Effect of the multiple damages and temperature changes on the natural frequency

Damage detection based on structural dynamic characteristics, such as natural frequencies and mode shapes, is an important area of research. Obtaining accurate structural dynamic characteristics is perhaps the most challenging aspect. In particular, changes in environmental temperature due to seasonal weather or radiation from sunshine leads to changes in the dynamic characteristics of structures. An important conclusion is that changes in the dynamic characteristics of a structure due to damage may be smaller than changes in the dynamic characteristics due to variations in temperature. Also, damage can affect the frequency response. This is the first study of evaluation of the effect of changes in temperature and multiple damages on natural frequency at the same time. In this paper, the simultaneous effect of the multiple defects and temperature on the natural frequencies of 6063 aluminum alloy beam are assessed numerically. ABAQUS finite element software is used for the numerical analysis. The present paper aims to evaluate the temperature effect and multiple damages on vibration responses. The variations in the frequency have been analysed in simulation by using an aluminum specimen and obtaining impedance signatures at temperatures ranging from −200◦C to 204◦C. The results show that an increase in temperature leads to a decrease in structural frequency, and that a decrease in temperature leads to an increase in structural frequency. The evaluation of the effect of multiple defects on natural frequency shows that when damages are created in the structure, there is a significant decrease in the natural frequency responses of the 6063 aluminum alloy beam. The results show that damage causes a decrease in the natural frequency of the structure. This study highlights the importance of applying simulation methods to the evaluation of the effect of changes in environmental temperature and multiple damages on the dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies and mode shapes, especially at the same time.