• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1133-1145
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• 1996

A method is proposed to predict the deformed shape of the structure subjected to the unknown external loads using the signal from the piezoceramic sensors. Such a shape estimation is based on the linear relationship between the deformation of structure and the signal from sensor, which is calculated using finite element method. The deformed shape is, then calculated using the linear matrix and the signals from the piezoceramic sensors attached to the structures. For the purpose, a structural analysis program is developed using a multi-layerd finite element of 8 nodes with 3 displacement and one voltage degrees of freedom at each node. The multiple layers with the different material properties can be layered within the element. The incompatible mode with the element is found to be crucial to catch the bending behavior accurately. The accuracy of the program is, then, verified by being compared with the experimental results performed by Crawley. The proposed shape estimation method is also verified for the different loads and sensor size. It is shown that the results of shape estimation method using the linear matrix well predicts the deflections compared with those of finite element method.