PVDF piezo film as dynamic strain sensor for local damage detection of steel frame buildings

A structural health monitoring system that aims to extract local damage information (i.e., existence, location and severity) in buildings may require a dense array of transducers due to the high complexity and high degree of statical indeterminacy of their structural system. While monitoring systems for building applications are mostly consisted of seismographs or tremor sensors, a technique to pragmatically and accurately capture strain information of structural members is efficacious for detecting damage in individual members. This paper presents the use of polyvinylidene fluoride piezoelectric films as dynamic strain sensors for detecting local damage in steel moment-resisting frames. First, a damage detection methodology that monitors the changes in the relative distribution of the bending moments in structural systems is presented. Next, an array of dynamic strain sensors networked by wireless sensing units is developed in consideration of its installation cost and efforts when it is applied to real buildings. Finally, the performances of the developed methodology and its sensing system are evaluated through a series of vibration testing using a 5-story steel testbed frame that can simulate seismic damage at beam-to-column connections.