Multifunctional Piezopolymer Film Transducer for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a multifunctional transducer for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications that integrates an interdigital piezoelectric transducer (IDT), used for Lamb Wave generation and reception, a circular piezoelectric sensor, used for the detection and localization of low-velocity impacts, and a resistance temperature detector (RTD) in a single device. The three elements were fabricated on the same metallized piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film using a laser etching process. Characterization of the resulting device proved the advantages of having different transducers on the same device, providing information useful to implement advanced SHM algorithms. Testing of the RTD highlighted some criticalities of the metallized PVDF film that prevented accurate temperature measurements due to spurious behavior under strain.

A Novel Differential Time-of-Arrival Estimation Technique for Impact Localization on Carbon Fiber Laminate Sheets

“…The three types of sensors, pictured in Figure 3, were: 3× custom-designed piezopolymer (PVDF) sensors (Type A) [13], 3× piezoceramic Physik Instrumente P-876.SP1 (Type B), and 3× piezoceramic Acellent SML-SP-1/4-0 (Type C). Each triplet of sensors was used independently of the others for impact localization.…”

Ultrasonic Guided-Waves Sensors and Integrated Structural Health Monitoring Systems for Impact Detection and Localization: A Review

“…Because the anisotropic response of the IDTs is a limiting factor when used as impact sensors, several works have investigated this design issue from the theoretical point of view, as Thompson et al [ 89 ] and Wang et al [ 90 ] and by the experimental works of Mańka et al [ 91 ] and Lugostova et al [ 87 , 92 ]. The multifunctional sensor solution with a circular piezoelectric element included in the same device with an IDT and a RTD sensor can overcome the problem of isotropic and broadband impact sensing without adding complexity and cost to the system, as shown in Section 3.4 (see Giannelli et al [ 93 ]). In this regard, a complete review of the SHM sensors technologies and systems was recently published by Qing et al [ 48 ], where a network of multifunctional sensors for environmental adaptivity is proposed: EMI, UGW, RTD, and strain data can be used and correlated to minimize the influence of variable operating conditions.…”

LoRa-Based Precision Wireless Structural Health Monitoring System for Bolted Joints in a Smart City Environment

“…Zhao et.al. proposed a novel FBG system for SHM [17], a piezopolymer film transducer was proposed by Giannelli et al [18], Hu et al proposed a system to monitor expressway slopes using FBG sensors [19], etc. While these types of sensors do offer some benefits in the form of stability over time, immunity to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and ability to measure ultra-fast events, these advantages are only useful for specific use cases.…”