Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor Structural Health Monitoring of Space Structures

Abstract

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a valuable tool for in-service assessment of structural condition. Despite a broad use in many engineering fields, SHM has seen limited application in space systems. This article explores specifics of SHM applied to space systems and satellites in particular. It is suggested that SHM may be considered for aiding rapid assembly of spacecraft components, monitoring system dynamics during launch, and model updating from an assessment of in-service variation of structural properties. The article presents a discussion of factors affecting realization of the SHM system for spacecraft and provides recommendations for the system configuration and its practical use. The SHM system design based on a network of piezoelectric active sensors is considered. System operation focuses on SHM of improperly tightened bolts, assessment of adhesive bonds, and embedded material characterization techniques. Synergistic use of the same hardware for acoustoelastic, non-linear acoustic, and material characterization methods is recommended, and further system integration options are proposed.

Impact Damage Detection in Composite Plates using a Self-diagnostic Electro-Mechanical Impedance-based Structural Health Monitoring System

“…There are analytical models for measuring the EMI spectrum for simple structures, such as the model of a disk proposed by 31,8 assuming only axi-symmetric deformation. However, for more complex structures, such as aircraft stiffened panels, analytical models are not available.…”

An integrated structural health monitoring system based on electromechanical impedance and guided ultrasonic waves

“…Two piezoelectric patches were utilized to excite a frequency range of 40-50 kHz for EMI sensing and to induce a 3-cycle 50 kHz sine guided wave; the impedance and the GUW measurements were taken using separate instruments and not simultaneously. Zagrai et al [37] adopted the acoustoelastic effect and the EMI to assess bolted structures. The systems were disjointed and a conventional impedance analyzer was used.…”

“…A few authors [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] used the impedance and the wave propagation methods separately utilizing different and disjointed hardware and software. Moreover, the structural monitoring was performed sequentially rather than simultaneously [34-37, 39, 40].…”

“…Moreover, a unified signal processing for structural diagnostics, as done in our approach, was not reported. Other authors executed pulse-echo measurements by adding hardware [37] or by placing two transducers close to each other acting as transmitter and receiver, respectively [41][42][43].…”

Implementing the Surface Response to Excitation Method (SuRE) with Non-contact Sensors

“…Based on this information, it is possible to estimate the location of the defects [5]. Researchers have used multiple piezoelectric elements for sensing to improve the sensitivity and performance of the method at the defect detection and estimation of its location [10,11].…”