On Crack Detection in a Laminated Glass/Epoxy Composite Beam under Free Vibration with Fuzzy Logic Aid

Abstract

This study focuses on developing and implementing Mamdani hybrid fuzzy logic inference system (FIS) for transverse crack detection and fault diagnosis in a woven fiber laminated glass/epoxy composite beam using different vibration modes of natural frequencies. The shifting of vibration is attributed to the implication of cracks. These vibration signatures are fuzzified through hybrid fuzzy sets (triangular, trapezoidal, Gaussian) and scaled to crack location and depth using the fuzzy rules and defuzzification process. The vibration signatures are recorded using ABAQUS finite element (FE) simulation software for a fixed beam and are fed as input parameters to the developed FIS for computing the desired outputs. The realization for crack depth and position is experimentally verified through a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analyzer. The experimental results with simulated data show that fuzzy logic application detects crack positions and depth accurately at different levels. It is concluded that the hybrid FIS bears a close resemblance to the experimental analysis and also stands out as an effective method for crack detection in LCB over other standalone methods. The current method can be used as a cost-effective non-destructive technique for health monitoring and fault diagnosis of composite beam structures in any practical field.