Carbon Nanofiber Aggregate Sensors for Sustaining Resilience of Civil Infrastructures to Multi-Hazards

Abstract

Natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes. and floods) or man-made disasters or accidents (missile/aircraft impacts, fires. and explosions) lead to substantial damage on critical infrastructures and communities and have social, economic, and environmental consequences. As the safety of civil infrastructures is critically important, effective structural health monitoring (SHM) systems of infrastructures should be developed to avoid and mitigate the risks caused by various types of hazards. Carbon Nanofiber Aggregates (CNFAs) developed at the University of Houston are piezoelectric aggregates that can respond uniquely to different multi-hazards. This unique response makes this a sensor capable of being used in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures in each of the multi-hazards. This paper explains how CNFAs can be used for multi-hazard monitoring and discusses the ultra-low noise, high sensitivity of CNFA sensor electrical interfaces, radiation-tolerant wired and wireless communication capabilities of the CNFA sensor which leads to the very possible development of the wireless CNFAs' real-time SHM system for sustaining resilience of civil infrastructures to multi-hazards.