Actuator failure assessment in smart composite laminates via principal component analysis

In this work, we propose a principal component analysis and system identification–based failure assessment approach for evaluating the partial actuator debonding failures in smart composite structures. Actuator debonding failure changes the structural dynamic characteristics and reduces the actuation capabilities as well in smart composite structures. First, the modeling of actuator debonding in smart composite laminate is developed using the finite element method, which incorporates the improved layerwise theory and higher-order electric potential field for the electromechanical coupling. Second, the structural responses obtained from the developed modeling are fed into the system identification to identify the system parameters of both healthy and damaged systems. Third, the achieved system parameters are further used for the statistical analysis by principal component analysis to extract the failure-sensitive features. Finally, a numerical example is studied using a 16-layer cross-ply laminate ([0/90]4s) as the substrate with various actuator debonding sizes. The results show that the actuator debonding failures can be well assessed, and the failure intensity and location can also be evaluated using the proposed approach