The Effect of Temperature on the PZT Sensor Response—Case Study with Guided Wave SHM

Abstract

The guided wave structural health monitoring (GWSHM) systems can provide continuous monitoring of the critical engineering structures in several industries including energy and aerospace. Today’s digital tools, like numerical simulations, can provide rapid and extensive knowledge about GWSHM systems without the cost of implementation. On the other hand, the effect of environmental factors like temperature plays an important role in the GWSHM system response. To fully simulate the system, it is then mandatory to have reliable models for these factors. To this date, several research groups conducted studies to understand the effect of temperature variances on material properties; however, there is a lack of fast models for sensor response. This work focuses on the generalization of the pin-force PZT response model available in the software CIVA under varying temperatures (typ. from -20°C to 40°C). Measured impedance values were used to estimate the effective radius of the bonded PZTs. The numerical studies were validated experimentally on a case study without damage. By using proposed technique, the effect of temperature on the sensor definition, including bonding, is implemented in the numerical studies. Furthermore, this is an important step towards model assisted probability detection (MAPOD) of the systems under different environmental conditions.