An island-bridge packaging piezoelectric sensor for structural health monitoring in high-strain environments

Abstract

Piezoelectric sensor failure triggered by high structural strain is a critical problem in structural health monitoring (SHM) that cannot be neglected. Thus, a novel island-bridge packaging piezoelectric sensor for SHM in high-strain environments is proposed in this paper. The trapezoidal-section island-bridge structure of the new sensor greatly optimizes the high-strain survivability of the piezoelectric layer. Additionally, good impedance matching characteristics between the monitored structure and the sensor guarantee the transmission strength of high-frequency dynamic sensing signals. The feasibility of the structure and the principle of operation for the novel sensor were demonstrated via theory, simulation and experiment. Besides, an established analytical model and its simulation and experimental verification results displayed that the structural parameters of the sensor could significantly adjust the strain-bearing capacity. Under a specific parameter configuration, the strain transfer coefficient of the novel sensor was only 0.087, which was 12.1% of the conventional sensor, thus could safely operate in the monitoring structure environment of 10,000 με. On the other hand, the proposed sensor’s impedance signal strength was satisfactory in the SHM frequency range of 10–110 kHz, where its average impedance value was as high as 397.7 Ω. Moreover, the optimized signal demonstrated very good stability, reliability, and strength in the test, thus ensuring the effective monitoring of crack propagation via the new sensor. Therefore, this work is a good complement to the existing piezoelectric sensors SHM technique.

In the Direction of an Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Monitoring Platform for Concrete Structures

“…Many different technologies can be applied in this context, both hardware and software ones. For example, it is possible to mention accelerometers [ 2 ], strain sensors [ 3 ], vision systems [ 4 ], and electrical impedance sensors [ 5 ]. Sensing technologies and data processing techniques rapidly evolve, giving more and more opportunities for the smart monitoring of structures, which is sometimes different from traditional sensors.…”

A novel damage index integrating piezoelectric impedance and ultrasonic guided wave for damage monitoring of bolted joints

“…20 Among them, piezoelectric sensors based on the piezoelectric effect have become one of the key SHM technologies owing to their high sensitivity, simple control system, light weight, low energy consumption, as well as dual sensing and actuation. 21,22 Thanks to the superior performance of piezoelectric sensing technology, the research on health monitoring of bolted joints supported by the piezoelectric vibration method, 23 ultrasonic guided wave (UGW) technique, 24 and electromechanical impedance (EMI) method 25 has burst into a series of valuable achievements in recent years. 26–36 Earlier, research on piezoelectric sensing-based health monitoring techniques for bolted joints focused on investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of piezoelectric sensing in various modes of damage monitoring.…”