scholarly journals Analytical Model of Nuclear Environmental Effects With Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Lin ◽  
Lingyu Yu ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu ◽  
Matthieu Gresil ◽  
Adrian E. Mendez Torres
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Model ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Ultrasonic Waves ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Sensor Technology ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer

The increasing number, size, and complexity of nuclear facilities deployed worldwide are increasing the need to maintain readiness and develop innovative sensing materials to monitor important to safety structures (ITS) for pipe and vessels (PVP) application. For example, nuclear dry cask storage system (DCSS) is a safety-critical facility in need of monitoring over prolonged periods of time. Technologies for the diagnosis and prognosis of PVP systems can improve verification of the health of the structure that can eventually reduce the likelihood of inadvertently failure of a component. The past two decades have witnessed an extensive sensor technology development using permanently installed piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) for structural health monitoring (SHM). PWAS have emerged as one of the major SHM technologies developed particularly for generating and receiving acousto-ultrasonic waves for the purpose of continuous monitoring and diagnosis. Durability and survivability of PWAS under nuclear environmental exposures has been tested preliminarily. However, the analytical model of PWAS based sensor and sensing system has not been developed with adequate solutions and guideline. This paper presents a study on an analytical model of nuclear environmental effects with PWAS. Environmental variability of a Nuclear-SHM system includes changes in both the sensors and the sensing methodology including acoustic emission (AE), guided ultrasonic waves (GUW), and electro-mechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS). We considered the environmental variability considers the effects of temperature changes and radiation. We superposed these changes on the analytical models and determined how much the structural sensing signals change is due to these environment effects for the DCSS system. The analytical modeling of various structural sensing methods to environmental disturbances was studied and the potential of PWAS as irradiation sensors for PVP applications was explored. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.

Temperature Effects on Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linlin Ma ◽  
Xiaoyi Sun ◽  
Bin Lin ◽  
Lingyu Yu
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Model ◽  
Temperature Effects ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Pressure Vessels ◽  
Ultrasonic Waves ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Sensing System ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer

This paper discusses the temperature effects of using piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) technologies for structural health monitoring (SHM) in pressure vessels and piping (PVP) applications, e.g. dry cast storage system (DCSS). The research into monitoring of DCSS health has experienced a dramatic increase following the issuance of the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America’s Nuclear Future Final Report in 2012. The interim storage of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites has gained additional importance and urgency for resolving waste-management-related technical issues. PWAS have emerged as one of the major SHM technologies developed particularly for generating and receiving acousto-ultrasonic waves for the purpose of continuous monitoring and diagnosis. Durability and survivability of PWAS under temperature effects was first tested in experiments. The analytical model of PWAS based sensor and sensing system under temperature effects was then developed. This paper compared the analytical model and experimental results of PWAS under temperature changes. Since the environmental variability of a sensing system includes changes in both the sensors and the sensing methodology including acoustic emission (AE), guided ultrasonic waves (GUW), and electro-mechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS), we also performed several temperature exposure with different PWAS sensing configurations under a controlled oven. The potential of PWAS for DCSS applications has been explored. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.

Structural Health Monitoring With Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors Exposed to Irradiation Effects

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Lin ◽  
Matthieu Gresil ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu ◽  
Adrian E. Mendez-Torres
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Pressure Vessels ◽  
Irradiation Effects ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer

The increasing number, size, and complexity of nuclear facilities deployed worldwide are increasing the need to maintain readiness and develop innovative sensing materials to monitor important to safety structures (ITS) such as pressure vessels and piping (PVP) in a nuclear reactor. Technologies for the diagnosis and prognosis of PVP systems can improve verification of the health of the structure that can eventually reduce the likelihood of inadvertently failure. Recently investigated piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) open the possibilities to develop and deploy such system. Piezoelectric wafer active sensors are widely used in structural health monitoring (SHM) to determine the presence of cracks, delaminations, disbonds, and corrosion. Durability and survivability of PWAS under environmental exposures has been tested before. However the irradiation effects, pertinent to nuclear facilities for PWAS, have not been studied yet. This paper presents a study on PWAS that exposed to high energy gamma radiation. PWAS were irradiated using a Co-60 gamma source in an irradiator with different exposure times. The dose rate and total absorbed dose were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations (MCNPX). The PWAS material properties, electrical contact change were characterized through a series of tests. The electro-mechanical impedance spectrum (EMIS) of PWAS was measured before and after irradiation. This study not only provides the fundamental understanding of the PWAS irradiation survivability but also tests the potential of PWAS as irradiation sensors for nuclear applications.

Lamb Wave Tuning Between Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors and Host Structure: Experiments and Modeling

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giola B. Santoni ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu
Keyword(s):  
Lamb Wave ◽  
Integral Transform ◽  
Lamb Waves ◽  
Composite Plates ◽  
Ultrasonic Waves ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Isotropic Plates ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer ◽  
Alternating Voltage

In structural health monitoring (SHM), a network of embedded sensors permanently bonded to the structure is used to monitor the presence and extent of damage. The sensors can actively interrogate the structure through ultrasonic waves. Among the ultrasonic waves, Lamb waves are quite convenient because they can propagate at large distances in plates and then interrogate a large area. Lamb waves in a plate can be produced with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) that are small, inexpensive, unobtrusive transducers. PWAS can be surface-mounted on an existing structured or placed inside composite materials. PWAS sensors use the piezoelectric principle. An alternating voltage applied to the PWAS terminals produces an oscillatory expansion and contraction of the PWAS. An oscillatory expansion and contraction of the PWAS produces an alternating voltage at the PWAS terminals. PWAS are bonded to the structure through an adhesive layer; the coupling with the investigated structure is higher then conventional transducers. If the PWAS bonded to the structure is excited, it couples its in-plane motion with the Lamb wave particle motion on the material surfaces. In previous studies, the Lamb wave mode tuning between PWAS and isotropic plates has been observed experimentally and theoretically. Recently experiments have been performed to verify the presence of tuning between bonded PWAS and composite plates. In the present paper, it will be discussed a method, normal mode expansion (NME), for predicting the tuning frequencies of the PWAS-plate structure. This method can be used for both isotropic and non-isotropic material. Experimental values for the tuning frequencies in isotropic plates are compared with the theoretically data obtain with integral transform solution and NME.

Impact Localization on a Composite Plate With Unknown Material Properties Using PWAS Transducers and Wavelet Transform

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asaad Migot ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu
Keyword(s):  
Wavelet Transform ◽  
Nonlinear Equations ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Composite Plate ◽  
Linear Equations ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impact Localization

In this work, an impact experiment on a composite plate with unknown material properties (its group velocity profile is unknown) is implemented to localize the impact points. A pencil lead break is used to generate acoustic emission (AE) signals which are acquired by six piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS). These sensors are distributed with a particular configuration in two clusters on the plate. The time of flight (TOF) of acquired signals is estimated at the starting points of these signals. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) of received signals are calculated with AGU Vallen wavelet program to get the accurate values of the TOF of these signals. Two methods are used for determining the coordinates of impact points (localization the impact point). The first method is the new technique (method 1) by Kundu. This technique has two linear equations with two unknowns (the coordinate of AE source point). The second method is the nonlinear algorithm (method 2). This algorithm has a set of six nonlinear equations with five unknowns. Two MATLAB codes are implemented separately to solve the linear and nonlinear equations. The results show good indications for the location of impact points in both methods. The location errors of calculated impact points are divided by constant distance to get independent percentage errors with the site of the coordinate.

Impact Detection Using an Array of Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors and a Microcontroller Unit

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Light-Marquez ◽  
Andrei Zagrai
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Sensor Network ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Impact Detection ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer ◽  
The Impact

This report discusses the development of an embeddable impact detection system utilizing an array of piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) and a microcontroller. Embeddable systems are a critical component to successfully implement a complete and robust structural health monitoring system. System capabilities include impact detection, impact location determination and digitization of the impact waveform. A custom algorithm was developed to locate the site of the impact.. The embedded system has the potential for additional capabilities including advanced signal processing and the integration of wireless functionality. For structural health monitoring applications it is essential to determine the extent of damage done to the structure. In an attempt to determine these parameters a series of impact tests were conducted using a ball drop tower on a square aluminum plate. The response of the plate to the impact event was recorded using a piezoelectric wafer sensor network attached to the surface of the plate. From this testing it was determined that several of the impact parameters are directly correlated with the features recorded by the sensor network.

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