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

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Composite Structures ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Impedance Method ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer

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.

scholarly journals Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures With Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Giurgiutiu
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Composite Structures ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Impedance Method ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer

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.

scholarly journals Recent Advances in Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanfei Mei ◽  
Mohammad Haider ◽  
Roshan Joseph ◽  
Asaad Migot ◽  
Victor Giurgiutiu
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Composite Structures ◽  
Nuclear Radiation ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer ◽  
Ae Signals

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.

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.

Computational Setup of Structural Health Monitoring for Real-Time Thermal Verification

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Doyle ◽  
Whitney Reynolds ◽  
Brandon Arritt ◽  
Brenton Taft
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Space Vehicles ◽  
Lap Joint ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors ◽  
Piezoelectric Wafer ◽  
Inspection Techniques

Research at the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate is being conducted to reduce schedule times for assembly, integration, and test, to make satellite-based capabilities more responsive to user needs. Structural Health Monitoring has been pursued as a means for validating workmanship and has been proven on PnPSat-1. Embedded ultrasonic piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) have been utilized with local and global inspection techniques, developed both in house and by collaborating universities, to detect structural changes that may occur during assembly, integration, and test. Specific attention has focused on interface qualification. It is now reasonable to believe that evaluation of interfaces through the use of such sensors can also be used to indirectly qualify the structure thermally and that tedious thermal-vacuum testing may be truncated or eliminated altogether. This paper focuses on the computational development of extracting thermal properties from ultrasonic transmission records. Methods are validated on simple bolted lap-joint cantilever beams.

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