A new microcontrolled structural health monitoring system based on the electromechanical impedance principle

Author(s)

Cortez, Nicolas E. ^[1] ; Filho, Jozue V. ^[2] ; Baptista, Fabricio G. ^[3]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Nacl San Cristobal Huamanga, Dept Acad Matemat & Fis, Ayacucho - Peru

^[2] UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Engn Solteira, Dept Engn Elect, Ilha Solteira, SP - Brazil

^[3] UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Engn Bauru, Dept Engn Elect, Bauru, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL; v. 12, n. 1, p. 14-22, JAN 2013.
• Web of Science Citations: 18

Abstract

This article presents a new method to detect damage in structures based on the electromechanical impedance principle. The system follows the variations in the output voltage of piezoelectric transducers and does not compute the impedance itself. The proposed system is portable, autonomous, versatile, and could efficiently replace commercial instruments in different structural health monitoring applications. The identification of damage is performed by simply comparing the variations of root mean square voltage from response signals of piezoelectric transducers, such as lead zirconate titanate patches bonded to the structure, obtained for different frequencies of the excitation signal. The proposed system is not limited by the sampling rate of analog-to-digital converters, dispenses Fourier transform algorithms, and does not require a computer for processing, operating autonomously. A low-cost prototype based on microcontroller and digital synthesizer was built, and experiments were carried out on an aluminum structure and excellent results have been obtained. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/20354-6 - Developing a microcontrolled structural health monitoring system based on the electromechanical impedance principle
• Grantee: Jozue Vieira Filho
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants