Online curvature calibration for flexible structure deformation detection based on the finite element method

Abstract

For shape reconstruction of the flexible plate structure with perceptive distributed orthogonal curvature information, a new online curvature calibration method for flexible structure is researched. Virtual standard circle-arcs of the measured flexible structure are obtained by finite element method to substitute real standard circle-arcs in traditional curvature calibration methods. The curvature information of discrete points of virtual standard circle-arc can be looked on as assumed standard value, while the strain information of discrete points acquired by strain sensors installed on the measured flexible structure is the object needed to be calibrated. Least square method is adopted to determine calibration curves and then get calibration coefficients. This paper puts the acquired calibration coefficients in practice at an experimental platform, which is used to carry out the experiment named shape perception and reconstruction of flexible structure. The experimental result indicates that this kind of online curvature calibration method based on finite element method is effective.