Low-Cost Electromechanical Impedance Testing Damage Detection of Submerged Civil Structures

Author(s):  
SHUO WANG ◽  
ADDIE LEDERMAN ◽  
FERNANDO GOMEZ ◽  
BILLIE F. SPENCER, JR. ◽  
MATTHEW SMITH
2013 ◽  
Vol 569-570 ◽  
pp. 1132-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Siebel ◽  
Mihail Lilov

The sensitivity of the electromechanical impedance to structural damage under varying temperature is investigated in this paper. An approach based on maximizing cross-correlation coefficients is used to compensate temperature effects. The experiments are carried out on an air plane conform carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) panel (500mm x 500mm x 5mm) instrumented with 26 piezoelectric transducers of two different sizes. In a first step, the panel is stepwise subjected to temperatures between-50 °C and 100 °C. The influence of varying temperatures on the measured impedances and the capability of the temperature compensation approach are analyzed. Next, the sensitivity to a 200 J impact damage is analyzed and it is set in relation to the influence of a temperature change. It becomes apparent the impact of the transducer size and location on the quality of the damage detection. The results further indicate a significant influence of temperature on the measured spectra. However, applying the temperature compensation algorithm can reduce the temperature effect at the same time increasing the transducer sensitivity within its measuring area. The paper concludes with a discussion about the trade-off between the sensing area, where damage should be detected, and the temperature range, in which damage within this area can reliably be detected.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 850-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Soo Lon Wah ◽  
Yung-Tsang Chen ◽  
Gethin Wyn Roberts ◽  
Ahmed Elamin

Analyzing changes in vibration properties (e.g. natural frequencies) of structures as a result of damage has been heavily used by researchers for damage detection of civil structures. These changes, however, are not only caused by damage of the structural components, but they are also affected by the varying environmental conditions the structures are faced with, such as the temperature change, which limits the use of most damage detection methods presented in the literature that did not account for these effects. In this article, a damage detection method capable of distinguishing between the effects of damage and of the changing environmental conditions affecting damage sensitivity features is proposed. This method eliminates the need to form the baseline of the undamaged structure using damage sensitivity features obtained from a wide range of environmental conditions, as conventionally has been done, and utilizes features from two extreme and opposite environmental conditions as baselines. To allow near real-time monitoring, subsequent measurements are added one at a time to the baseline to create new data sets. Principal component analysis is then introduced for processing each data set so that patterns can be extracted and damage can be distinguished from environmental effects. The proposed method is tested using a two-dimensional truss structure and validated using measurements from the Z24 Bridge which was monitored for nearly a year, with damage scenarios applied to it near the end of the monitoring period. The results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method for damage detection under changing environmental conditions. The method also works despite the nonlinear effects produced by environmental conditions on damage sensitivity features. Moreover, since each measurement is allowed to be analyzed one at a time, near real-time monitoring is possible. Damage progression can also be given from the method which makes it advantageous for damage evolution monitoring.


Author(s):  
Howard A. Winston ◽  
Fanping Sun ◽  
Balkrishna S. Annigeri

A technology for non-intrusive real-time structural health monitoring using piezoelectric active sensors is presented. The approach is based on monitoring variations of the coupled electromechanical impedance of piezoelectric patches bonded to metallic structures in high-frequency bands. In each of these applications, a single piezoelectric element is used as both an actuator and a sensor. The resulting electromechanical coupling makes the frequency-dependent electric impedance spectrum of the PZT sensor a good mapping of the underlying structure’s acoustic signature. Moreover, incipient structural damage can be indicated by deviations of this signature from its original baseline pattern. Unique features of this technology include its high sensitivity to structural damage, non-intrusiveness to the host structure, and low cost of implementation. These features have potential for enabling on-board damage monitoring of critical or inaccessible aerospace structures and components, such as aircraft wing joints, and both internal and external jet engine components. Several exploratory applications will be discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147592172091712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bárbara M Gianesini ◽  
Nicolás E Cortez ◽  
Rothschild A Antunes ◽  
Jozue Vieira Filho

Structural health monitoring systems are employed to evaluate the state of structures to detect damage, bringing economical and safety benefits. The electromechanical impedance technique is a promising damage detection tool since it evaluates structural integrity by only measuring the electrical impedance of piezoelectric transducers bonded to structures. However, in real-world applications, impedance-based damage detection systems exhibit strong temperature dependence; therefore, variations associated with temperature changes may be confused as damage. In this article, the temperature effect on the electrical impedance of piezoelectric ceramics attached to structures is analyzed. Besides, a new methodology to compensate for the temperature effect in the electromechanical impedance technique is proposed. The method is very general since it can be applied to nonlinear (polynomial) temperature and/or frequency dependences observed on the horizontal and vertical shifts of the impedance signatures. A computer algorithm that performs the compensation was developed, which can be easily incorporated into real-time damage detection systems. This compensation technique is applied successfully to two aluminum beams and one steel pipe, minimizing the effect of temperature variations on damage detection structural health monitoring systems in the temperature range from −40°C to 80°C and the frequency range from 10 to 90 kHz.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1524-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Marzani ◽  
Nicola Testoni ◽  
Luca De Marchi ◽  
Marco Messina ◽  
Ernesto Monaco ◽  
...  

This article reports on the creation of an open database of piezo-actuated and piezo-received guided wave signals propagating in a composite panel of a full-scale aeronautical structure. The composite panel closes the bottom part of a wingbox that, along with the leading edge, the trailing edge, and the wingtip, forms an outer wing demonstrator approximately 4.5 m long and from 1.2 to 2.3 m wide. To create the database, a structural health monitoring system, composed of a software/hardware central unit capable of controlling a network of 160 piezoelectric transducers secondarily bonded on the composite panel, has been realized. The structural health monitoring system has been designed to (1) perform electromechanical impedance measurement at each transducer, in order to check for their reliability and bonding strength, and (2) to operate an active guided wave screening for damage detection in the composite panel. Electromechanical impedance and guided wave measurements were performed at four different testing stages: before loading, before fatigue, before impacts, and after impacts. The database, freely available at http://shm.ing.unibo.it/ , can thus be used to benchmarking, on real-scale structural data, guided wave algorithms for loading, fatigue, as well as damage detection, characterization, and sizing. As an example, in this work, a delay and sum algorithm is applied on the post-impact data to illustrate how the database can be exploited.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2050138
Author(s):  
Wilson D. Sanchez ◽  
Jose V. de Brito ◽  
Suzana M. Avila

Civil structures suffer deterioration either for years of service, deficiency due to environmental factors or damages caused by factors such as earthquakes, winds, impact loads, and cyclical loads. When a structure ages, it is necessary to know its state of health and make a decision of maintenance or replacement. When a structure such as a bridge or building is subjected to destructive environmental forces, determining its state of health becomes a priority since its recovery is urgently required to function normally. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a technology that aims to prevent the collapse of structures and loss of human life through early diagnosis of the health status of a structure. There are a large number of damage detection methods that can be classified into (1) non-destructive testing methods, (2) dynamic characteristics-based damage detection methods, (3) dynamic response-based, (4) multi-scale damage detection method and (5) damage detection methods with consideration of uncertainties. In this work, it is implemented synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SWT), which can be classified as a methods based on the dynamic response. To validate the robustness of the method it is identified first, the natural frequencies of the Benchmark Phase I without damage, which consists of a steel structure of 4-story [Formula: see text] bay 3D steel frame structure subjected to ambient vibrations. Subsequently, some damage patterns are validated according to IASC-ASCE SHM Task Group. The results obtained in the identification of natural frequencies are compared with those reported in literature. SWT was efficient, presenting a minimum error of 0.12[Formula: see text] and a maximum of 3.06[Formula: see text] in the identification of natural frequencies about the AISCE-ASCE group model. SWT overcomes some other damage detection methods, which are deficient in the identification of closely spaced frequencies, commonly present in many civil structures due to symmetric geometry or similar physical properties in different directions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Ratcliffe ◽  
Dirk Heider ◽  
Roger Crane ◽  
Carl Krauthauser ◽  
Myung Keun Yoon ◽  
...  

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