Steel bridge fatigue crack detection with piezoelectric wafer active sensors
2010
Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are well known for its dual capabilities in structural health
monitoring, acting as either actuators or sensors. Due to the variety of deterioration sources and locations
of bridge defects, there is currently no single method that can detect and address the potential sources
globally. In our research, our use of the PWAS based sensing has the novelty of implementing both
passive (as acoustic emission) and active (as ultrasonic transducers) sensing with a single PWAS network.
The combined schematic is using acoustic emission to detect the presence of fatigue cracks in steel
bridges in their early stage since methods such as ultrasonics are unable to quantify the initial condition of
crack growth since most of the fatigue life for these details is consumed while the fatigue crack is too
small to be detected. Hence, combing acoustic emission with ultrasonic active sensing will strengthen the
damage detection process. The integration of passive acoustic emission detection with active sensing will
be a technological leap forward from the current practice of periodic and subjective visual inspection, and
bridge management based primarily on history of past performance.
In this study, extensive laboratory investigation is performed supported by theoretical modeling
analysis. A demonstration system will be presented to show how piezoelectric wafer active sensor is used
for acoustic emission. Specimens representing complex structures are tested. The results will also be
compared with traditional acoustic emission transducers to identify the application barriers.
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