A B S T R A C T In situ structural health monitoring aims to perform on-demand interrogation of the structure to determine the presence of service-induced damage and defects using nondestructive evaluation ultrasonic wave methods. Recently emerged piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) have the potential to significantly improve damage detection and health monitoring. PWAS are low-profile transducers that can be permanently attached onto the structure or inserted in between composite laminates, and can perform structural damage detection in thin-wall structures using guided wave methods (Lamb, Rayleigh, SH, etc.). This paper describes the analytical and experimental work of using PWAS-guided waves for in situ structural damage detection on thin-wall structures. We begin with reviewing the guided wave theory in plate structures and PWAS principles. The mechanisms of Lamb wave excitation and detection using PWAS is presented. Subsequently, we address in turn the use of PWAS to generate Lamb waves for damage (cracks and corrosion) detection in metallic structures. Pulse-echo, pitch-catch, phased array and time reversal methods are illustrated demonstrating that PWAS Lamb-waves techniques are suitable for damage detection and structural health monitoring. The last part of the paper treats analytically and experimentally PWAS excitation and tuning in composite materials. The research results presented in this paper show that in situ SHM methodologies using PWAS transducers hold the promise for more efficient, effective and timely damage detection in thin-wall structures.

Using theoretical formulations to describe the general response of an orthogonally woven glass‐epoxy composite subjected to off‐axis tension loading, a simple experimental methodology incorporating stereovision and 3D digital image correlation (3D‐DIC) into several optimization procedures is described that provides a direct approach for quantitatively determining all of the elastic properties. During each off‐axis tensile loading experiment, axial strains are determined using both mechanical extensometry and 3D‐DIC, with the 3D‐DIC measurements also used to extract both the in‐plane transverse normal strain and the shear strain fields. The effectiveness of various optimization procedures are then evaluated and compared by performing a series of off‐axis tensile loading experiments to determine the material engineering constants, including E1, E2, G12, and v12 for the nominally transversely isotropic material. Results indicate excellent agreement between the extensometer measurements and the average axial strain obtained by 3D‐DIC. Furthermore, direct comparison of the proposed optimization methods indicates that each method is robust and effective, especially when employing 3D‐DIC to extract additional information to complete the elastic property characterization procedure.

This paper presents numerical and experimental results on the use of guided waves for structural health monitoring (SHM) of crack growth during a fatigue test in a thick steel plate used for civil engineering application. Numerical simulation, analytical modeling, and experimental tests are used to prove that piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) can perform active SHM using guided wave pitch-catch method and passive SHM using acoustic emission (AE). AE simulation was performed with the multi-physic FEM (MP-FEM) approach. The MP-FEM approach permits that the output variables to be expressed directly in electric terms while the two-ways electromechanical conversion is done internally in the MP-FEM formulation. The AE event was simulated as a pulse of defined duration and amplitude. The electrical signal measured at a PWAS receiver was simulated. Experimental tests were performed with PWAS transducers acting as passive receivers of AE signals. An AE source was simulated using 0.5-mm pencil lead breaks. The PWAS transducers were able to pick up AE signal with good strength. Subsequently, PWAS transducers and traditional AE transducer were applied to a 12.7-mm CT specimen subjected to accelerated fatigue testing. Active sensing in pitch catch mode on the CT specimen was applied between the PWAS transducers pairs. Damage indexes were calculated and correlated with actual crack growth. The paper finishes with conclusions and suggestions for further work.

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