used to classify failure mechanisms and predict the number of fatigue cycles to failure. AE waveforms were captured from 40 notched tensile specimens during the low-cycle fatiguing process. A Kohonen self-organizing map and initial data filters were used to classify the data into two distinct failure mechanisms, plane strain and plane stress fracture, plus a third less prevalent mechanism. These results were employed to construct a back-propagation neural network to predict the number of cycles to failure from the first 250 cycles of AE data. Due to a scarcity of AE data, optimal prediction results were not obtained on all 40 specimens. However, a smaller set of 18 specimens, 9 for training and 9 for testing, produced a worst case prediction error of-13.9%.
","abstract_html":"<p>Through the use of an acoustic emission (AE) data acquisition system, a Kohonen self-organizing map, and a back-propagation neural network, AE data from 7075-T6 aluminum specimens were used to classify failure mechanisms and predict the number of fatigue cycles to failure. AE waveforms were captured from 40 notched tensile specimens during the low-cycle fatiguing process. A Kohonen self-organizing map and initial data filters were used to classify the data into two distinct failure mechanisms, plane strain and plane stress fracture, plus a third less prevalent mechanism. These results were employed to construct a back-propagation neural network to predict the number of cycles to failure from the first 250 cycles of AE data. Due to a scarcity of AE data, optimal prediction results were not obtained on all 40 specimens. However, a smaller set of 18 specimens, 9 for training and 9 for testing, produced a worst case prediction error of-13.9%.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spivey, Nicholas S."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Eric v. K. Hill","Frank J. Radosta","Seth-Andrew T. Dion"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2007,"date_issued":"2007-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2007-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:37Z","subjects":["fatigue","aluminum","neural network","acoustic emission","Aerospace Engineering","Structures and Materials"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/187","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Eric v. K. Hill","Frank J. Radosta","Seth-Andrew T. Dion"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spivey, Nicholas S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["fatigue","aluminum","neural network","acoustic emission","Aerospace Engineering","Structures and Materials"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/187"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Through the use of an acoustic emission (AE) data acquisition system, a Kohonen self-organizing map, and a back-propagation neural network, AE data from 7075-T6 aluminum specimens were used to classify failure mechanisms and predict the number of fatigue cycles to failure. AE waveforms were captured from 40 notched tensile specimens during the low-cycle fatiguing process. A Kohonen self-organizing map and initial data filters were used to classify the data into two distinct failure mechanisms, plane strain and plane stress fracture, plus a third less prevalent mechanism. These results were employed to construct a back-propagation neural network to predict the number of cycles to failure from the first 250 cycles of AE data. Due to a scarcity of AE data, optimal prediction results were not obtained on all 40 specimens. However, a smaller set of 18 specimens, 9 for training and 9 for testing, produced a worst case prediction error of-13.9%.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Prediction of Fatigue Life in 7075-T6 Aluminum from Neural Network Analysis of Acoustic Emission Data"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Eric v. K. Hill","Frank J. Radosta","Seth-Andrew T. Dion"],"dc:creator":["Spivey, Nicholas S."],"dc:description.abstract":["Through the use of an acoustic emission (AE) data acquisition system, a Kohonen self-organizing map, and a back-propagation neural network, AE data from 7075-T6 aluminum specimens were used to classify failure mechanisms and predict the number of fatigue cycles to failure. AE waveforms were captured from 40 notched tensile specimens during the low-cycle fatiguing process. A Kohonen self-organizing map and initial data filters were used to classify the data into two distinct failure mechanisms, plane strain and plane stress fracture, plus a third less prevalent mechanism. These results were employed to construct a back-propagation neural network to predict the number of cycles to failure from the first 250 cycles of AE data. Due to a scarcity of AE data, optimal prediction results were not obtained on all 40 specimens. However, a smaller set of 18 specimens, 9 for training and 9 for testing, produced a worst case prediction error of-13.9%.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/187"],"dc:subject":["fatigue","aluminum","neural network","acoustic emission","Aerospace Engineering","Structures and Materials"],"dc:title":["Prediction of Fatigue Life in 7075-T6 Aluminum from Neural Network Analysis of Acoustic Emission Data"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:37Z"}