Finite element solution of two‐dimensional inverse elastic problems using spatial smoothing

Abstract

AbstractA finite element method (FEM) is presented for calculating the surface tractions on a body from internal measurements of displacement at discrete sensor locations. The solution algorithm employs a sensitivity analysis which minimizes the difference between the calculated and measured displacements at each sensor location. Spatial regularization is one technique employed to stabilize the minimization process by imposing various degrees of smoothness on the solution. It also allows the problem to be solved with fewer sensors than traction boundary nodes. As an alternative to spatial regularization, a method based on ‘keynodes’ is introduced which assumes that each component of the boundary traction distribution can be described by a polynomial of specified order. The methods are applied to several two‐dimensional examples including a rolling contact problem. The effects of parameters such as the number of sensors, the location of the sensors and the error in the sensor displacements are discussed.