• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1159-1175
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• 2015

In this study, the effect of temperature variation on the wireless impedance monitoring is analyzed for the tendon-anchorage connection of the prestressed concrete girder. Firstly, three impedance features, which are peak frequency, root mean square deviation (RMSD) index, and correlation coefficient (CC) index, are selected to estimate the effects of temperature variation and prestress-loss on impedance signatures. Secondly, wireless impedance tests are performed on the tendon-anchorage connection for which a series of temperature variation and prestress-loss events are simulated. Thirdly, the effect of temperature variation on impedance signatures measured from the tendon-anchorage connection is estimated by the three impedance features. Finally, the effect of prestress-loss on impedance signatures is also estimated by the three impedance features. The relative effects of temperature variation and prestress-loss are comparatively examined.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.181-195
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• 2017

In this study, the severity of damage in tendon anchorage caused by the loss of tendon forces is quantitatively identified by using the PZT interface-based impedance monitoring technique. Firstly, a 2-DOF impedance model is newly designed to represent coupled dynamic responses of PZT interface-host structure. Secondly, the 2-DOF impedance model is adopted for the tendon anchorage system. A prototype of PZT interface is designed for the impedance monitoring. Then impedance signatures are experimentally measured from a laboratory-scale tendon anchorage structure with various tendon forces. Finally, damage severities of the tendon anchorage induced by the variation of tendon forces are quantitatively identified from the phase-by-phase model updating process, from which the change in impedance signatures is correlated to the change in structural properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.246-259
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• 2011

This study presents a structural health monitoring (SHM) method for bolted connections by using multi-channel wireless impedance sensor nodes and multiple PZT-interfaces. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. Firstly, a PZT-interface is designed to monitor bolt loosening in bolted connection based on variation of electro-mechanical(EM) impedance signatures. Secondly, a wireless impedance sensor node is designed for autonomous, cost-efficient and multi-channel monitoring. For the sensor platform, Imote2 is selected on the basis of its high operating speed, low power requirement and large storage memory. Finally, the performance of the wireless sensor node and the PZT-interfaces is experimentally evaluated for a bolt-connection model Damage monitoring method using root mean square deviation(RMSD) index of EM impedance signatures is utilized to estimate the strength of the bolted joint.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.59-65
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• 2011

In structural health monitoring (SHM) using electro-mechanical impedance signatures, it is a critical issue for extremely large structures to extract the best damage diagnosis results, while minimizing unknown environmental effects, including temperature, humidity, and acoustic vibration. If the impedance signatures fluctuate because of these factors, these fluctuations should be eliminated because they might hide the characteristics of the host structural damages. This paper presents a long-term SHM technique under an unknown noisy environment for tidal current power plant structures. The obtained impedance signatures contained significant variations during the measurements, especially in the audio frequency range. To eliminate these variations, a continuous principal component analysis was applied, and the results were compared with the conventional approach using the RMSD (Root Mean Square Deviation) and CC (Cross-correlation Coefficient) damage indices. Finally, it was found that this approach could be effectively used for long-term SHM in noisy environments.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1A
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• pp.135-146
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• 2008

In this paper, a hybrid damage monitoring scheme for prestressed concrete (PSC) girder bridges by using sequential acceleration and impedance signatures is newly proposed. Damage types of interest include prestress-loss in tendon and flexural stiffness-loss in a concrete girder. The hybrid scheme mainly consists of three sequential phases: damage alarming, damage classification, and damage estimation. In the first phase, the global occurrence of damage is alarmed by monitoring changes in acceleration features. In the second phase, the type of damage is classified into either prestress-loss or flexural stiffness-loss by recognizing patterns of impedance features. In the third phase, the location and the extent of damage are estimated by using two different ways: a mode shape-based damage detection to detect flexural stiffness-loss and a natural frequency-based prestress prediction to identify prestress-loss. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is evaluated on a laboratory-scaled PSC girder model for which hybrid vibration-impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios of prestress-loss and flexural stiffness-loss.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2012

This paper presents the effect of temperature on the impedance-based damage monitoring of steel-bolt connections using wireless impedance sensor nodes. In order to achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. First, a temperature-compensated damage monitoring scheme that includes a temperature compensation model and damage detection method is described. The temperature compensation model is designed by analyzing the linear regressions between the temperatures and impedance signatures. The correlation coefficient of the impedance signatures is selected as the damage index to monitor the damage occurrence in the target structures. Second, a wireless impedance sensor node is described for the design of the hardware components and embedded software. Finally, the performance of the temperature-compensated impedance-based damage monitoring scheme is evaluated for detecting a loose bolt in the steel-bolt connections on a lab-scale steel girder under various temperatures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-113
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• 2006

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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.260-270
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• 2011

The electromechanical impedance(E/M)-based method detects local structural damages based on variations of electrical impedance signatures which are obtained from piezoelectric sensors bonded to the structure and excited in high frequency band. In this method, temperature changes may result in significant impedance variations and lead to erroneous diagnostic results of the structure. To tackle this problem, a new technique providing a 2-dimensional damage feature related to the temperature information is proposed to distinguish the structural damage from the undesirable temperature variation. For experimental tests to validate the proposed method, damages are introduced by bolt loosening to a bolt-jointed steel beam, and impedance signals are measured under varying temperature conditions through a piezoelectric sensor attached on the beam. A freely suspended piezoelectric sensor is additionally utilized to obtain temperature information indirectly from resistance signatures. From a relationship between the damage index (from a constrained sensor) and the temperature (from a freely suspended sensor or a temperature sensor), damages can be detected more clearly under varying temperature compared to other conventional approaches.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2011

The mechanical properties obtained from mechanical tests, such as tensile, buckling, impact and fatigue tests, are largely applied to several materials and are used today for preliminary studies for the investigation of a desired element in a structure and prediction of its behavior in use. This contribution focus on two widely used different tests: tensile and fatigue tests. Small PZT (Lead Titanate Zirconate) patches are bonded on the surface of test samples for impedance-based health monitoring purposes. Together with these two tests, the electromechanical impedance technique was performed by using aluminum test samples similar to those used in the aeronautical industry. The results obtained both from tensile and fatigue tests were compared with the impedance signatures. Finally, statistical meta-models were built to investigate the possibility of determining the state of the structure from the impedance signatures.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.197-202
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• 2008

In this paper, a hybrid vibration-impedance approaches is newly proposed to detect the occurrence of damage, the location of damage, and extent of damage in steel plate-girder bridges. The hybrid scheme mainly consists of three sequential phases: 1) to alarm the occurrence of damage, 2) to classify the alarmed damage, and 3) to estimate the classified damage in detail. Damage types of interest include flexural stiffness-loss in girder and bolts-loose in supports. In the first phase, the global occurrence of damage is alarmed by monitoring changes in acceleration features. In the second phase, the alarmed damage is classified into subsystems by recognizing patterns of impedance features. In the final phase, the location and the extent of damage are estimated by using modal strain energy-based damage index method and root mean square deviation method. The feasibility of the proposed system is evaluated on a laboratory-scaled steel plate-girder bridge model for which hybrid vibration-impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios.