Hybrid Piezoelectric/Fiber Optic SMART Layers for Structural Health Monitoring

摘要

In-service health monitoring of structures can significantly improve safety and reliability while providing for lower inspection and maintenance costs. Acellent Technologies, Inc. has been developing new tools and techniques for implementing sensor-network based structural health monitoring. Due to the popularity of fiber optic sensors for health monitoring in recent year, Acellent is currently developing a hybrid piezoelectric/fiber optic (HyPFO) monitoring system, based on its patented SMART Layer~(~R) technology for aerospace vehicles and structures. The hybrid piezoelectric/fiber optic scheme uses the piezoelectric actuators to input a controlled excitation to the structure and the fiber optic sensors to capture the corresponding structural response. Advantages of the hybrid system include mode separation between actuators and sensors so no interference is possible. Preliminary test result shows that fiber optic sensors can be successfully integrated into SMART Layers~(~R) without losing sensitivity. The Hybrid SMART Layer~(~R) can be used to develop structural health monitoring techniques that require mixed types of sensors.