Load-Identification Method for Flexible Multiple Corrugated Skin Using Spectra Features of FBGs

Abstract

Flexible corrugated skins are ideal structures for morphing wings, and the associated load measurements are of great significance in structural health monitoring. This paper proposes a novel load-identification method for flexible corrugated skins based on improved Fisher discrimination dictionary learning (FDDL). Several fiber Bragg grating sensors are pasted on the skin to monitor the load on multiple corrugated crests. The loads on different crests cause nonuniform strain fields, and these discriminative spectra are recorded and used as training data. The proposed method involves load-positioning and load-size identification. In the load-size-identification stage, a classifier is trained for every corrugated crest. An interleaved block grouping of samples is introduced to enhance the discrimination of dictionaries, and a two-resolution load-size classifier is introduced to improve the performance and resolution of the grouping labels. An adjustable weight is introduced to the FDDL classification scheme to optimize the contribution from different sensors for different load-size classifiers. With the proposed method, the individual loads on eight crests can be identified by two fiber Bragg grating sensors. The positioning accuracy is 100%, and the mean error of the load-size identification is 0.2106 N, which is sufficiently precise for structural health monitoring.