Piezoelectric Glass‐Fiber‐Reinforced Polymer Sensor for Structural Health Monitoring and Stiffness Sensing

Abstract

Strengthening and repairing infrastructure with fiber‐reinforced polymers while achieving low‐cost, real‐time monitoring of cracks in engineering structures is highly challenging. Here, a piezoelectric glass‐fiber‐reinforced polymer (piezo‐GFRP) sensor was used to monitor the mechanical behavior of cement beams with cracks under cyclic bending. The output voltage and frequency of the sensor were shown to be effective feedback signals for determining the mechanical behavior. The thin piezo‐GFRP sensor showed sufficient piezoelectric sensitivity to monitor the slight variations in the mechanical behavior of the cement beams during the early stages of cracking. This result indicates that such sensors have the potential for the multi‐functional structural health monitoring of engineering structures.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.