Optimal PZT transducer location for effective damage identification in thin fixed plate

ABSTRACT

In the recent advance, the employment of piezoelectric ceramic lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers has been widely increased because of its noticeable role in the domain of structural health monitoring (SHM) particularly in non-destructive evaluation. PZT-based electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) technique has been successfully applied to evaluate the inhomogeneities in the structure due to local damages and flaws. A numerical simulation based on EMI technique has been done using the coupled field finite element analysis on a homogenous fixed metallic plate bonded with PZT patches at different locations, to investigate the effect of damage at the fixed end and the centre of the span, induced by local reduction of stiffness, on the admittance signature pattern in ANSYS^TM. The observations are discussed using RMSD as damage index computed between the states of pristine and damaged. The parametric study of PZT location and structure stiffness gives better insight into the analysis of admittance signatures, which is vital in SHM applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Structural health monitoring
• PZT transducer
• coupled-field finite element analysis
• admittance signatures

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.