Advanced signal processing for enhanced damage detection with piezoelectric wafer active sensors

Victor Giurgiutiu,Lingyu Yu 국제구조공학회 2005 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.1 No.2

Advanced signal processing techniques have been long introduced and widely used in structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE). In our research, we applied several signal processing approaches for our embedded ultrasonic structural radar (EUSR) system to obtain improved damage detection results. The EUSR algorithm was developed to detect defects within a large area of a thin-plate specimen using a piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) array. In the EUSR, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was first applied for signal de-noising. Secondly, after constructing the EUSR data, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) were used for the time-frequency analysis. Then the results were compared thereafter. We eventually chose continuous wavelet transform to filter out from the original signal the component with the excitation signal? frequency. Third, cross correlation method and Hilbert transform were applied to A-scan signals to extract the time of flight (TOF) of the wave packets from the crack. Finally, the Hilbert transform was again applied to the EUSR data to extract the envelopes for final inspection result visualization. The EUSR system was implemented in LabVIEW. Several laboratory experiments have been conducted and have verified that, with the advanced signal processing approaches, the EUSR has enhanced damage detection ability.

Smart sensors for monitoring crack growth under fatigue loading conditions

Victor Giurgiutiu,Buli Xu,Yuh Chao,Shu Liu,Rishi Gaddam 국제구조공학회 2006 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.2 No.2

Structural health monitoring results obtained with the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance technique and Lamb wave transmission methods during fatigue crack propagation of an Arcan specimen instrumented with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are presented. The specimen was subjected in mixed-mode fatigue loading and a crack was propagated in stages. At each stage, an image of the crack and the location of the crack tip were recorded and the PWAS readings were taken. Hence, the crack-growth in the specimen could be correlated with the PWAS readings. The E/M impedance signature was recorded in the 100 - 500 kHz frequency range. The Lamb-wave transmission method used the pitch-catch approach with a 3-count sine tone burst of 474 kHz transmitted and received between various PWAS pairs. Fatigue loading was applied to initiate and propagate the crack damage of controlled magnitude. As damage progressed, the E/M impedance signatures and the waveforms received by receivers were recorded at predetermined intervals and compared. Data analysis indicated that both the E/M impedance signatures and the Lamb-wave transmission signatures are modified by the crack progression. Damage index values were observed to increase as the crack damage increases. These experiments demonstrated that the use of PWAS in conjunction with the E/M impedance and the Lamb-wave transmission is a potentially powerful tool for crack damage detection and monitoring in structural elements.

Damage assessment of structures - an US air force office of scientific research structural mechanics perspective

Victor Giurgiutiu 국제구조공학회 2010 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.6 No.2

This paper presents the perspective of the Structural Mechanics program of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) on the damage assessment of structures for the period 2006-2009 when the author was serving as Program Manager at AFOSR. It is found that damage assessment of structures plays a very important role in assuring the safety and operational readiness of US Air Force fleet. The current fleet has many aging aircraft, which poses a considerable challenge for the operators and maintainers. The nondestructive evaluation technology is rather mature and able to detect damage with considerable reliability during the periodic maintenance inspections. The emerging structural health monitoring methodology has great potential, because it will use on-board damage detection sensors and systems, will be able to offer on-demand structural health bulletins. Considerable fundamental and applied research is still needed to enable the development, implementation, and dissemination of structural health monitoring technology.

Smart sensors for monitoring crack growth under fatigue loading conditions

Giurgiutiu, Victor,Xu, Buli,Chao, Yuh,Liu, Shu,Gaddam, Rishi Techno-Press 2006 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.2 No.2

Structural health monitoring results obtained with the electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance techniqueand Lamb wave transmission methods during fatigue crack propagation of an Arcan specimen instrumented with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are presented. The specimen was subjected in mixed-mode fatigue loading and a crack was propagated in stages. At each stage, an image of the crack and the location of the crack tip were recorded and the PWAS readings were taken. Hence, the crack-growth in the specimen could be correlated with the PWAS readings. The E/M impedance signature was recorded in the 100 - 500 kHz frequency range. The Lamb-wave transmission method used the pitch-catch approach with a 3-count sine tone burst of 474 kHz transmitted and received between various PWAS pairs. Fatigue loading was applied to initiate and propagate the crack damage of controlled magnitude. As damage progressed, the E/M impedance signatures and the waveforms received by receivers were recorded at predetermined intervals and compared. Data analysis indicated that both the E/M impedance signatures and the Lamb-wave transmission signatures are modified by the crack progression. Damage index values were observed to increase as the crack damage increases. These experiments demonstrated that the use of PWAS in conjunction with the E/M impedance and the Lamb-wave transmission is a potentially powerful tool for crack damage detection and monitoring in structural elements.

Damage assessment of structures - an US air force office of scientific research structural mechanics perspective

Giurgiutiu, Victor Techno-Press 2010 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.6 No.2

This paper presents the perspective of the Structural Mechanics program of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) on the damage assessment of structures for the period 2006-2009 when the author was serving as Program Manager at AFOSR. It is found that damage assessment of structures plays a very important role in assuring the safety and operational readiness of US Air Force fleet. The current fleet has many aging aircraft, which poses a considerable challenge for the operators and maintainers. The nondestructive evaluation technology is rather mature and able to detect damage with considerable reliability during the periodic maintenance inspections. The emerging structural health monitoring methodology has great potential, because it will use on-board damage detection sensors and systems, will be able to offer on-demand structural health bulletins. Considerable fundamental and applied research is still needed to enable the development, implementation, and dissemination of structural health monitoring technology.

Advanced signal processing for enhanced damage detection with piezoelectric wafer active sensors

Yu, Lingyu,Giurgiutiu, Victor Techno-Press 2005 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.1 No.2

Advanced signal processing techniques have been long introduced and widely used in structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE). In our research, we applied several signal processing approaches for our embedded ultrasonic structural radar (EUSR) system to obtain improved damage detection results. The EUSR algorithm was developed to detect defects within a large area of a thin-plate specimen using a piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) array. In the EUSR, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was first applied for signal de-noising. Secondly, after constructing the EUSR data, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) were used for the time-frequency analysis. Then the results were compared thereafter. We eventually chose continuous wavelet transform to filter out from the original signal the component with the excitation signal's frequency. Third, cross correlation method and Hilbert transform were applied to A-scan signals to extract the time of flight (TOF) of the wave packets from the crack. Finally, the Hilbert transform was again applied to the EUSR data to extract the envelopes for final inspection result visualization. The EUSR system was implemented in LabVIEW. Several laboratory experiments have been conducted and have verified that, with the advanced signal processing approaches, the EUSR has enhanced damage detection ability.

Guided wave field calculation in anisotropic layered structures using normal mode expansion method

Lingfang Li,Hanfei Mei,Mohammad Faisal Haider,Dimitris Rizos,Yong Xia,Victor Giurgiutiu 국제구조공학회 2020 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.26 No.2

The guided wave technique is commonly used in structural health monitoring as the guided waves can propagate far in the structures without much energy loss. The guided waves are conventionally generated by the surface-mounted piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS). However, there is still lack of understanding of the wave propagation in layered structures, especially in structures made of anisotropic materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. In this paper, the Rayleigh-Lamb wave strain tuning curves in a PWAS-mounted unidirectional CFRP plate are analytically derived using the normal mode expansion (NME) method. The excitation frequency spectrum is then multiplied by the tuning curves to calculate the frequency response spectrum. The corresponding time domain responses are obtained through the inverse Fourier transform. The theoretical calculations are validated through finite element analysis and an experimental study. The PWAS responses under the free, debonded and bonded CFRP conditions are investigated and compared. The results demonstrate that the amplitude and travelling time of wave packet can be used to evaluate the CFRP bonding conditions. The method can work on a baseline-free manner.