Structural health monitoring based on the electromechanical impedance technique

• Grant number: 20/03154-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2020
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Mechanics of Solids
• Principal Investigator: Douglas Domingues Bueno
• Grantee: Lorena Lopes Dias
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The development of techniques for structural health monitoring has involved relevant effort from researchers and engineers mainly due to potential gains to many industrial applications. In particular, the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) approach has been investigated over twenty last years and important results have been achieved especially using signal processing techniques and experimental data. However, influence of physical and geometrical properties of the damage and piezoelectric (PZT) transducers, on damage detection, remains as a important challenge to be overcome to increase the technological readiness level of this approach. In this context, the present research investigates a symmetric damage detection in rod-like structure described by using the Spectral Element method. The mechanical impedance of the PZT transducer is defined in the frequency domain, in terms of its mechanical and electrical properties. EMI curves are obtained for different damage configurations (i.e., different damage length and thickness), also investigating different PZT characteristics. Numerical simulations are carried out.