International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET)

Volume 12, Issue 3, March 2021, pp.322-329 Article ID: IJARET_12_03_032

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/issues.asp?JType=IJARET&VType=12&IType=3
ISSN Print: 0976-6480 and ISSN Online: 0976-6499
DOI: 10.34218/IJARET.12.3.2021.032

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

MODE SHAPE BASED METHODS FOR

IDENTIFICATION OF DELAMINATION IN
COMPOSITE BEAMS
V. B. Dawari
Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics, Department of Civil Engineering
College of Engineering Pune, Maharashtra, India

S. A. Kulkarni
Associate Professor, Department of Applied Science & General Engineering
Army Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra, India

B. M. Dawari
Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics, Department of Civil Engineering
Govt. College of Engineering Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

S. P. Joshi
MTech student, Department of Civil Engineering
College of Engineering Pune, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT
In recent years, structural health monitoring is gaining high importance in
conjunction with damage assessment and safety evaluation of structures. Delamination
is a common type of damage in fibre reinforced composite laminates used for
mechanical and aerospace structures. It is usually an internal and hidden type of
damage which may lead to catastrophic failure without prior warning. Early detection
of this type of damage is essential. The damage detection techniques proposed here use
the displacement mode shapes of the beam, which are then converted to respective
curvature modes and modal strain energy. The damage indices based on these
parameters are also evaluated for locating the delamination after applying gapped
smoothing techniques to the curvature mode shapes. This work presents a numerical
study on detection of delamination damage in composite beams, where the proposed
methodology is applied for identifying delamination in a three-dimensional numerical
finite element model of a composite beam.
Key words: Composite material, Damage detection, Vibration based methods,
Gapped smoothening technique.

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 V. B. Dawari, S. A. Kulkarni, B. M. Dawari and S. P. Joshi

Cite this Article: V. B. Dawari, S. A. Kulkarni, B. M. Dawari and S. P. Joshi, Mode

Shape Based Methods for Identification of Delamination in Composite Beams,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET),
12(3), 2021, pp. 322-329.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/issues.asp?JType=IJARET&VType=12&IType=3

1. INTRODUCTION
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is defined in the literature as the acquisition, validation
and analysis of technical data to facilitate life-cycle management decisions. Vibration based
methods are used to examine changes in measured vibration response to detect, locate, and
characterize damage in structural and mechanical systems. The basic idea behind these methods
is that modal parameters such as frequencies, mode shapes are functions of the physical
properties of the structure. Therefore, changes in the physical properties will cause detectable
changes in the modal properties. The need for damage detection in composite material is
gaining importance in the recent years. However, it is quite challenging due to different
properties of fibres and matrix. Delamination is the type of damage considered in this paper.
This is one of the most encountered types of damage in the composite material. Even a small
amount of delamination leads to drastic change in properties of the material, and thus may lead
to failure of the material. Many algorithms for damage detection have been developed as the
outcome of extensive research over the three decades in the field of vibration based damage
detection. Zhou et al. [1] reviewed the model-based delamination detection methods for
composite structures using vibrations.
Adams et al. [2] used the decrease in natural frequencies and increase in damping to detect
cracks in fibre-reinforced plastics. Loland et al. [3] and Vandiver [4] employed relative changes
in the natural frequencies of different modes for detection of damage in offshore structures
platforms in the North Sea. Pandey et al. [5] demonstrated the usefulness of the curvature mode
shapes in detecting and locating damage in cantilever and simply supported beams. Cornwell
et al. [6] proposed a new modal strain energy based damage detection algorithm for plate-like
structures which are characterized by two-dimensional curvature. The method only requires the
mode shapes of the structure before and after damage and the modes do not need to be mass
normalized making it very advantageous. Saravanos and Hopkins [7] presented analytical and
experimental work on the damped free vibration of delaminated laminates and beams. A
laminate theory was developed, in which the unknown kinematic perturbations induced by a
delamination crack were treated as additional degrees of freedom. A united and inclusive
laminate theory was developed for the stiffness, damping and inertia. The laminate theory was
able to handle either pristine or delaminated laminates with multiple delaminations. Ratcliff
and Bagaria [8] demonstrated an experimental nondestructive vibration-based technique for
locating a delamination in a composite beam. The method operated on the fundamental
displacement eigenvector, which was then converted to a curvature mode shape. The
application of a unique, gapped smoothing damage detection method to the curvature yielded a
damage index which located the delamination, irrespective of its position along the beam or
depth within the beam. Shen and Grady [9] proposed a mathematical model for determining
natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes of the delaminated composite beams.
The damage detection techniques considered in this paper are based on first three flexural
mode shapes. Finite element analysis was used to obtain the displacement mode shapes of the
models. In this paper, delamination damage detection is demonstrated using modal curvature
method, modal strain energy difference method, and modal fractional strain energy method for
the composite beam. The effect of using gapped smoothened curvature mode shapes in
computation of damage indices is also studied.

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 Mode Shape Based Methods for Identification of Delamination in Composite Beams

2. DAMAGE DETECTION ALGORITHMS

2.1 Modal Curvature Based Method
Plain Modal curvature based damage represents the absolute difference between the second
derivative of displacement mode shapes of damaged and healthy beam structure (Eq. (1)). The
use of mode shapes curvatures in damage identification is based on the assumption that the
changes in the curvatures of mode shapes are highly localized to the region of damage and that
they are more pronounced than changes in the displacements of the mode shapes [5]. The
curvature is often calculated from the measured displacement mode shapes using a central
difference approximation (Eq. (2)).
 ''i = ( ''i ) − ( ''i )
*
(1)
i −1 − 2i + i +1
 ''i = (2)
h2
where  ''i = change in curvature of ith mode shape  ''i = curvature of ith mode shape, i =
ith displacement mode shape, h = interval between two consecutive nodes, * represents the
damaged state.
When m numbers of mode are taken into account the damage index (DI) for jth measuring
point is defined with Eq. (3).
m

 (  '' )
1
DI = i j (3)
m i =1

At a certain damage location, the value of mode shape curvature is significantly higher than
the ones at other locations. Based on the curvature difference values of measured data of
damaged and healthy structures the location of damage in the structure can be identified.

2.2 Gapped Smoothening Technique

The gapped smoothening is applied to curvature mode shapes. In case of gapped smoothening
technique the need of undamaged mode shapes is diminished. The mode shape in damaged
condition is enough to detect damage. The damage based on curvature index with gapped
smoothening technique is defined as the difference between the damaged curvature and
smoothened curvature as Eq. (4).
 ''i = ( ''i ) − ( ''i )
s
(4)

( ''i )s = gapped smoothened curvature of ith mode shape

The smoothening is achieved by locally fitting a gapped cubic polynomial to the curvature.
The gapped cubic polynomial calculated for the jth element of the curvature Cj at position xj
along the beam is defined as
( '' j )
s
= p0 + p1 x j + p2 x 2j + p3 x3j (5)
The coefficients p0, p1, p2, and p3 are determined using curvature elements C j −2 , C j −1 , C j +1
and C j + 2 . The curvature of jth element C j is left out or gapped.
When m numbers of mode are taken into account the damage index (DI) for jth measuring
point is defined with Eq. (3).

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 V. B. Dawari, S. A. Kulkarni, B. M. Dawari and S. P. Joshi

2.3 Modal Strain Energy Difference Based Method

For a particular mode shape, ϕi, the energy associated with that mode shape of a general Euler–
Bernoulli beam, U, is given by Eq. (6) as
2
1
L
 d 2 
U =  EI  2i  dx (6)
2 0  dx 
where EI is flexural rigidity of the beam of span L.
The damage is detected as the difference between the modal strain energies of mode i for
the structural flexural element j before and after the damage.
Uij = Uij* − Uij (7)
Considering m numbers of modes, the damage is detected by finding the value of location
where difference in modal strain energy is maximum. The damage index defined as
DI =
1 m
 U ij
m i =1
( ) (8)

2.4 Modal Fractional Strain Energy Based method

If the beam is subdivided into Nd, divisions, then the fractional strain energy, Fij associated with
each sub-region j with nodal coordinates aj to aj+1 due to the ith mode is given by
2
 d 2i 
a j +1
1
Fij =
2  ( EI ) j 
aj
2 
 dx 
dx (9)

The damage is detected by finding the location where difference in modal fractional strain
energy is maximum. The fractional strain energy for healthy beam is not required for this
method.

2.5 Modal Fractional Strain Energy Ratio Based Method

The fractional strain energy for the undamaged beam can be found using Eq. (9). Similar
quantities can be developed for the damaged beam, in which a superscript * is used to denote
the damaged state.
2
 d 2 * 
a j +1
1
F =  ( EI ) j  2i  dx
*
*
ij (10)
2 aj  dx 
The ratio of fractional strain energy of the damaged structure to the undamaged structure
was used as an effective indication of damage location by Conwell et al. [6]. Damage index
1 for mode i can be written as ratio of fractional strain energy of damaged and healthy
structure.
 a j +1  L 
  (i"* ) dx  x   (i" ) dx 
2 2

a  0 
U ijF* 
( ij )1 = =  (11)
j

U ijF  L
  a j +1

  (i ) dx  x   (i ) dx 
"* 2 " 2

0 
  aj 

In order to use all the measured modes, m in the calculation, the damage index for sub-
region j (with elemental boundaries as aj- aj+1, is defined to be
  ak +1   L 
   (i"* ) dx     (i" ) dx  
2


2

m   
 a
=    Lk  m   0   (12)
( )  x   ak +1 
i =1     i =1   
j 1

  i
 (  )
"* 2
dx     ( i )
  " 2
dx 

 0
     ak
 

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 Mode Shape Based Methods for Identification of Delamination in Composite Beams

3. NUMERICAL STUDIES
In order to study the above mentioned methods, finite element model of 4-ply cantilever beam
of dimensions 100 mm×15 mm× 3.0 mm is developed using ANSYS 15. Table 1 enlists the
properties of the cantilever beam with [45/-45]2 stacking sequence. SOLID185 element is used
for the three-dimensional modelling of solid structures. The element is defined by eight nodes
having three degrees of freedom at each node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z directions.
CONTA171 is used to represent contact and sliding between 3-D "target" surfaces and a
deformable surface, defined by this element. This element has three degrees of freedom at each
node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z directions. Method used for the Delamination
modeling is ‘Bonded contact method’. A formulation of a composite beam is developed, based
on Timoshenko beam theory and the Galerkin method, to analyze the delamination effect on
natural frequency and vibration mode shape of composite laminated beam. Delamination is
modeled by jump discontinuity conditions at the interfaces. At delaminated interfaces, the
displacements on adjacent layers remain independent, allowing for separation and slope [10-
12]. The beams are modelled with 100 number elements of size 1 mm along the length of beam,
4 elements along width (Figure 1). The modal analyses are carried out for beams in undamaged
and damaged conditions in ANSYS 15. First three natural frequencies and flexural mode shapes
are extracted. The damage indices are then computed with and without using gapped
smoothening technique on curvature mode shapes. In order to investigate the effects of damage
on the beam, delamination of 1 mm length and 15 mm width is considered in central two plies
at midspan of the composite cantilever beam.

Table 1 Properties of cantilever beam

PROPERTY VALUE
E11 135.3 GPa
E22 9 GPa
E33 9 GPa
υ12 0.24
υ23 0.24
υ31 0.46
G12 5.2 GPa
G23 5.2 GPa
G31 3.8 GPa

(a) (b)

Figure 1 (a) Undamaged beam; (b) Damaged beam with delamination at mid-span

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 V. B. Dawari, S. A. Kulkarni, B. M. Dawari and S. P. Joshi

(a) (b)

Figure 2 Damage index based on modal curvature method: (a) without gapped smoothening; (b) with
gapped smoothening

(a) (b)

Figure 3 Damage index based on modal strain energy difference: (a) without gapped smoothening; (b)
with gapped smoothening

(a) (b)

Figure 4 Damage index based on modal fractional strain energy: (a) without gapped smoothening; (b)
with gapped smoothening

(a) (b)

Figure 5 Damage index based on modal fractional strain energy ratio: (a) without gapped
smoothening; (b) with gapped smoothening

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 Mode Shape Based Methods for Identification of Delamination in Composite Beams

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 2 - Figure 5 show the results for damage indices plotted along the span of the beam for
single damage scenario. Figure 2(a), Figure 3(a), Figure4(a), and Figure 5(a) show the results
of modal curvature and modal strain energy based damage indices without application of
gapped smoothening technique. Modal curvature and modal strain energy and fractional strain
energy based damage indices are been able to detect and locate the damage in form of peak
values. In addition to damage location, the damage indices predict additional damage locations
in form of numbers of peak; hence providing additional false alarms. When the gapped
smoothing technique is applied, the damage location becomes distinct and detected as observed
in Figure 2(b), Figure 3(b), Figure 4(b) and Figure 5(b).

5. CONCLUSION
A damage localisation method using modal curvature and modal strain energy changes is
presented in this paper. Finite element analyses of the healthy and damaged composite beam
models for delamination damage scenario are carried out to extract first three flexural mode
shapes. Four damage indices based on modal curvature and modal strain energy are evaluated
using the effects of combined mode shapes. The peak values of each damage index indicate
possible damage locations. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the damage indices
successfully located the damage with additional false alarms. The damage indices, when
computed using gapped smoothening technique yield the accurate results for delamination
damage location in case of composite cantilever beam.

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