Detection of Bolt Load Loss in Metallic Bolted Joints using a Time Reversal Imaging Technique

摘要

Real-time condition monitoring of critical metallic joints will improve the reliabilityrnand safety of many structures where bolted joints are used. A fully tightened boltedrnjoint can support much more load cycles than an untightened one and thus any realtimernmethod of detecting loss of bolt force is of great importance. In this paper, arntime reversal Lamb wave technique is proposed which uses smart piezoelectricrnceramic (PZT) materials as sensors/actuators while in order to ensure highrnsensitivity to incipient bolt loss procedure, it combines a narrowband Lamb wavernimaging method to serve as a diagnostic tool of the structural metallic component.rnMoreover, this paper numerically investigates the performance of the Lamb waverntime reversal imaging technique for bolt load loss detection using finite elementrnmodels of critical joints in metallic structural components. Different conditions werernimposed to simulate real-time bolt load loss and prove the efficiency of the presentrntime reversal imaging method in tracking and monitoring the integrity of criticalrnmetallic bolted joints.