In situ Barely Visible Impact Damage detection and localization for composite structures using surface mounted and embedded PZT transducers: A comparative study

Application of guided waves excited by a network of PZT transducers integrated with a given structure is one of the promising approaches to Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The performance of a SHM system based on PZT network is rooted in two distinct areas of the technology development, that is the hardware and the signal analysis. The first includes the type of transducers used to built a network and the way of their integration with a monitored structure. For composites, besides the possibility of the transducers attachment to a surface of an element, also embedding of PZTs into their internal structure is available. In the article Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID) detection capabilities as well as selected physical properties of the embedded and surface mounted PZT transducers are compared in broad frequency range of the excitation. Among the compared parameters are the impedance and capacitance spectra up to 600 kHz. The damage detection capabilities are compared in the range 100-350 kHz. In addition to purely qualitative detection of damages a new algorithm of their localization is proposed and compared between the embedded and surface attached transducers for the frequency optimal to detect BVIDs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.