Abstract
Reliable structural health monitoring (SHM) including nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is essential for safe operation of infrastructure systems. Effective monitoring of the rock components of civil infrastructures such as tunnels and caverns remains challenging. The feasibility of employing smart optical fibre sensor (OFS) and piezoelectric impedance sensor made up of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) for comprehensive health monitoring of rocks, covering load history monitoring/retrieval as well as damage assessment is presented in this paper. The rock specimens are subjected to cyclic loading and their conditions are continuously monitored using OFS and PZT sensors. OFS based multiplexed fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are surface bonded on the rock specimens. Their strain sensing performance is compared with the conventional electric strain gauges (ESGs). In addition, PZT patches are also bonded on the specimens to study the damage pattern during different loading cycles. Unlike the FBGs or ESGs, PZT patches are used as bi-functional sensors and actuators, enabling them to be efficient detectors of incipient damages using the principle of electromechanical impedance. The experimental study demonstrated superior performance of these smart FBG and PZT impedance sensors. This work is expected to be useful for SHM based NDE application of rock structures such as caverns and tunnels.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 271-289 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Sensors |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Analytical Chemistry
- Information Systems
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
- Biochemistry
- Instrumentation
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Keywords
- FBG
- Impedance
- Optical fibre sensors
- PZT
- Rock
- Structural health monitoring