Structural health monitoring apparatus and methodology

• US 7,881,881 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2009
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of South Carolina
• Original Assignee: University of South Carolina
• Inventors: Giurgiutiu, Victor, Bottai, Giola Santoni, Yu, Lingyu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau; Tung S
• Application Number:
  US12/539,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20100042338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 702/39
• US Class Current: 702/39
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0258 Structural degradation, e.g. fatigue of composites, ageing of oils
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/044 Internal reflections (echoes), e.g. on walls or defects
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/102 one emitter, one receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2475 Embedded probes, i.e. probes incorporated in objects to be inspected
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/262 by electronic orientation or focusing, e.g. with phased arrays phased arrays per se G10K11/34

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus and methodology for structural health monitoring (SHM) in which smart devices interrogate structural components to predict failure, expedite needed repairs, and thus increase the useful life of those components. Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are applied to or integrated with structural components and various data collected there from provide the ability to detect and locate cracking, corrosion, and disbanding through use of pitch-catch, pulse-echo, electro/mechanical impedance, and phased array technology. Stand alone hardware and an associated software program are provided that allow selection of multiple types of SHM investigations as well as multiple types of data analysis to perform a wholesome investigation of a structure.

Claims

1. A system for structural health monitoring comprising:

an automatic signal collection unit;

an array of sensors;

an oscilloscope;

a function generator;

an impedance analyzer; and

a computer, wherein the computer is programmed to perform structural health monitoring analysis based on user selectable data wherein the structural health monitoring analysis programming utilizes

2. A system as in claim 1, wherein the user selectable data comprises pitch-catch data.

3. A system as in claim 1, wherein the user selectable data comprises pulse-echo data.

4. A system as in claim 1, wherein the user selectable data comprises round-robin data.

5. A system as in claim 1, wherein the user selectable data comprises impedance data.

6. A system as in claim 1, wherein the user selectable data comprises capacitance data.

7. A system as in claim 1, wherein the structural health monitoring analysis comprises embedded ultrasonics structural radar for phase-array data.

8. A system as in claim 1, wherein the structural health monitoring analysis comprises a damage index analysis for pitch-catch and pulse-echo data.

9. A system as in claim 1, wherein the structural health monitoring analysis comprises a damage index analysis for impedance data.

10. A system as in claim 1, wherein the array of sensors comprises piezoelectric wafer active sensors.

11. A system as in claim 1, further comprising an amplifier for selectively amplifying signals produced by the sensors.

12. A system as in claim 1, further comprising a switch to activate the impedance analyzer or function generator.

13. A system as in claim 10, wherein the sensors are wireless sensors.

14. A method for structural health monitoring comprising:

utilizing a system to perform structural health monitoring analysis based on user selectable data, the system comprising an automatic signal collection unit, an array of sensors, an oscilloscope, a function generator, an impedance analyzer, and a computer;

wherein the computer performs structural health monitoring analysis based on data that is selected wherein the structural health monitoring analysis utilizes

15. A method as in claim 14, wherein the data that is selected comprises pitch-catch data.

16. A system as in claim 14, wherein the data that is selected comprises pulse-echo data.

17. A system as in claim 14, wherein the data that is selected comprises round-robin data.

18. A system as in claim 14, wherein the data that is selected comprises impedance data.