Experimental Analysis of Piezoelectric Transducers for Impedance-Based Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract

In this paper, we experimentally analyze the sensitivity of piezoelectric transducers for damage detection in structural health monitoring (SHM) systems based on the electromechanical impedance (EMI) method, which has been reported as one of the most promising methods for non-destructive detection of damage. Three types of transducers were evaluated: conventional 5H PZT (lead zirconate titanate) piezoceramics; macro fiber composite (MFC) devices; and piezoelectric diaphragms, which are commonly known as "buzzers". Tests were carried out on aluminum beams and the experimental results conclusively demonstrate that the transducers have different sensitivities for detection of structural damage and an appropriate frequency range for damage detection, which provides high sensitivity.

Butterworth Filter Application for Structural Health Monitoring

“…Laser-based ultrasonic instruments are one other method but are expensive and have limited application in engineering (Dai & He, 2014). Guided waves such as Lamb wave can be transmitted and received in solids using piezoelectric transducers (PZT) and these waves can be used for SHM (Boukabache et al, 2012;Giurgiutiu, 2010;Almeida et al, 2014). These Lamb waves are not only reliable due to their sensitivity to changes in structures, but can be much more cost effective as well (Yu et al, 2004;Ciampa et al, 2010).…”