Displacement field reconstruction of structures under thermal and mechanical loading environment

Abstract

Improving the accuracy of displacement field estimation is an important requirement of structural health monitoring and digital twin technology, especially in the aerospace field. Several traditional methods have been used to reconstruct the structural displacement field under force loads. Because of the increasing thermal effects on aerospace structures, the accuracy of traditional displacement field estimation methods has decreased. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a displacement estimation method that considers the thermal effects. First, traditional methods were compared and analyzed, and the modal analysis method was chosen as the basis of the proposed theoretical expansion in this study. Second, the linear thermal stress theory and the essence of the modal analysis method were analyzed, a new displacement field estimation method for complex structures is proposed, which includes both force-loaded and thermal-loaded bases. A simple numerical example was used to illustrate the necessity of considering the thermal effects and effectiveness of the proposed method. The practical value of the method is also demonstrated through a more practical numerical example.