In the recent years, the materials composing the structure of aircrafts, such as steel and aluminum, are being progressively replaced with lower density materials, as the Reinforced Plastics. The same trend has been highlighted in the Automotive field to assess the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emission. It is known that the polymer composites have outstanding properties of specific modulus and strength respect to their low density but suffer more than metals from damage generation and propagation. Furthermore, during manufacturing, defects can be included in the material and work as crack initiators for catastrophic delamination.The maintenance on composite structure is therefore based on finding the defects or damages, thanks to several Non-Destructive Techniques (NDT). In order to achieve an optimization of maintenance on aircrafts, a variety of on-board systems has been applied for on-line Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). SHM systems based on piezoelectric transducers earned a particularly high interest for continuous monitoring on metallic and composite structures. The application of this system in automotive could enhance passenger safety, through the monitoring of the vehicle structure health status.The principle behind the system is the propagation of ultrasonic Lamb waves inside the material between a couple of piezoelectric patches that act as actuator and sensor. A difference in the vibration behavior in time is identificative of a damage or a defect on the structure. The validation of the SHM system composed of sensors, electronic devices and algorithms is commonly conducted using sections of the structure or specimens with same materials and simple geometry.In this paper, six mathematical models for evaluating the electrical response of piezoelectric sensors have been implemented, with the aim of selecting the most effective model for damage identification. Tests were carried out on three types of simpler specimens of different geometries made of different materials (steel, aluminum and carbon fiber). A correlation study has been carried on the virtual simulation of the vibrations generated by the piezoelectric transducers for the evaluated geometries, in order to support the positioning of sensors on the component to be monitored.The proposed numerical-experimental methodology is an essential foundation for the introduction of monitoring systems based on piezoelectric transducers in the Automotive sector.

Validation of a Numerical-Experimental Methodology for Structural Health Monitoring on Automotive Components

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2021/volume/85499

ASME 2021 Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS2021)

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