• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.669-677
• /
• 2012

This study presents a method to monitor cable force using wireless sensor nodes and piezoelectric sensors. The following approaches are carried out to achieve the objective. Firstly, the principle of piezoelectric materials (e.g., PZT) as strain sensors is reviewed. A cable force estimation method using dynamic features of cables measured by piezoelectric materials is presented. Secondly, the design of an automated cable force monitoring system using the data acquisition sensor-node Imote2/SHM-DAQ is described. The sensor node is originally developed by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is adopted in this study to monitor strain-induced voltage from PZT sensors. The advantages of the system are cheap, and eligible for wireless communication and automated operation. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed monitoring system is evaluated on a lab-scaled cable.