A piezoelectric-based three-direction normal stress sensor for concrete structures

Abstract

Piezoelectric-based sensors are low cost, highly stable, responsive, and changeable in shapes, allowing them to be easily embedded within concrete structures to perform various monitoring tasks. In this research, an in-built piezoelectric-based three-direction stress sensor is proposed, which could monitor the internal normal stresses in three mutually orthogonal directions. The sensor has a cubic shape with edges of about 25 mm. It consists of three PZT (lead zirconate titanate) patches, each of which is sandwiched between a steel base and a square steel plate with epoxy. To test the sensors’ characteristics, a finite element analysis was carried out to investigate stress transfer inside the sensor. Besides, a servo-hydraulic machine was used to conduct a cyclic loading test, delivering compressive stress up to 30 MPa on the three sensors. Both the numerical simulation and experiment results have shown that the cross-interference effect between different directions is negligible. Also observed was a high level of consistency in the sensitivity of measurements, regardless of the monitoring direction and sensor. With the advantages of a simple structure, low cross interference, and consistent sensitivity, the proposed three-direction normal stress sensor has a great potential to be mass produced and used in monitoring the health state of structural concrete.

Keywords

Three-direction normal stress sensor piezoelectric sensitivity cross interference consistency

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ansari

(2007) Practical implementation of optical fiber sensors in civil structural health monitoring. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 18: 879–889.

Calderon-Moreno

(2001) Stress induced domain switching of PZT in compression tests. Materials Science & Engineering A 315: 227–230.

Gonenc

Iordachita

(2017) FBG-based transverse and axial force-sensing micro-forceps for retinal microsurgery. In: IEEE Sensors, Orlando, FL, 30 October–3 November, pp. 1–3. New York: IEEE.

Guan

Karbhari

Sikorsky

(2007) Long-term structural health monitoring system for a FRP composite highway bridge structure. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 18: 809–823.

Haslinger

Leyendecker

Seibold

(2013) A fiberoptic force-torque-sensor for minimally invasive robotic surgery. In: IEEE international conference on robotics and automation, Karlsruhe, 6–10 May 2013, pp. 4390–4395. New York: IEEE.

Hou

Zhang

(2012) A PZT-based smart aggregate for compressive seismic stress monitoring. Smart Materials and Structures 21: 105035.

Hou

Zhang

(2013) A PZT-based smart aggregate for seismic shear stress monitoring. Smart Materials and Structures 22: 065012.

Kesavan

Ravisankar

Parivallal

et al . (2010) Experimental studies on fiber optic sensors embedded in concrete. Measurement 43: 157–163.

Keulen

Akay

Melemez

et al . (2014) Prediction of fatigue response of composite structures by monitoring the strain energy release rate with embedded fiber Bragg gratings. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 27: 17–27.

10.

Wang

Yang

et al . (2018) Research on static decoupling algorithm for piezoelectric six axis force/torque sensor based on LSSVR fusion algorithm. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 110: 509–520.

11.

(2014) Ultrasonic monitoring of the early-age hydration of mineral admixtures incorporated concrete using cement-based piezoelectric composite sensors. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 26: 280–291.

12.

Meitzler

Berlincourt

Welsh

et al . (1988) 176-1987—IEEE standard on piezoelectricity.

13.

Moslehy

Belarbi

et al . (2010) Smart aggregate based damage detection of circular RC columns under cyclic combined loading. Smart Materials and Structures 19: 065021.

14.

Noh

Bimbo

Sareh

et al . (2016) Multi-axis force/torque sensor based on simply-supported beam and optoelectronics. Sensors (Switzerland) 16: 1936.

15.

Shen

Yang

(2006) A cement-based piezoelectric sensor for civil engineering structure. Materials and Structures/Materiaux et Constructions 39: 37–42.

16.

Song

et al . (2005) Health monitoring of a concrete structure using piezoceramic materials. In: Proceedings of SPIE, San Diego, CA, 7–10 March, pp. 108–119. Bellingham, WA: SPIE.

17.

Song

et al . (2007a) Concrete structural health monitoring using embedded piezoceramic transducers. Smart Materials and Structures 16: 959–968.

18.

Song

Olmi

(2007b) An overheight vehicle-bridge collision monitoring system using piezoelectric transducers. Smart Materials and Structures 16: 462–468.

19.

Villalba

Casas

(2013) Application of optical fiber distributed sensing to health monitoring of concrete structures. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 39: 441–451.

20.

Viry

Levi

Totaro

et al . (2014) Flexible three-axial force sensor for soft and highly sensitive artificial touch. Advanced Materials 26: 2659–2664.

21.

(2009) Sensitivity analysis of acceleration-based energy damage detection strategy to load excitations and sensor placement. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 20: 413–423.

22.

Zhang

Hou

(2016) Smart aggregate-based seismic stress monitoring system using a specially designed charge amplifier. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 27: 418–426.