scholarly journals Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures Using Tuned Guided Waves

Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive transducers that enable a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications such as: (a) embedded guided wave ultrasonics, i.e., pitch-catch, pulse-echo, phased arrays; (b) high-frequency modal sensing, i.e., the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance method; and (c) passive detection (acoustic emission and impact detection). The focus of this paper is on the challenges posed by using PWAS transducers in the composite structures as different from the metallic structures on which this methodology was initially developed. After a brief introduction, the paper reviews the PWAS-based SHM principles. It follows with a discussion of guided wave propagation in composites and PWAS tuning effects. Then, it discusses damage modes in composites. Finally, the paper presents some experimental results with damage detection in composite specimens. Hole damage and impact damage were detected using pitch-catch method with tuned guided waves being sent between a transmitter PWAS and a received PWAS. Root mean square deviation (RMSD) damage index (DI) were shown to correlate well with hole size and impact intensity. The paper ends with summary and conclusion; suggestions for further work are also presented.

Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive enablers for a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications such as: (a) embedded guided-wave ultrasonics, i.e., pitch-catch, pulse-echo, phased arrays; (b) high-frequency modal sensing, i.e., the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance method; (c) passive detection (acoustic emission and impact detection). The focus of this paper will be on the challenges and opportunities posed by the composite structures as different from the metallic structures on which this methodology was initially developed. After a brief introduction, the paper discusses damage modes in composites. Then, it reviews the PWAS-based SHM principles. It follows with a discussion of guided wave propagation in composites and PWAS tuning effects. Finally, the paper presents some experimental results with damage detection in composite specimens. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.


Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive enablers for a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The presentation will start with a brief review of PWAS physical principles and basic modeling. Then, the presentation will consider the several ways in which PWAS can be used for damage detection: (a) embedded guided-wave ultrasonics, i.e., pitch-catch, pulse-echo, phased arrays, thickness mode; (b) high-frequency modal sensing, i.e., the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance method; (c) passive detection, i.e., acoustic emission and impact detection. Emphasis will be placed on recent developments. Special attention will be given to the mechatronics predictive modeling of the complete cycle from electrical excitation through piezoelectric transduction, ultrasonic acoustic waves, and finally reverse piezoelectric transduction to generate the received electric signal. Power and energy aspects of this process will be considered and discussed. The presentation will end with conclusions and suggestions for further work.


Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive enablers for a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The presentation will start with a brief review of PWAS physical principles and basic modeling. Then, the presentation will consider the several ways in which PWAS can be used for damage detection: (a) embedded guided-wave ultrasonics, i.e., pitch-catch, pulse-echo, phased arrays, thickness mode; (b) high-frequency modal sensing, i.e., the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance method; (c) passive detection, i.e., acoustic emission and impact detection. Emphasis will be placed on recent developments. Special attention will be given to the mechatronics predictive modeling of the complete cycle from electrical excitation through piezoelectric transduction, ultrasonic acoustic waves, and finally reverse piezoelectric transduction to generate the received electric signal. Power and energy aspects of this process will be considered and discussed. The presentation will end with conclusions and suggestions for further work.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanfei Mei ◽  
Mohammad Haider ◽  
Roshan Joseph ◽  
Asaad Migot ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu

In this paper, some recent piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) progress achieved in our laboratory for active materials and smart structures (LAMSS) at the University of South Carolina: http: //www.me.sc.edu/research/lamss/ group is presented. First, the characterization of the PWAS materials shows that no significant change in the microstructure after exposure to high temperature and nuclear radiation, and the PWAS transducer can be used in harsh environments for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. Next, PWAS active sensing of various damage types in aluminum and composite structures are explored. PWAS transducers can successfully detect the simulated crack and corrosion damage in aluminum plates through the wavefield analysis, and the simulated delamination damage in composite plates through the damage imaging method. Finally, the novel use of PWAS transducers as acoustic emission (AE) sensors for in situ AE detection during fatigue crack growth is presented. The time of arrival of AE signals at multiple PWAS transducers confirms that the AE signals are originating from the crack, and that the amplitude decay due to geometric spreading is observed.


Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu ◽  
Giola Santoni-Bottai ◽  
Bin Lin ◽  
Adrian Cuc

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive enablers for a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. This paper presents and discusses the challenges and opportunities related to the use of PWAS in the structures specific to space applications. The challenges posed by space structures are often different from those encountered in conventional structures. After a review of PWAS principles, the paper discusses the multi-physics power and energy transduction between structurally guided waves and PWAS; predictive modeling results using a simplified analytical approach are presented. Experimental results on space-like specimen structures are presented. Survivability of PWAS transducers under cryogenic space-like conditions are experimentally verified. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.


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