Study of the application of low-cost hardware in structural damage detection

• Grant number: 21/04678-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2021
• End date: August 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Mechanics of Solids
• Principal Investigator: Sidney Bruce Shiki
• Grantee: Lucas Ferreira da Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Tools focused on Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) are applied in several areas of engineering to maintain the structural integrity of civil, mechanical and aerospace systems. However, the components used for such application are usually vibration sensors, as well as acquisition boards with high cost, making the mass adoption of this tool unfeasible. As a way to enable the SHM's application, the use of cheaper sensors, as Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), is becoming quite common. Together with MEMS, low cost hardware is used for data acquisition and processing. For the present project, an Arduino prototyping board together with low cost accelerometers (ADXL335) will be used for the monitoring of a simplified structure representing a two-story building. With the measured signals, frequency domain decomposition (FDD) will be applied, aiming to extract modal parameters of the structure, such as the natural vibration modes and resonance frequencies. Damage indexes based on modal parameters will be used to verify the presence of the damage and its propagation. Hypothesis tests will be conducted to evaluate the statistical significance of deviations of damage indexes with respect to the baseline condition. Based on the results, it will be possible to assess the feasibility of using low-cost hardware to monitor mechanical structures.