Identification of a cross-sectional vibration mode of a belt conveyor support structure using acoustic loading

Abstract

After several decades of operation, belt conveyors in iron works suffer from severe corrosion on their support structures. While use of specific local vibration modes, Cross-Sectional vibration Mode (CSM), in the assessment through hammering tests with non-contact measurement had been shown effective, the hammering requires access to the support structure, which is practically difficult. In this paper, non-contact excitation of CSM using acoustic loading is investigated. Some modes, which are not CSM, are also excited. A method to distinguish CSM from other modes is proposed based on the cross sectional shape. After validation using FE models, CSM is successfully extracted in the acoustic excitation experiment, which indicates the capability of non-contact damage identification.