Damage detection of cracked thick rotating blades by a spatial wavelet based approach

This paper presents a technique for blade damage detection based on spatial wavelet analysis. The wavelet transform is used to analyze spatially distributed signals (e.g. mode shape) of cracked thick rotating blades. First, a finite element model is applied to the vibration of a thick rotating blade with a single edge crack. The effects of transverse shear deformation and rotatory inertia are taken into account. Then the mode shapes of the cracked rotating blade are analyzed by wavelet transformation. The effects of crack locations and sizes on the wavelet coefficients are studied. It is found that the distributions of the wavelet coefficients can identify the crack position of the rotating blades by showing a peak at the position of the crack. Then the signals are analyzed by wavelet transform. It is found that the distributions of the wavelet coefficients can identify the crack position. Assumed measurement errors are added to nth mode shape for evaluating the effect of measurement errors on the capability of detecting crack position. The moving average method is used to process the data with assumed measurement errors. The crack positions can also be identified when there exist assumed measurement errors. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.