Numerical modeling of a damaged plate with piezoelectric actuation

In this paper, the numerical modeling of a damaged plate with piezoelectric actuation is presented. Unlike in previous studies, the effects of the defect are considered and embodied by mass and stiffness reductions in the equation of motion. The model is validated using indices related to frequency variation and energy change in both frequency and time domains. A comparison of the tendencies of the measured indices with those of the simulated ones shows a reasonably good agreement. Results show that the energy index is more sensitive to damage than the frequency index. Both square-wave and pseudo-random excitations can be used to assess the energy index variation. For the latter, however, an averaging over time signals is needed to provide more reliable results.