Data treatment and

preconditioning
Accelerometers
Laser displacement
Raw data
Algorithm to reproduce absolute
displacement from acceleration patterns
Data treatment and
preconditioning
Data evaluation and
verification
Rain flow cycle counting Data processing and
statistical analysis
Structural analysis
Stress life approach Fatigue analysis and
sensitivity analysis
Comparison to prevailing
standards
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration

Not exactly rate of change of velocity

Instead, the accelerometer sees the acceleration associated with the
phenomenon of weight experienced by any test mass at rest in the
frame of reference of the accelerometer device

So normally acceleration is shown as 9.81 m/s
2

These accelerometers are used in our study to measure the displacement
indirectly through change in acceleration

There are two types of accelerometers
Peizo-electric accelerometer and
Force based accelerometer

Now a days force based accelerometers are being used

With these sensors a change acceleration of 5g can be measured(ie +/- 5g)

Since the vibrations in the structures are small a accelerometer with range
as low as 2g is sufficient






Why accelerometers ?
Generally linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) are used
under stationary conditions

But most of the load on buildings is dynamics so not a good idea

Laser displacement sensors are very accurate but they are really
costly so cannot be used in large numbers

Accelerometers are very small and can be easily integrated into the
structure
Why this algorithm ?
Performing discrete integration on sampled data is a rather simple
task

However, there are a number of problems that need to be addressed
when performing a double integration

First, there is the problem of unknown initial conditions

There also is the problem of drift in an accelerometer
Verification and calibration
To determine whether the displacement signal derived from the
acceleration signal is accurate, it needs to be compared to the actual
displacement

The position from double integration can be compared to a directly
measured position

A laser displacement gauge was used for this purpose

And error should be with in 10%
Principle
Given a position versus time of an object, x(t), the velocity, v(t), can
be found by taking the first derivative and acceleration by a(t)

However while integration we need initial conditions so





However, the only way to get these initial conditions is through direct
measurement, which is often impractical or unobtainable
( ) ( ) ( )
}
+ =
t
t
d a t v t v
0
0
t t
( ) ( ) ( )
}
+ =
t
t
d v t x t x
0
0
t t
Numerical integration methods
Since we cannot use normal methods we use numerical integration
Most simple method is rectangular integration method


where x is the integrand, y is the output of the integrator, and f
s
is the
sampling frequency

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) n x
f
n y k n x
f
n y
s
n
k s
1
1
1
0
+ = =

=
As we can see this would a lot error, instead we use trapezoidal law








From the graph it is clear that this gives better results
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) | | 0 , 1
2
1
1 > + + = n n x n x
f
n y n y
s
The choice of sampling rate, f
s
, is also a critical factor in integration
If we chose f
s
to be high then the resultant curve will be smoother






F
s
is generally a constant directly proportional to the frequency
So if the sample has higher frequency then the resultant curve will be
smoother
More over for position signal we integrate 2 times so it will be much
more smoother





Acceleration has high frequency so position curve is a lot smoother

Also, it is 180 degrees out of phase with acceleration, as expected.
Each integration operation shifts the signal by -90 degrees

Accelerometer Drift

To measure acceleration, accelerometers are used to convert
acceleration to an electrical signal

Unfortunately, accelerometers have an unwanted phenomenon called
drift associated with them caused by a small DC bias in the
acceleration signal

Ideally, there should be no DC bias from the accelerometer for the
measurement of a vibration

A vibration occurs around a fixed point and has a zero mean over time

The presence of drift can lead to large integration errors

If the acceleration signal from a real accelerometer was integrated
without any filtering performed, the output could become
unbounded over time

The displacement graph suggests that the object is moving away from
a fixed point when in fact, the vibration is around a fixed point and
the object is not moving over time

To solve the problem of drift, a high-pass filter may be used to
remove the DC component of the acceleration signal

By filtering before integrating, drift errors are eliminated
Initial conditions
Though we found a way to integrate without a need for initial
conditions , as there are initial readings missing
The graphs will be shifted a little over the axis





Notice that the middle plot of velocity contains a DC value of about
11.2540

Had the initial velocity value, v(0), been added in, that same amount
wouldve been subtracted and the plot would be centered around
zero, as it should

Because the initial value wasnt used and the function was integrated
for the second time, the output increases linearly

One solution to the problem of initial conditions is to use filtering
After the acceleration signal is integrated, it will likely have a DC
component

A high pass filter can be used to remove that DC component of the
signal

Likewise, after the velocity signal is integrated to get position, the
position signal can be high-pass filtered as well

The results show that filtering can be very useful in making the
double integration process work
Block diagram
So using filters at appropriate places will eliminate the error as much as
possible
FATIGUE
Fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs
when a material is subjected to cyclic loading.
The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile
stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.
ANALYSIS OF FATIGUE
Stress life approach
Strain life approach
Fracture mechanics approach

In this presentation we shall see about Stress life approach.
STRESS LIFE APPROACH
This nominal stress (S-N) method was the first approach developed
to try to understand this failure process
The nominal stress approach is best suited to that area of the fatigue
process known as high-cycle fatigue
Stress Cycles










Typical Fatigue Stress Cycles,
(a) Fully Reversed (b) Offset, (c) Random





The S-N Curve
In high-cycle fatigue situations, materials performance is commonly
characterized by an S-N curve, also known as a Wohler curve
Most determinations of fatigue properties have been made in
completely reversed bending (i.e., R = 1), by means of the so-called
rotating bend test

The stress level at the surface of the specimen is calculated using the
elastic beam equation,
S= Mc/I
S- the nominal stress acting normal to the cross-section
M- the bending moment
c - the distance of the surface from the neutral axis
I - the moment of inertia
S-N data are nearly always presented in the form of a log-log plot of
alternating stress amplitude versus cycles to failure, with the actual
Whler line representing the mean of the data

Limits of the S-N Curve
The S-N approach is applicable to situations where cyclic loading is
essentially elastic
This means that the S-N curve should be confined on the life axis to
numbers greater than about 10,000 cycles in order to ensure no
significant plasticity is occurring.
The Influence of Mean Stress
Most basic fatigue data are collected in the laboratory by means of
testing procedures which employ fully reversed loading
Most realistic service situations involve nonzero mean stresses
Fatigue data collected from a series of tests designed to investigate
different combinations of stress amplitude and mean stress are
characterized by Haigh diagram
HAIGHs diagram




Notice that the influence of mean stress is different for compressive
and tensile mean stress values for a given number of cycles to failure
EMPERICAL RELATIONS
Several empirical relationships which relate alternating stress
amplitude to mean stress have been developed
Of all the proposed relationships, two have been most widely
accepted
1. Goodman :

2. Gerber :
Factors Influencing Fatigue Life
Component size
The type of loading
The effect of notches
The effect of surface finish
The effect of surface treatment
RAINFLOW CYCLE COUNTING
The signal measured, in general, a random stress S(t) is not only made
up of a peak alone between two passages by zero, but also several
peaks appear, which makes difficult the determination of the number
of cycles absorbed by the structure
The counting of peaks makes it possible to constitute a histogram of
the peaks of the random stress which can then be transformed into a
stress spectrum giving the number of events for lower than a given
stress value.
The stress spectrum is thus a representation of the statistical
distribution of the characteristic amplitudes of the random stress as a
function of time
Rules of the flow
The origin of the random stress is placed on the axis at the abscissa of
the largest peak of the random stress
If the fall starts from a peak :
a) The drop will stop if it meets an opposing peak larger than that of
departure.
b) it will also stop if it meets the path traversed by another drop
previously determined






c) The drop can fall on another roof and to continue to slip according to
rules a and b
If the fall begins from a valley:
d) the fall will stop if the drop meets a valley deeper than that of
departure

e) the fall will stop if it crosses the path of a drop coming from a
preceding valley

f) the drop can fall on another roof and continue according to rules d
and e.
The horizontal length of each rainflow defines a range which can be
regarded as equivalent to a half-cycle of a constant amplitude load
Lets explain it with an example.

First, the stress S(t) is transformed to a process of peaks and valleys.
Then the time axis is rotated so that it points downward.
At both peaks and valleys, water sources are considered. Water flows
downward according to the rules
Let X denotes range under consideration; Y, previous range adjacent
to X; and S starting point in the history

Details of the cycle counting are as follows:
S=A; Y=|A-B| ; X=|B-C|; X>Y. Y contains S, that is, point A. Count |A-
B| as one-half cycle and discard point A; S=B
Y=|B-C|; X=|C-D|; X>Y. Y contains S, that is, point B. Count |B-C| as
one half-cycle and discard point B; S=C
Y=|C-D|; X=|D-E|; X<Y
Y=|D-E|; X=|E-F|; X<Y
Y=|E-F|; X=|F-G|; X>Y. Count |E-F| as one cycle and
discard points E and F.
Y=|C-D|; X=|D-G|; X>Y. Y contains S, that is, point C.
Count |C-D| as one-half cycle and discard point C.
S=D.

Y=|C-D|; X=|D-G|; X>Y. Y contains S, that is, point C.
Count |C-D| as one-half cycle and discard point C.
S=D.
Y=|D-G|; X=|G-H|; X<Y.
Y=|G-H|; X=|H-I|; X<Y

Count |D-G| as one-half cycle, |G-H| as one-half cycle, and |H-I| as
one-half cycle
End of counting.