Monitoring Steel Bolted Joints during a Monotonic Tensile Test Using Linear and Nonlinear Lamb Wave Methods: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

The structural integrity of steel bolted joints may be compromised due to excessive loading. Therefore, condition assessment and the detection of potential defects before they cause a failure have become a major issue. The paper is focused on the condition monitoring of a bolted lap joint subjected to progressive degradation in a tensile test. The inspection used Lamb waves propagated through the overlap area. Wave propagation signals were registered automatically by means of piezoelectric transducers. Two damage indices were defined based on linear and nonlinear features of Lamb waves. The use of a network of piezoelectric transducers and the analysis of multiple signals instead of single ones was proved to effectively monitor the state of the bolted joint. The obtained results showed that the method enabled to detect selected stages of the degradation process and to characterize the reduction of the contact area between the plates in the overlap area.

Health Monitoring of Metallic Structures with Electromechanical Impedance and Piezoelectric Sensors

“…The definition of SHM proposed by Qing et al [7,8] is that structural health monitoring is a method for determining the integrity of structures involving the use of multidisciplinary fields including sensors, materials, signal processing, system integration and signal interpretation. The SHM has been greatly developed and widely applied in the field of metallic, concrete and composite structures since it was firstly proposed [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The guided (lamb) wave and electromechanical impedance are representative active methods in SHM techniques.…”

Nondestructive Testing of the Miter Gates Using Various Measurement Methods

“…Studies in [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] have specified some methods used for the detection of structural damages based on dynamic parameters. In addition, other nondestructive methods are known, such as inter alia model-based calculations and optimization data-driven algorithms [21,22], or mechanical wave propagation records [23,24]. Some researchers have combined the results of tests performed with accelerometers with FEM analyses for verification of structures, including football stadium roofing [25], elevated walkways [26,27], or cable stayed bridges [28].…”

Application of Elastic Waves and Neural Networks for the Prediction of Forces in Bolts of Flange Connections Subjected to Static Tension Tests

“…Their constant use also increases the safety and reliability of the structure. There are also several tasks that can be carried out with their help [1][2][3][4][5][6]: There is a group of structure connections where the pretension force level has an influence on the strength of the slip resistance connection. Changing pretension forces, i.e., due to the structure's usage over time, may become a highly relevant matter for the structural integrity.…”

“…Their constant use also increases the safety and reliability of the structure. There are also several tasks that can be carried out with their help [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]: Anomaly or damage detection; Damage type classification; Load or internal force prediction; Material parameter identification. …”