Increasing the service-life of engineering structures such as aeroplanes is a major issue in order to enhance their cost-effectiveness and to reduce the carbon footprint. One possibility to achieve this goal is to determine the current structural health state and to derive respective measures in order to increase the structure’s technical reliability. For doing so, a structural health monitoring system consisting of both an actuator and a sensor network may be applied. Whereas the actuator induces a wave field of guided ultrasonic waves, the measuring data of the sensors allows to determine the health state of the respective structure. However, both actuators and sensors in most cases distort these wave fields. This distortion may lead to false-detection of damage: both the number and severity of damage may be over- or underestimated. The former leads to an unnecessary high effort for retrofitting the structure, whereas the latter reduces the structure’s technical reliability. Several measures exist in order to avoid such false-detections. In the present contribution, focus is set on reducing the distortion of the wave field which is caused by an embedded sensor. The reduced distortion of the wave field is achieved by an acoustic impedance matching with a functionally graded material which is based on a mechanical model. The approach additionally results in amplified measuring signals of the sensor. The applicability of the proposed approach is shown by means of a numerical study.

Motivated by their functional conformity, micro-cantilever-based MEMS oscillators are investigated in this study as structure-integrable transducers for the acquisition of guided ultrasonic waves in fiber–metal laminates. While acceleration-sensitive oscillators are limited in their maximum frequency, the presented displacement-sensitive oscillator is operated quasi-free in the fashion of a seismometer, making it particularly sensitive for high-frequency displacements above the sensor’s resonance frequency. The potential of this non-traditional application of a seismometer for the acquisition of structure-borne ultrasound is demonstrated experimentally. Therefore, MEMS oscillators are formed from the membrane of established pressure sensors by femtosecond laser micro-machining and mounted onto a setup for stimulation by structure-borne ultrasound. Experimental results indicate the targeted proportionality of the high-frequency stimulus and the sensor response. In conclusion, MEMS oscillators enable acquisition of high-frequency displacements and could therefore serve as structure-integrable sensors for guided ultrasonic waves.

Structural health monitoring of lightweight constructions made of composite materials can be performed using guided ultrasonic waves. If modern fiber metal laminates are used, this requires integrated sensors that can record the inner displacement oscillations caused by the propagating guided ultrasonic waves. Therefore, we developed a robust MEMS vibrometer that can be integrated while maintaining the structural and functional compliance of the laminate. This vibrometer is directly sensitive to the high-frequency displacements from structure-borne ultrasound when excited in a frequency range between its first and second eigenfrequency. The vibrometer is mostly realized by processes earlier developed for a pressure sensor but with additional femtosecond laser ablation and encapsulation. The piezoresistive transducer, made from silicon, is encapsulated between top and bottom glass lids. The eigenfrequencies are experimentally determined using an optical micro vibrometer setup. The MEMS vibrometer functionality and usability for structural health monitoring are demonstrated on a customized test rig by recording application-relevant guided ultrasonic wave packages with a central frequency of 100 kHz at a distance of 0.2 m from the exciting ultrasound transducer.

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Structural health monitoring of lightweight constructions made of composite materials can be performed using guided ultrasonic waves. If modern fiber metal laminates are used, this requires integrated sensors that can record the inner displacement oscillations caused by the propagating guided ultrasonic waves. Therefore, we have developed a robust MEMS vibrometer that can be integrated with structural and functional compliance. This vibrometer is directly sensitive to the high-frequency displacements from structure-borne ultrasound when excited between its first and second natural frequency. The vibrometer is mostly realized by processes earlier developed for a pressure sensor but with additional femtosecond laser ablation and wafer bonding. The piezoresistive transducer made from silicon is encapsulated between top and bottom glass lids. The natural frequencies are experimentally determined using an optical micro vibrometer setup. The vibrometer functionality and usability for structural health monitoring are demonstrated on a customized test rig by recording application-relevant guided ultrasonic wave packages with a central frequency of 100 kHz at a distance of 200 mm from the exciting ultrasound transducer.