Evaluation of peak-free electromechanical piezo-impedance and electromagnetic contact sensing using metamaterial surface plasmons for load monitoring

Abstract

Continuous structural health monitoring (SHM) and delayed SHM techniques can be contact/ contactless, surface bonded/embedded, wired/wireless and active/passive actuator-sensor systems which transfer the recorded condition of the structure to the base station almost instantaneously or with time delay respectively. The time between fatal crack initiation and its propagation leading to the collapse of key infrastructures such as aerospace, nuclear facilities, oil and gas is mostly short. Timely discovery of structural problem depends heavily on the scanning period in well-established techniques like piezoelectric (PZT) based electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique. This often takes much scanning time due to the acquisition of resonant structural peaks at all frequencies in the considered bandwidth; thus poses a challenge for its implementation in practice. On the other hand, recently developed strain sensors based on metamaterials and their breeds such as nested split-ring resonators, localized surface plasmons (LSP), etc, employ measurement of reflected or transmitted signal, with super-fast scanning in the order of at most 1/100th of the time taken by the EMI technique. This paper articulates faster measurements by reducing unnecessary resonant structural peaks and focusing on rapid monitoring using PZT and metamaterial plasmons. Our research adopted wired PZT and wireless LSP communications with impedance analyser and vector network analyser respectively. We present integrated and complementary nature of these techniques, which can be processed rapidly for key infrastructures with great effectiveness. This integration can result in both continuous and delayed SHM techniques based on time or frequency or both domains.

Evaluation of a Piezo-Actuated Sensor for Monitoring Elastic Variations of Its Support with Impedance-Based Measurements

“…In the opposite case, when an electrical field is applied on it, it changes its shape (actuator case). This effect permits it to deform a host structure for obtaining indirect information through electrical measurements [27,28,29]. Two approaches can be applied; the first one is to measure the electrical signatures caused by local deformations (direct sensor) and the second one is associated with the measurement of electrical properties in the PZT (indirect sensor), i.e., electrical impedance.…”

Sensitivity Analysis of Metamaterial Surface Plasmon and Waveguide for Monitoring Metal Surface Profile and Concrete Crack/ Separation using Robotic-Arm Based Structural Health Monitoring

“…The RMSD is represented as a percentage frequency function, which can increase or decrease or can be unstable with unpredictable fluctuations. This RMSD is considered as a sensitivity measure of smart materials used for engineering monitoring [6,11].…”

“…Metamaterial inspired designs have been successfully tested in several applications such as gradient negative index lenses, invisibility cloaking, metasurface sub-wavelength imaging [1][2][3][4], and many more. Their entry in structural health monitoring (SHM) of Aerospace, Civil and Mechanical (ACM) engineering [5][6][7] started attracting engineers because of their strong electromagnetic (EM) response to the geometrical changes in the unit element or assemblies of elements [8], making it suitable for robotic arm and waveguide technique is adopted in our study published in Springer's Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation [10].…”

Looseness Monitoring of Bolted Spherical Joint Connection Using Electro-Mechanical Impedance Technique and BP Neural Networks

“…They presented integrated and complementary nature of these techniques, which can be processed rapidly for key infrastructures with great effectiveness. This integration can result in both continuous and delayed SHM techniques based on time, frequency, or both domains [40]. Yang et al adopted the combination of smart fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and PZT sensors to provide comprehensive health monitoring of rocks, covering load history monitoring/retrieval as well as damage assessment.…”