A Novel Sensor Design for Generation and Detection of Shear-Horizontal Waves Based on Piezoelectric Fibres

摘要

In the present work a new concept for a shear horizontal ultrasonic wave transducer based on piezoelectric fibre patch (PFP) technology is presented. In this type of sensor two separate fibre layers with opposite polarization are tilted by ±45° relative to the electrode fingers. Numerical 3-D simulations based on the Elastodynamic Finite Integration Technique (EFIT) show that with this new PFP design SH mode generation and detection is much more effective than with the hitherto existing PFP concepts. Due to its small thickness and flexibility the new PFP transducer is perfectly suited for SHM applications with embedded or surface-mounted sensors.