A Dynamical Systems Approach to Damage Evolution Tracking, Part 2: Model-Based Validation and Physical Interpretation

Abstract

In this paper, the hidden variable damage tracking method developed in Part 1 is analyzed using a physics-based mathematical model of the experimental system: a mechanical oscillator with a nonstationary two-well potential. Numerical experiments conducted using the model are in good agreement with the experimental study presented in Part 1, and explicitly show how the tracking metric is related to the slow hidden variable evolution responsible for drift in the fast system parameters. Using the idea of averaging, the slow flow equation governing the hidden variable evolution is obtained. It is shown that the solution to the slow flow equation corresponds to the hidden variable trajectory obtained with the experimental tracking method. Thus we establish in principle the relationship of our algorithm to any underlying physical process. Based on this result, we discuss the application of the tracking method to systems with evolving material damage using the results of some preliminary experiments.