• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.21-28
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• 2006

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a new technology that will be increasingly applied at the industrial field as a potential approach to improve cost and convenience of structural inspection. Recently, the development of smart sensor is very active for real application. This study has focused on preparation and application study of SAL sensor. In order to detect elastic wave, smart piezoelectric sensor, SAL, is fabricated by using a piezoelectric element, shielding layer and protection layer. This protection layer plays an important role in a patched network of distributed piezoelectric sensor and shielding treatment. Four types of SAL sensor are designed/prepared/tested, and these details will be discussed in the paper. In this study, SAL sensor can be feasibly applied to perform structural health monitoring and to detect damage sources which result in elastic waves.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.266-284
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• 2010

Piezoelectric materials have become the most attractive functional materials for sensors and actuators in smart structures because they can directly convert mechanical energy to electrical energy and vise versa. They have excellent electromechanical coupling characteristics and excellent frequency response. In this article, the research activities and achievements on the applications of piezoelectric materials in smart structures in China, including vibration control, noise control, energy harvesting, structural health monitoring, and hysteresis control, are introduced. Special attention is given to the introduction of semi-active vibration suppression based on a synchronized switching technique and piezoelectric fibers with metal cores for health monitoring. Such mechanisms are relatively new and possess great potential for future applications in aerospace engineering.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.381-397
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• 2013

In this paper, wireless health monitoring of stay cables using piezoelectric strain sensors and a smart skin technique is presented. For the cables, tension forces are estimated to examine their health status from vibration features with consideration of temperature effects. The following approaches are implemented to achieve the objective. Firstly, the tension force estimation utilizing the piezoelectric sensor-embedded smart skin is presented. A temperature correlation model to recalculate the tension force at a temperature of interest is designed by correlating the change in cable's dynamic features and temperature variation. Secondly, the wireless health monitoring system for stay cables is described. A piezoelectric strain sensor node and a tension force monitoring software which is embedded in the sensor are designed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed monitoring technique is evaluated on stay cables of the Hwamyung Grand Bridge in Busan, Korea.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.499-512
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• 2017

Traditional structural dynamic analysis and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of large scale concrete civil structures rely on manufactured embedding transducers to obtain structural dynamic properties. However, the embedding of manufactured transducers is very expensive and low efficiency for signal acquisition. In dynamic structural analysis and SHM areas, piezoelectric transducers are more and more popular due to the advantages like quick response, low cost and adaptability to different sizes. In this paper, the applicable feasibility assessment of the designed "artificial" piezoelectric transducers called Concrete Piezoelectric Smart Module (CPSM) in dynamic structural analysis is performed via three major experiments. Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) based on Ibrahim Time Domain (ITD) Method is applied to experimentally extract modal parameters. Numerical modal analysis by finite element method (FEM) modeling is also performed for comparison. First ten order modal parameters are identified by EMA using CPSMs, PCBs and FEM modeling. Comparisons are made between CPSMs and PCBs, between FEM and CPSMs extracted modal parameters. Results show that Power Spectral Density by CPSMs and PCBs are similar, CPSMs acquired signal amplitudes can be used to predict concrete compressive strength. Modal parameter (natural frequencies) identified from CPSMs acquired signal and PCBs acquired signal are different in a very small range (~3%), and extracted natural frequencies from CPSMs acquired signal and FEM results are in an allowable small range (~5%) as well. Therefore, CPSMs are applicable for signal acquisition of dynamic responses and can be used in dynamic modal analysis, structural health monitoring and related areas.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.91-114
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• 2016

In this paper, recent research trends and activities on structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructure in Korea are reviewed. Recently, there has been increasing need for adopting smart sensing technologies to SHM, so this review focuses on smart sensing, monitoring, and assessment for civil infrastructure. Firstly, the research activities on smart sensor technology is reviewed including optical fiber sensors, piezoelectric sensors, wireless smart sensors, and vision-based sensing system. Then, a brief overview is given to the recent advances in smart monitoring and assessment techniques such as vibration-based global monitoring techniques, local monitoring with piezoelectric materials, decentralized monitoring techniques for wireless sensors, wireless power supply and energy harvest. Finally, recent joint SHM activities on several test beds in Korea are discussed to share the up-to-date information and to promote the smart sensors and monitoring technologies for applications to civil infrastructure. It includes a Korea-US joint research on test bridges of the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), a Korea-US-Japan joint research on Jindo cable-stayed bridge, and a comparative study for cable tension measurement techniques on Hwamyung cable-stayed bridge, and a campaign test for displacement measurement techniques on Sorok suspension bridge.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.135-147
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• 2016

This paper describes a smart structural system, which uses smart materials for real-time monitoring and active control of bolted-joints in steel structures. The goal of this research is to reduce the possibility of failure and the cost of maintenance of steel structures such as bridges, electricity pylons, steel lattice towers and so on. The concept of the smart structural system combines impedance based health monitoring techniques with a shape memory alloy (SMA) washer to restore the tension of the loosened bolt. The impedance-based structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques were used to detect loosened bolts in bolted-joints. By comparing electrical impedance signatures measured from a potentially damage structure with baseline data obtained from the pristine structure, the bolt loosening damage could be detected. An outlier analysis, using generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution, providing optimal decision boundaries, has been carried out for more systematic damage detection. Once the loosening damage was detected in the bolted joint, the external heater, which was bonded to the SMA washer, actuated the washer. Then, the heated SMA washer expanded axially and adjusted the bolt tension to restore the lost torque. Additionally, temperature variation due to the heater was compensated by applying the effective frequency shift (EFS) algorithm to improve the performance of the diagnostic results. An experimental study was conducted by integrating the piezoelectric material based structural health monitoring and the SMA-based active control function on a bolted joint, after which the performance of the smart 'self-monitoring and self-healing bolted joint system' was demonstrated.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.549-555
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• 2003

The objective of かis study is to investigate the feasibility of piezoelectric transducers as a damage detection system for civil infrastructures. There have been considerable amount of efforts by the modal analysis community to localize damage and evaluate its severity without looking at a reliable way to excite the structure. The detection of damages by modal analysis and similar vibration techniques depends upon the knowledge and estimation of various modal parameters. In addition to the associated difficulties, such low-frequency dynamic response based techniques fail to detect incipient damages. Smart piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) transducers which act as both actuators and sensors in a self-analyzing manner are emerging to be effective in non-parametric health monitoring of structural systems. In this paper, we present the results of an experimental study for the detection of damages using smart PZT transducers on the steel plate. The method of extracting the impedance characteristics of the PZT transducer, which is electro-mechanically coupled to the host structure, is adopted for damage detection. Two damages are simulated and assessed by the bonded PZT transducers for characterization. The experimental results verified the efficacy of the proposed approach and provided a demonstration of good robustness at the realistic steel structures, emphasizing the great potential for developing an automated in situ structural health monitoring system for application to large civil infrastructures without the need to blow the modal parameters.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2013

We developed a simultaneous strain measurement and damage detection technique using a pair of surface-mounted piezoelectric transducers and a fiber connecting them. This is a novel sensor configuration of the fiber acoustic wave (FAW) piezoelectric transducer. In this study, lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) transducers are installed conventionally on a plate's surface, which is a technique used in many structural health monitoring studies. However, our PZTs are also connected with an optical fiber. A FAW and Lamb wave are simultaneously guided in the optical fiber and the structure, respectively. The dependency of the time-of-flight of the FAW on the applied strain is quantified for strain sensing. In our experimental results, the FAW exhibited excellent linear behavior and no hysteresis with respect to the change in strain. On the other hand, the well-known damage detection function of the surface-mounted PZT transducers was still available by monitoring the waveform change in the conventional Lamb wave ultrasonic path.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.601-605
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• 2007

This paper describes the experimental method to monitor the structural integrity. The crack on structures changes the wave propagation characteristics of structures. To monitor this change, frequency dependent variation of dynamic stiffness of beam structures is obtained by using beam transfer function method, and its trends are compared to undamaged one for identifying the location and size of the crack. Piezoelectric actuators were used to generate flexural vibrations. It eliminated various restrictions of continuously measuring wave propagation characteristics and monitoring structural integrity. The structural integrity was identified with minimal number of measurements and smart structures employing PZT actuations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.305-318
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• 2008

The development of a digital signal processor based prototype is described in relation to continuing efforts for realizing a fully self-contained active sensor system utilizing impedance-based structural health monitoring. The impedance method utilizes a piezoelectric material bonded to the structure under observation to act as both an actuator and sensor. By monitoring the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric material, insights into the health of the structured can be inferred. The active sensing system detailed in this paper interrogates a structure utilizing a self-sensing actuator and a low cost impedance method. Here, all the data processing, storage, and analysis is performed at the sensor location. A wireless transmitter is used to communicate the current status of the structure. With this new low cost, field deployable impedance analyzer, reliance on traditional expensive, bulky, and power consuming impedance analyzers is no longer necessary. A complete power analysis of the prototype is performed to determine the validity of power harvesting being utilized for self-containment of the hardware. Experimental validation of the prototype on a representative structure is also performed and compared to traditional methods of damage detection.