This paper presents a method of parameter identification for a finite-element model of the human middle ear. The parameter values are estimated using a characterization of the difference in natural frequencies and mode shapes of the tympanic membrane between the model and the specimens. Experimental results were obtained from temporal bone specimens under sound excitation (300–3,000 Hz). The first 3 modes of the tympanic membrane could be observed with a laser scanning vibrometer and were used to estimate the stiffness parameters for the orthotropic finite-element model of the eardrum. A further point of discussion is the parameter sensitivity and its implication for the identification process. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

This paper presents a method of parameter identification for a finite-element model of the human middle ear. The parameter values are estimated using a characterization of the difference in natural frequencies and mode shapes of the tympanic membrane between the model and the specimens. Experimental results were obtained from temporal bone specimens under sound excitation (300–3,000 Hz). The first 3 modes of the tympanic membrane could be observed with a laser scanning vibrometer and were used to estimate the stiffness parameters for the orthotropic finite-element model of the eardrum. A further point of discussion is the parameter sensitivity and its implication for the identification process. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

During the past two decades, many researchers have developed methods for the detection of structural defects at the early stages to operate the aerospace vehicles safely and to reduce the operating costs. The Surface Response to Excitation (SuRE) method is one of these approaches developed at FIU to reduce the cost and size of the equipment. The SuRE method excites the surface at a series of frequencies and monitors the propagation characteristics of the generated waves. The amplitude of the waves reaching to any point on the surface varies with frequency; however, it remains consistent as long as the integrity and strain distribution on the part is consistent. These spectral characteristics change when cracks develop or the strain distribution changes. The SHM methods may be used for many applications, from the detection of loose screws to the monitoring of manufacturing operations. A scanning laser vibrometer was used in this study to investigate the characteristics of the spectral changes at different points on the parts. The study started with detecting a load on a plate and estimating its location. The modifications on the part with manufacturing operations were detected and the Part-Based Manufacturing Process Performance Monitoring (PbPPM) method was developed. Hardware was prepared to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods in real time. Using low-cost piezoelectric elements and the non-contact scanning laser vibrometer successfully, the data was collected for the SuRE and PbPPM methods. Locational force, loose bolts and material loss could be easily detected by comparing the spectral characteristics of the arriving waves. On-line methods used fast computational methods for estimating the spectrum and detecting the changing operational conditions from sum of the squares of the variations. Neural networks classified the spectrums when the desktop – DSP combination was used. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the SuRE and PbPPM methods.

During the past two decades, many researchers have developed methods for the detection of structural defects at the early stages to operate the aerospace vehicles safely and to reduce the operating costs. The Surface Response to Excitation (SuRE) method is one of these approaches developed at FIU to reduce the cost and size of the equipment. The SuRE method excites the surface at a series of frequencies and monitors the propagation characteristics of the generated waves. The amplitude of the waves reaching to any point on the surface varies with frequency; however, it remains consistent as long as the integrity and strain distribution on the part is consistent. These spectral characteristics change when cracks develop or the strain distribution changes. The SHM methods may be used for many applications, from the detection of loose screws to the monitoring of manufacturing operations. A scanning laser vibrometer was used in this study to investigate the characteristics of the spectral changes at different points on the parts. The study started with detecting a load on a plate and estimating its location. The modifications on the part with manufacturing operations were detected and the Part-Based Manufacturing Process Performance Monitoring (PbPPM) method was developed. Hardware was prepared to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods in real time. Using low-cost piezoelectric elements and the non-contact scanning laser vibrometer successfully, the data was collected for the SuRE and PbPPM methods. Locational force, loose bolts and material loss could be easily detected by comparing the spectral characteristics of the arriving waves. On-line methods used fast computational methods for estimating the spectrum and detecting the changing operational conditions from sum of the squares of the variations. Neural networks classified the spectrums when the desktop – DSP combination was used. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the SuRE and PbPPM methods.

Les microphones capacitifs sont des transducteurs réciproques dont les qualités (sensibilité, bande passante et tenue dans le temps) en font des instruments de mesure performants. Couramment utilisés jusqu’à présent en récepteurs dans l’air à pression atmosphérique et à température ambiante, dans la gamme de fréquences audibles, ils sont correctement caractérisés dans ce cadre depuis près de trente ans. Mais aujourd’hui, leur miniaturisation (par procédé MEMS) et leur usage nouveau en métrologie fine (en récepteurs comme en émetteurs) - qui exigent une connaissance précise de leur comportement dans des domaines de fréquences élevées (jusqu’à 100 kHz), dans des mélanges gazeux aux propriétés différentes de celles de l’air et dans des conditions de pression et de température beaucoup plus élevées ou beaucoup plus basses que les conditions standards - nécessitent une caractérisation beaucoup plus approfondie, aussi bien en terme de modélisation qu’en terme de résultats expérimentaux. C’est ainsi que ici -i/ les effets des couches limites thermiques (seules les couches limites visqueuses sont habituellement retenues) sont introduits dans le modèle, ce qui amène dans le chapitre premier à une étude analytique de la diffusion thermique en parois minces (dont la portée dépasse le cadre strict du transducteur), -ii/ l’influence des orifices de l’électrode arrière sur la déformée de la membrane est traitée au départ par une méthode analytique originale, qui permet de traduire les conditions en frontière non uniformes sur la surface de l’électrode sous forme de sources locales virtuelles, associées à des conditions de frontière rendues uniformes (chapitre second), -iii/ des solutions analytiques nouvelles, dépendant à la fois des coordonnées radiales et azimutales, sont obtenues pour le champ de déplacement de la membrane et pour les champs de pression dans les cavités du microphone par usage de théories modales compatibles avec les couplages multiples qui y prennent place (troisième chapitre), -iv/ un modèle de « circuit à constantes localisées » (reporté pour l’essentiel en annexe) est proposé, à des degrés divers de précision, qui permet en particulier d’accéder de façon simple à la sensibilité et au bruit thermique du microphone (fin du quatrième chapitre), -v/ une étude au vibromètre laser à balayage a été réalisée (début du quatrième chapitre), qui permet non seulement de mettre en évidence pour la première fois les déformées de membrane complexes qui apparaissent en hautes fréquences, mais encore de les quantifier et par-delà de valider les résultats théoriques obtenus et donc les modèles proposés (même s’ils restent perfectibles comme indiqué dans la conclusion). / Condenser microphones are reciprocal transducers whose properties (sensitivity, bandwidth and reliability) make them powerful measurement tools. So far, they have been commonly used as receivers in the audible frequency range, in air at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature, they have been appropriately characterised in this context for nearly thirty years. But nowadays, their miniaturisation (using MEMS processes) and their new use for metrological purposes (as receivers as well as transmitters) require much deeper theoretical and experimental characterisations because they require an accurate knowledge of their behaviour in high frequency ranges (up to 100 kHz), in gas mixtures, whose properties differ from those of air, and under pressure and temperature conditions much higher or much lower than standard conditions. Thus, here, -i/ the effects of the thermal boundary layers are introduced in the model (only viscous boundary layers are usually accounted for), leading, in the first chapter, to an analysis of the thermal diffusion of thin bodies (whose scope is beyond the strict frame of capacitive transducers), ii/ the influence of the holes in the backing electrode on the dynamic behaviour of the membrane is initially handled with an original analytical method which allows expressing the non-uniform boundary conditions at the surface of the backing electrode as fictitious localised sources associated to uniform boundary conditions (second chapter), -iii/ new analytical solutions, depending both on the radial and azimuthal coordinates, for the pressure field and for the displacement field inside the cavities behind the membrane are expressed using modal theories in agreement with the strong couplings which occur between the different parts of the transducer (chapter three), -iv/ "lumped element circuits", which are more or less approximated (presented in the Appendix), more particularly result in expressing and assessing the sensitivity and the thermal noise (end of chapter three), -v/ experimental results, obtained from measurements of the displacement field of the membrane using a laser scanning vibrometer, both highlight and quantify for the first time the complex behaviour of the membrane in the highest frequency range, and finally lead to the validation of the theoretical results and therefore, the models presented here (even if the latter may still be improved as outlined in the conclusion).