We demonstrate the development and practical use of low-cost printed strain sensor arrays built for applications in structural health monitoring. Sensors embedded in the array were designed to provide compensation for temperature variations and to enable their use in different seasons. The evaluation was carried out in laboratory tests and with practical application on a highway bridge. Measurements on the bridge were performed 7 months and 1 year after their installation. The developed devices were fully operational and could detect and localize cracks accurately in the monitored bridge structure.
In this paper, we describe the development of a flexible printed strain sensor and its evaluation with an example of its applications to structural health monitoring. The sensor was fabricated on a thin poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrate using the screen printing method. In order to ensure compensation for temperature variations, a full-Wheatstone-bridge circuit was integrated into the sensor’s structure. For this reason, the sensor’s shape was specially designed in such a way that only one symmetrical structure was enough to build the full-Wheatstone-bridge. The developed device was evaluated by various laboratory tests as well as by measurements carried out on a highway bridge. The collected results demonstrate its potential suitability for application to dynamic load tests within the framework of structural health monitoring.
International audienceA novel method to investigate the microwave hybrid sintering process is presented. The method described measures simultaneously over time the changes in shrinkage and temperature field on the sample's surface. The measurements are carried out continuously by using a CCD camera and an IR pyrometer during microwave heating. Moreover, the equipment used is both contactless and less expensive than conventional approaches
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.