Damage identification of composite beam structure using fuzzy logic-based model

Damage identification of beam structures has been in practice for last few decades. The methodologies adopted were upgraded over the time depending upon the complexities of the damage or crack and the desired accuracy. The utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has also been considered by many researchers. In the current research, damage detection of a glass fibre-reinforced composite cantilever beam subjected to vibration has been carried out. A fuzzy-based model using triangular, trapezoidal and Gaussian membership functions has been developed separately to predict the damage characteristics, i.e., relative damage position (RDP) and relative damage severity (RDS). The inputs required for the fuzzy-based model, i.e., first three relative natural frequencies and first three mode shape differences have been determined by finite element analysis of the damaged cantilever beam subjected to the natural vibration. An experimental setup has been used to justify the robustness of the proposed technique for damage identification.