Actuating Performance Analysis of a New Smart Aggregate Using Piezoceramic Stack

Abstract

A new type of smart aggregate using piezoceramic stack (SAPS) was developed for improved output, as compared with a conventional smart aggregate with a single piezoceramic patch. Due to the better output, the proposed smart aggregate is preferred where the attenuating effect is strong. In this research, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) material in the form of discs was used due to its strong piezoelectric performance. For analysis, the proposed SAPS was simplified to a one-dimensional axial model to investigate its electromechanical and displacement output characteristics, and an experimental setup was designed to verify the simplified model. Moreover, the influence of the structural parameters, including the number of the PZT discs, the dimensions of the PZT disc, protective shell, and copper lids, and the elastic modulus of the epoxy on the electromechanical and displacement output performance of SAPSs, were numerically studied by using the one-dimensional axial model. The numerical analysis results indicate that the structural dimension of the PZT discs has a greater effect on the electromechanical performance of SAPSs than that of the protective shell and copper lids. Moreover, the results show that the number of the PZT discs and the outer diameter of the protective shell have a much greater influence on the displacement output of SAPSs than other parameters. The analysis results of SAPSs with different elastic moduli of the epoxy demonstrate that the SAPSs’ first resonance frequency, first electromechanical coupling factor, and displacement output change less than 1.79% when the epoxy’s elastic modulus changes from 1.28 GPa to 5.12 GPa, which indicates that the elastic modulus of the epoxy has a limited influence on the property of SAPSs, and it will be helpful for their fabrication. This study provides an approach to increasing the output of SAPS and also develops a method to design the structure of SAPSs.

Damage identification of thin plate-like structures combining improved singular spectrum analysis and multiscale cross-sample entropy (ISSA-MCSEn)

“…The sizes of two plates are 400 mm × 250 mm × 1.5 mm and 400 mm × 200 mm × 1.5 mm, respectively. As illustrated in figure 3, two PZTs are also fixed on the two plates by epoxy glue for the excitation and reception of Lamb waves due to their excellent piezoelectric performance [48,49], wide bandwidth [50,51] and easy installment [52]. It should be noted that the location of the two PZT exciter and PZT receiver is selected randomly when the experiments are designed.…”

Advances in the development of piezoelectric smart aggregates for structural health monitoring

“…The previous discussion focused on the development of Smart Aggregates (SAs) in terms of dimensionality, where transducers with a single piezoelectric layer were commonly used. However, the improvements in sensing range and output power of these transducers were often overlooked until Lu [68] introduced a novel SA design using piezoelectric stacks. Several experimental results have confirmed that SAs incorporating piezoelectric stacks exhibit increased sensitivity compared to traditional ones, making them promising for structural health monitoring applications in civil engineering [26,27,68].…”

Modeling and electromechanical performance of improved smart aggregates using piezoelectric stacks

“…Such a unique stack configuration can achieve very high power characteristics [35,36], and they have been widely used in various applications, such as ultrasonic transducers [37,38], fuel injectors [39,40], and quantitative corrosion measurement probes [41]. Recent studies have also shown that they can better enhance the sensing range when the attenuating effect is strong [42,43].…”