In-plane shear piezoelectric wafer active sensor phased arrays for structural health monitoring

This paper proposes a new way for guided wave structural health monitoring using in-plane shear (d36 type) piezoelectric wafer active sensors phased arrays. Conventional piezoelectric wafer active sensors phased arrays based on inducing into specific Lamb wave modes (d31 type) has already widely used for health monitoring of the thin-wall structures. Rather than Lamb wave modes, the in-plane shear piezoelectric wafer active sensors phased arrays induces in-plane shear horizontal (SH) guided waves. The SH guided waves are distinct with the Lamb waves with simple waveform and less additional converted wave modes and the zero symmetric mode (SH₀) is non-dispersive. In this paper, the advantage of the shear horizontal wave and the in-plane shear piezoelectric wafers capability to generate SH waves is first reviewed. Then finite element analysis of a 4-in-plane shear wafer active sensors phased array embedded on a rectangular aluminium plate is performed. In addition, numerical simulations with respect to creaks with different sizes as well as locations are implemented by the in-plane shear wafer active sensors phased array. For comparison purposes, the same numerical simulations using the conventional piezoelectric wafer active sensors phased arrays are also employed at the same time. Results indicate that the in-plane shear (d36 type) piezoelectric wafer active sensors phased arrays has the potential to identify damage location and assess damage severity in structural health monitoring.