• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.629-636
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• 2011

This paper describes the smart structural system that uses smart materials for real-time monitoring and active control of bolted joints in steel structures. The impedance-based structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques, which utilize the electro-mechanical coupling property of piezoelectric materials, was used to detect loose bolts in bolted joints. By monitoring the measured electrical impedance and comparing it with the measured baseline, a bolt loosening damage was detected. The damage was evaluated quantitatively using the damage metrics in conductance signature with respect to the healthy states. When loosening damage was detected in the bolted joint, the external heater actuated the shape memory alloy (SMA) washer. Then the heated SMA washer expanded axially and adjusted the bolt tension to restore the lost torque. An experiment was conducted by integrating the piezoelectric-material-based SHM function and the SMA-based active control function on a bolted joint, after which the performance of thesmart self-healing joint system was investigated.