Generic impedance-based model for structure-piezoceramic interacting system

This paper describes a generic impedance-based model for predicting the electromechanical (EM) impedance of one-dimensional (ID) and two-dimensional (2D) structure-piezoceramic (PZT) interacting systems. The vibration of a PZT patch is first analyzed. The effect of the host structure is then represented by its force impedance, which is obtained by a semianalytical method. Finally, experiments are carried out on beams and plates to simulate ID and 2D problems, respectively. It is found that the predicted EM impedance of the structure-PZT interacting system coincides very well with the experimentally measured data. The results show that the predicted peaks match the natural frequencies of the host structure. The very small shift of the peaks from the natural frequencies caused by the interaction between the host structure and the PZT patch indicates that the small size PZT patch can be permanently bonded to the structure for on-line health monitoring without changing the mechanical properties of the structure too much. It is concluded that the proposed impedance-based model for general structure-PZT interacting systems can be potentially used in structural health monitoring.