Fatigue Damage Identification and Remaining Useful Life Estimation of Composite Structures Using Piezo Wafer Active Transducers

Abstract

The prediction of fatigue damage accumulation is a crucial element in the estimation of the Remaining Useful Life of composite structures subjected to cyclic loading. In this paper, two Glass-Fibre Reinforced Plastics, a thin strip and a thick beam, are subjected to fatigue load while being monitored with Piezo Wafer Active Sensors. Two distinct methods, one based on Electro-Mechanical Impedance Spectroscopy (EMIS) and one based on the Reconstruction Algorithm for Probabilistic Identification of Damage (RAPID), are employed. Both methods are mostly used for damage detection, yet not for damage accumulation monitoring. The results presented in this paper show that damage accumulation can be followed during fatigue loading of the test objects. The trends shown in the damage accumulation graphs give an indication of the damage accumulation, and even a change in the damage evolution stage, yet a complete RUL estimation is not possible without further analysis of the experiments, possibly assisted by numerical modelling.

A review of structural health monitoring of bonded structures using electromechanical impedance spectroscopy

“…where U s and U a are the measured voltage signals from the PWAS sensor and the PWAS actuator, respectively, and u(v) is the phase shift between the two signals. The RAPID algorithm, which is extensively used for Lamb wave-based SHM, 74,75 calculates a damage intensity probability, I, which can be generically calculated as…”

“…Loendersloot et al 75 used a combination of EMIS and Lamb wave to detect and localize damage caused by fatigue loading in glass-fiber reinforced polymer. In a first stage, damage detection was performed using EMIS readings from PWAS.…”

“…The EMIS-and guided wave-based SHM systems can coexist, as discussed in a number of studies. 75,88,143,[160][161][162] In fact, one can use EMIS health monitoring to monitor near-sensor incipient damage, and, at the same time, use guided wave-based SHM for monitoring of distant damage. However, one must note that extra equipment is required for the generation of guided waves, such as a voltage amplifier and a dedicated DAQ system.…”

Electromechanical impedance measurements for bone health monitoring through teeth used as probes of a Piezo-device

“…The electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique is known by the applications reported in the structural health monitoring field [20,[34][35][36]. The operating principle is based on measuring electrical parameters related to the electrical impedance of a piezoelectric transducer (PZT).…”