Reduction of Model Complexity in Aerospace Structures with the Help of Approximated Stiffeners

Abstract

Guided wave based systems are the most promising approach for Structural Health Monitoring of plate dominated components. A good understanding of wave propagation, which is required to design such a system, can be gained with numerical simulations. Models of complex structures still require enormous amounts of computational effort, despite the advancements in computing technology. This is due to the small wave lengths necessary for damage detection which in turn requires a fine discretization of geometry in standard Finite Element Methods. A lot of research groups focus on quite different approaches like spectral elements to overcome this problem, but none of these are ready for a wide use nor are they as flexible or well-proven as the conventional FEM. This paper will present ways to accelerate FEM simulation by reducing the model complexity.