• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.15-20
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• 2006

Real time health monitoring system was studied to detect the . generation of defects in the composite structures during service life. The PZT sensors were embedded into the woven-glass/phenol composite plate during the fabrication. VARTM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) process were used to fabricate the composite plate. A Teflon tape was embedded between glass fiber layers to mimic delamination induced during service. Normalized maximum amplitude and energy analyses were used for the acquired signals. Both amplitude and energy of acquired signals were extremely sensitive to the delamination. Therefore, it was successful to detect and to locate the defects in composite plate by monitoring signals from sensors and using the proposed method.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.61-67
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• 2004

Nondestructive damage sensitivity on single-basalt fiber/epoxy composites was evaluated by micromechanical technique and acoustic emission (AE). Piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) copolymer were used as AE sensor, respectively. In single-fiber composite, the damage sensing with different sensor types were compared to each other. Piezoelectric PVDF polymer sensor was embedded in and attached on the composite, whereas PZT sensor was only attached on the surface of specimen. In case of embedded polymer sensors, responding sensitivity was higher than that of the attached case. It can be due to full constraint inside specimen to transfer elastic wave coming from micro-deformation. For both the attached and the embedded cases, the sensitivity of P(VDF-TrFE) sensor was almost same as that of conventional PVDF sensor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.216-219
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• 2002

Conventional piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) senor has high sensitivity, but it is very brittle. Recently polymer films such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) have been used use as a sensor. The advantages of PVDF are the flexibility and mechanical toughness. Simple process and possible several shapes are also additional advantages. PVDF sensor can be directly embedded and attached to a structure. In this study, PVDF sensor was embedded in single glass fiber/epoxy composites whereas PZT sensor with AE was attached to single fiber composites (SFC). Piezoelectric sensor responds to interfacial damage of SFC. The signals measured by PVDF sensor were compared to PZT sensor. PZT sensor detected the signals of fiber fracture, matrix crack, interfacial debonding and even sensor delamination, whereas PVDF sensor only detected fiber fracture signals so far, because PZT sensor is much more sensitive than current PVDF sensor. Wave voltage of fiber fracture measured by PVDF sensor was lower than that of PZT sensor, but the results of fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis were same. Wave velocity using two PZT sensors was also studied to know the internal and surface damage effect of epoxy specimens.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.612-618
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• 2003

A hybrid vibration control scheme using ER fluid and PZT patches is proposed. Dynamic characteristics of the beam embedded with the ER fluid can be controled by changing the strength of the electric field applied on the ER fluid, thus provides a mean to avoid the resonance. It was found that active vibration control of the structure embedded with ER fluid failed to suppress the vibration excited with broad band frequency due to the limited change of the dynamic characteristics of the structure. To compensate this limited effect of the control scheme with ER fluid alone, PPF control using PZT patches as sensors and actuators is added to construct a hybrid controller. Experimental results suggests that proposed hybrid controller is effective to suppress the additional resonance vibration that appears when each controller is used alone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.135-138
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• 2004

Conventional piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) senor has high sensitivity, but it is very brittle. Recently polymer films such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and poly(vinylidene fluoride­trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) copolymer have been used as a sensor. The advantages of polymer sensor are the flexibility and mechanical toughness. Simple process and possible several shapes are also additional advantages. Polymer sensor can be directly embedded in a structure. In this study, nondestructive damage sensitivity of single basalt fiber/epoxy composites was investigated with sensor type and thermal damage using AE and oscilloscope. And AE waveform for epoxy matrix with various damage types was compared to each other. The damage sensitivity of two polymer sensors was rather lower than that of PZT sensor. The damage sensitivity of PVDF sensor did not decrease until thermal damage temperature at $80^{\circ}C$ and they decreased significantly at $110^{\circ}C$ However, the damage sensitivity of P(VDF-TrFE) sensor at $110^{\circ}C$ was almost same in no damage sensor. For both top and side impacts, the difference in arrival time increased with increasing internal and surface damage density of epoxy matrix.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.04a
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• pp.830-834
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• 2013

This study presents a method to monitor cable force of a long-span cable-stayed bridge using a smart piezoelectric sensor system. The following approaches are implemented in order to achieve the objective. Firstly, the method to utilize piezoelectric materials for the health monitoring of stay cables is presented. For strain measurement of a stay cable, a PZT-embedded smart skin is designed to overcome the difficulties of bonding PZT sensors directly on stay cables. Secondly, a piezoelectric strain monitoring system for stay cables is designed. For the operation of the sensor board, the Imote2 sensor platform is used to provide the computation, wireless communication and power supply units. The feasibility of the proposed monitoring system is then evaluated on a full-scale cable of a cable-stayed bridge.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.128-133
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• 2000

The objective of this research is to develop real-time failure detection techniques for damage assessment of composite materials using optical fiber sensors. Signals from matrix cracking or fiber fracture in composite laminates are treated by signal processing unit in real-time. This paper describes the implementation of time-frequency analysis such as the Short Time Fourier Transform(STFT) to determine the time of occurrence of failure. In order to verify the performance of the optical fiber sensor for stress wave detection, we performed pencil break test with EFPI sensor and compared it with that of PZT. The EFPI sensor was embedded in composite beam to sense the failure signals and a tensile test was performed. The signals of the fiber optic sensor when damage occurred were characterized using STFT and wavelet transform. Failure detection system detected the moment of failure accurately and showed good sensitivity with the infinitesimal failure signal.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2019

Flexible impact force sensors composed of piezoelectric PZT/PDMS composite sandwiched between Al/PET films were fabricated and their voltage signal characteristics were evaluated under varying impact forces for electronic mitt applications. The piezoelectric impact force sensor on an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) substrate exhibited an output voltage difference of no greater than 40 mV a periodical impact test in with the impact load was increased by as much as 240 N by a restoration time of 5 s in a five-time experiment, implying good sensing ability. Moreover, the impact force sensor embedded four electronic mitts showed a reliable sensitivity of less than 1 mV/N and good repeatability under 100 N-impact force during a cycle test executed 10,000 times. This indicated that the fabricated flexible piezoelectric impact sensor could be used in electronic mitt applications. However, the relatively low elastic limit of substrate material such as EVA or poly-urethane slightly deteriorated the sensitivity of the impact sensor embedded electronic mitt at over 200 N-impact forces.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.135-150
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• 2015

Large concrete structures are prone to cracks and damages over time from human usage, weathers, and other environmental attacks such as flood, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The health of the concrete structures should be monitored regularly to ensure safety. A reliable method of real time communications can facilitate more frequent structural health monitoring (SHM) updates from hard to reach positions, enabling crack detections of embedded concrete structures as they occur to avoid catastrophic failures. By implementing an unconventional mode of communication that utilizes guided stress waves traveling along the concrete structure itself, we may be able to free structural health monitoring from costly (re-)installation of communication wires. In stress-wave communications, piezoelectric transducers can act as actuators and sensors to send and receive modulated signals carrying concrete status information. The new generation of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based smart aggregates cause multipath propagation in the homogeneous concrete channel, which presents both an opportunity and a challenge for multiple sensors communication. We propose a time reversal based pulse position modulation (TR-PPM) communication for stress wave communication within the concrete structure to combat multipath channel dispersion. Experimental results demonstrate successful transmission and recovery of TR-PPM using stress waves. Compared with PPM, we can achieve higher data rate and longer link distance via TR-PPM. Furthermore, TR-PPM remains effective under low signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This work also lays the foundation for implementing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) stress wave communication networks in concrete channels.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2024

This study investigated the setting characteristics of cement paste with varying proportions of fly ash replacement using the electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) sensing technique. Cement paste samples were prepared with a water-to-binder ratio of 40 %, substituting fly ash for 10 %, 20 %, and 30 % of the cement weight. Piezoelectric (PZT) sensors were embedded in the center of each cement paste sample to continuously monitor the EMI signals. Vicat needle test and semi-adiabatic calorimetry test were conducted to validate the reliability of the EMI sensing technique in monitoring the setting of cement paste. Experimental results revealed notable changes in the magnitude and resonant frequency of the EMI resonant peaks during the setting time. It was confirmed that the setting times measured through the EMI sensing technique were correlated with those determined by the Vicat needle test and semi-adiabatic calorimetry test.