Value-Focused Thinking Model to Evaluate SHM System Alternatives From Military end User Requirements Point of View

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klimaszewski Sławomir

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article describes Value-Focused Thinking (VFT model developed in order to evaluate various alternatives for implementation of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM system on a military aircraft. Four SHM system alternatives are considered based on: visual inspection (current approach, piezoelectric (PZT sensors, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG sensors and Comparative Vacuum Monitoring (CVM sensors. A numerical example is shown to illustrate the model capability. Sensitivity analyses are performed on values such as Cost, Performance, Aircraft Availability and Technology Readiness Level in order to examine influence of these values on overall value of structural state of awareness provided by particular SHM system alternative.

A Review of the Piezoelectric Electromechanical Impedance Based Structural Health Monitoring Technique for Engineering Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wongi S. Na

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The birth of smart materials such as piezoelectric (PZT transducers has aided in revolutionizing the field of structural health monitoring (SHM based on non-destructive testing (NDT methods. While a relatively new NDT method known as the electromechanical (EMI technique has been investigated for more than two decades, there are still various problems that must be solved before it is applied to real structures. The technique, which has a significant potential to contribute to the creation of one of the most effective SHM systems, involves the use of a single PZT for exciting and sensing of the host structure. In this paper, studies applied for the past decade related to the EMI technique have been reviewed to understand its trend. In addition, new concepts and ideas proposed by various authors are also surveyed, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the potential directions for future works.

Combining model based and data based techniques in a robust bridge health monitoring algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) aims to analyze civil, mechanical and aerospace systems in order to assess : incipient damage occurrence. In this project, we are concerned with the development of an algorithm within the : SHM paradigm for applicat...

Use of Savitzky-Golay Filter for Performances Improvement of SHM Systems Based on Neural Networks and Distributed PZT Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Mario A; Araujo, Nelcileno V S; da Silva, Rodolfo N; da Silva, Tony I; Epaarachchi, Jayantha

2018-01-08

A considerable amount of research has focused on monitoring structural damage using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies, which has had recent advances. However, it is important to note the challenges and unresolved problems that disqualify currently developed monitoring systems. One of the frontline SHM technologies, the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) technique, has shown its potential to overcome remaining problems and challenges. Unfortunately, the recently developed neural network algorithms have not shown significant improvements in the accuracy of rate and the required processing time. In order to fill this gap in advanced neural networks used with EMI techniques, this paper proposes an enhanced and reliable strategy for improving the structural damage detection via: (1) Savitzky-Golay (SG) filter, using both first and second derivatives; (2) Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN); and, (3) Simplified Fuzzy ARTMAP Network (SFAN). Those three methods were employed to analyze the EMI data experimentally obtained from an aluminum plate containing three attached PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) patches. In this present study, the damage scenarios were simulated by attaching a small metallic nut at three different positions in the aluminum plate. We found that the proposed method achieves a hit rate of more than 83%, which is significantly higher than current state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, this approach results in an improvement of 93% when considering the best case scenario.

Use of Savitzky–Golay Filter for Performances Improvement of SHM Systems Based on Neural Networks and Distributed PZT Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Nelcileno V. S.; da Silva, Rodolfo N.; da Silva, Tony I.; Epaarachchi, Jayantha

2018-01-01

A considerable amount of research has focused on monitoring structural damage using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies, which has had recent advances. However, it is important to note the challenges and unresolved problems that disqualify currently developed monitoring systems. One of the frontline SHM technologies, the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) technique, has shown its potential to overcome remaining problems and challenges. Unfortunately, the recently developed neural network algorithms have not shown significant improvements in the accuracy of rate and the required processing time. In order to fill this gap in advanced neural networks used with EMI techniques, this paper proposes an enhanced and reliable strategy for improving the structural damage detection via: (1) Savitzky–Golay (SG) filter, using both first and second derivatives; (2) Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN); and, (3) Simplified Fuzzy ARTMAP Network (SFAN). Those three methods were employed to analyze the EMI data experimentally obtained from an aluminum plate containing three attached PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) patches. In this present study, the damage scenarios were simulated by attaching a small metallic nut at three different positions in the aluminum plate. We found that the proposed method achieves a hit rate of more than 83%, which is significantly higher than current state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, this approach results in an improvement of 93% when considering the best case scenario. PMID:29316693

Use of Savitzky–Golay Filter for Performances Improvement of SHM Systems Based on Neural Networks and Distributed PZT Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario A. de Oliveira

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A considerable amount of research has focused on monitoring structural damage using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM technologies, which has had recent advances. However, it is important to note the challenges and unresolved problems that disqualify currently developed monitoring systems. One of the frontline SHM technologies, the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI technique, has shown its potential to overcome remaining problems and challenges. Unfortunately, the recently developed neural network algorithms have not shown significant improvements in the accuracy of rate and the required processing time. In order to fill this gap in advanced neural networks used with EMI techniques, this paper proposes an enhanced and reliable strategy for improving the structural damage detection via: (1 Savitzky–Golay (SG filter, using both first and second derivatives; (2 Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN; and, (3 Simplified Fuzzy ARTMAP Network (SFAN. Those three methods were employed to analyze the EMI data experimentally obtained from an aluminum plate containing three attached PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate patches. In this present study, the damage scenarios were simulated by attaching a small metallic nut at three different positions in the aluminum plate. We found that the proposed method achieves a hit rate of more than 83%, which is significantly higher than current state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, this approach results in an improvement of 93% when considering the best case scenario.

Aligning PHM, SHM and CBM by understanding the physical system failure behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tinga, Tiedo; Loendersloot, Richard; Bregon, A.; Daigle, M.J.

2014-01-01

In this work the three disciplines of condition based maintenance (CBM), structural health monitoring (SHM) and prognostics and health management (PHM) are described and the characteristics of the disciplines are compared. The three approaches are then demonstrated using three different case studies

Fundamental and assessment of concrete structure monitoring by using acoustic emission technique testing: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Desa, M. S. M.; Ibrahim, M. H. W.; Shahidan, S.; Ghadzali, N. S.; Misri, Z.

2018-04-01

Acoustic emission (AE) technique is one of the non-destructive (NDT) testing, where it can be used to determine the damage of concrete structures such as crack, corrosion, stability, sensitivity, as structure monitoring and energy formed within cracking opening growth in the concrete structure. This article gives a comprehensive review of the acoustic emission (AE) technique testing due to its application in concrete structure for structural health monitoring (SHM). Assessment of AE technique used for structural are reviewed to give the perception of its structural engineering such as dam, bridge and building, where the previous research has been reviewed based on AE application. The assessment of AE technique focusing on basic fundamental of parametric and signal waveform analysis during analysis process and its capability in structural monitoring. Moreover, the assessment and application of AE due to its function have been summarized and highlighted for future references

New strategies for SHM based on a multichannel wireless AE node

Science.gov (United States)

Godinez-Azcuaga, Valery; Ley, Obdulia

2014-03-01

This paper discusses the development of an Acoustic Emission (AE) wireless node and its application for SHM (Structural Health Monitoring). The instrument development was planned for applications monitoring steel and concrete bridges components. The final product, now commercially available, is a sensor node which includes multiple sensing elements, on board signal processing and analysis capabilities, signal conditioning electronics, power management circuits, wireless data transmission element and energy harvesting unit. The sensing elements are capable of functioning in both passive and active modes, while the multiple parametric inputs are available for connecting various sensor types to measure external characteristics affecting the performance of the structure under monitoring. The output of all these sensors are combined and analyzed at the node in order to minimize the data transmission rate, which consumes significant amount of power. Power management circuits are used to reduce the data collection intervals through selective data acquisition strategies and minimize the sensor node power consumption. This instrument, known as the 1284, is an excellent platform to deploy SHM in the original bridge applications, but initial prototypes has shown significant potential in monitoring composite wind turbine blades and composites mockups of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV) components; currently we are working to extend the use of this system to fields such as coal flow, power transformer, and off-shore platform monitoring.

Structural health monitoring 2012. Proceedings. Vol. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boller, Christian

2012-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology, dealing with the development and implementation of techniques and systems where monitoring, inspection and damage detection become an integral part of structures and thus a matter of automation. It further merges with a variety of techniques related to diagnostics and prognostics. SHM emerged from the field of smart structures and laterally encompasses disciplines such as structural dynamics, materials and structures, fatigue and fracture, non-destructive testing and evaluation, sensors and actuators, microelectronics, signal processing and much more. To be effective in the development of SHM systems, a multidisciplinary approach is therefore required. Without this global view it will be difficult for engineers to holistically manage the operation of an engineering structure through its life cycle in the future and to generate new breakthroughs in structural engineering. The second volume of the proceedings contains topics dealing with applications in the field of aeronautics, astronautic, civil engineering (bridges), energy (wind power), structural health monitoring (transportation), and poster presentations. Ten of the contributions are separately analyzed for the ENERGY database.

Experimental Research on Quick Structural Health Monitoring Technique for Bridges Using Smartphone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuefeng Zhao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the recent years, with the development and popularization of smartphone, the utilization of smartphone in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has attracted increasing attention owing to its unique feature. Since bridges are of great importance to society and economy, bridge health monitoring has very practical significance during its service life. Furthermore, rapid damage assessment of bridge after an extreme event such as earthquake is very important in the recovery work. Smartphone-based bridge health monitoring and postevent damage evaluation have advantages over the conventional monitoring techniques, such as low cost, ease of installation, and convenience. Therefore, this study investigates the implementation feasibility of the quick bridge health monitoring technique using smartphone. A novel vision-based cable force measurement method using smartphone camera is proposed, and, then, its feasibility and practicality is initially validated through cable model test. An experiment regarding multiple parameters monitoring of one bridge scale model is carried out. Parameters, such as acceleration, displacement, and angle, are monitored using smartphone. The experiment results show that there is a good agreement between the reference sensor and smartphone measurements in both time and frequency domains.

Structural health monitoring 2012. Proceedings. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boller, Christian

2012-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology, dealing with the development and implementation of techniques and systems where monitoring, inspection and damage detection become an integral part of structures and thus a matter of automation. It further merges with a variety of techniques related to diagnostics and prognostics. SHM emerged from the field of smart structures and laterally encompasses disciplines such as structural dynamics, materials and structures, fatigue and fracture, non-destructive testing and evaluation, sensors and actuators, microelectronics, signal processing and much more. To be effective in the development of SHM systems, a multidisciplinary approach is therefore required. Without this global view it will be difficult for engineers to holistically manage the operation of an engineering structure through its life cycle in the future and to generate new breakthroughs in structural engineering. The first volume of the proceedings contains topics dealing with physics, materials and sensors. Five of the contributions are separately analyzed for the ENERGY database.

Structural health monitoring (vibration) as a tool for identifying structural alterations of the lumbar spine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kawchuk, Gregory N; Hartvigsen, Jan; Edgecombe, Tiffany

2016-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an engineering technique used to identify mechanical abnormalities not readily apparent through other means. Recently, SHM has been adapted for use in biological systems, but its invasive nature limits its clinical application. As such, the purpose of this pr......Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an engineering technique used to identify mechanical abnormalities not readily apparent through other means. Recently, SHM has been adapted for use in biological systems, but its invasive nature limits its clinical application. As such, the purpose...... of this project was to determine if a non-invasive form of SHM could identify structural alterations in the spines of living human subjects. Lumbar spines of 10 twin pairs were visualized by magnetic resonance imaging then assessed by a blinded radiologist to determine whether twin pairs were structurally...... concordant or discordant. Vibration was then applied to each subject's spine and the resulting response recorded from sensors overlying lumbar spinous processes. The peak frequency, area under the curve and the root mean square were computed from the frequency response function of each sensor. Statistical...

An Online System for Remote SHM Operation with Content Adaptive Signal Compression

OpenAIRE

Westerkamp , Clemens; Hennewig , Alexander; Speckmann , Holger; Bisle , Wolfgang; Colin , Nicolas; Rafrafi , Mona

2014-01-01

International audience; Remote engineering systems are valuable tools to give visual assistance and remote support e.g. in NDT (Non-destructive Testing) or SHM (Structural Health Monitoring). They allow discussing a second opinion with a remote expert and thus reducing the human factor during testing and monitoring. For an optimal impression of the situation, the second person requires both a camera view of the location and the screen view of the system used. The OMA system (Online Maintenanc...

Structural health monitoring an advanced signal processing perspective

CERN Document Server

Chen, Xuefeng; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas

2017-01-01

This book highlights the latest advances and trends in advanced signal processing (such as wavelet theory, time-frequency analysis, empirical mode decomposition, compressive sensing and sparse representation, and stochastic resonance) for structural health monitoring (SHM). Its primary focus is on the utilization of advanced signal processing techniques to help monitor the health status of critical structures and machines encountered in our daily lives: wind turbines, gas turbines, machine tools, etc. As such, it offers a key reference guide for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals who work in the field of SHM.

Bridge SHM system based on fiber optical sensing technology

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Sheng; Fan, Dian; Fu, Jiang-hua; Huang, Xing; Jiang, De-sheng

2015-09-01

The latest progress of our lab in recent 10 years on the area of bridge structural health monitoring (SHM) based on optical fiber sensing technology is introduced. Firstly, in the part of sensing technology, optical fiber force test-ring, optical fiber vibration sensor, optical fiber smart cable, optical fiber prestressing loss monitoring method and optical fiber continuous curve mode inspection system are developed, which not only rich the sensor types, but also provides new monitoring means that are needed for the bridge health monitoring system. Secondly, in the optical fiber sensing network and computer system platform, the monitoring system architecture model is designed to effectively meet the integration scale and effect requirement of engineering application, especially the bridge expert system proposed integration of sensing information and informatization manual inspection to realize the mode of multi index intelligence and practical monitoring, diagnosis and evaluation. Finally, the Jingyue bridge monitoring system as the representative, the research on the technology of engineering applications are given.

Multi-Wave and Hybrid Imaging Techniques: A New Direction for Nondestructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuhua Cheng

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In this article, the state-of-the-art multi-wave and hybrid imaging techniques in the field of nondestructive evaluation and structural health monitoring were comprehensively reviewed. A new direction for assessment and health monitoring of various structures by capitalizing the advantages of those imaging methods was discussed. Although sharing similar system configurations, the imaging physics and principles of multi-wave phenomena and hybrid imaging methods are inherently different. After a brief introduction of nondestructive evaluation (NDE , structure health monitoring (SHM and their related challenges, several recent advances that have significantly extended imaging methods from laboratory development into practical applications were summarized, followed by conclusions and discussion on future directions.

Structural health monitoring of bridge cables : An overview

OpenAIRE

DRISSI HABTI, Monssef; BETTI, Raimondo; YANEV, Bojidar

2009-01-01

Bridges are critical components of the civil infrastructure and are normally designed for a long life span. The life span of suspension bridges depends on the health of their cables, which, in turn, is a function of many factors. Therefore, continuous health monitoring (SHM) and regular condition assessment of cables is highly desirable. In this article, some SHM procedures based on direct, indirect non-destructive techniques NDT, and vibration theory are presented.

Application of modern SHM methods in electric power industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gasior, Pawel; Kaleta, Jerzy [Wroclaw Univ. of Technolgy (Poland); Przygoda, Aleksander [RAFAKO S.A., Raciborz (Poland)

2012-07-01

In this paper an application of up-to-date Structural Health Monitoring systems based mainly on optical fibre sensors for various applications in power plants is presented. Real working solutions and ideas of the SHM systems were applied to fluid power boilers, installations of environmental protection (the so called desulphurisation systems) and main frames of construction (130m high). The measured values were compared with the design ones, as well as with the calculated values. It enabled evaluation of the inhomogeneous loads distribution and increased safety of the construction during its repair and operation. (orig.)

Frequency Selective Surface for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Norlyana Azemi, Saidatul; Mustaffa, Farzana Hazira Wan; Faizal Jamlos, Mohd; Abdullah Al-Hadi, Azremi; Soh, Ping Jack

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies have attained attention to monitor civil structures. SHM sensor systems have been used in various civil structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels and so on. However the previous sensor for SHM is wired and encounter with problem to cover large areas. Therefore, wireless sensor was introduced for SHM to reduce network connecting problem. Wireless sensors for Structural Health monitoring are new technology and have many advantages to overcome the drawback of conventional and wired sensor. This project proposed passive wireless SHM sensor using frequency selective surface (FSS) as an alternative to conventional sensors. The electromagnetic wave characteristic of FSS will change by geometrical changes of FSS due to mechanical strain or structural failure. The changes feature is used as a sensing function without any connecting wires. Two type of design which are circular ring and square loop along with the transmission and reflection characteristics of SHM using FSS were discussed in this project. A simulation process has shown that incident angle characteristics can be use as a data for SHM application.

Simulation tools for guided wave based structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Mesnil, Olivier; Imperiale, Alexandre; Demaldent, Edouard; Baronian, Vahan; Chapuis, Bastien

2018-04-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a thematic derived from Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) based on the integration of sensors onto or into a structure in order to monitor its health without disturbing its regular operating cycle. Guided wave based SHM relies on the propagation of guided waves in plate-like or extruded structures. Using piezoelectric transducers to generate and receive guided waves is one of the most widely accepted paradigms due to the low cost and low weight of those sensors. A wide range of techniques for flaw detection based on the aforementioned setup is available in the literature but very few of these techniques have found industrial applications yet. A major difficulty comes from the sensitivity of guided waves to a substantial number of parameters such as the temperature or geometrical singularities, making guided wave measurement difficult to analyze. In order to apply guided wave based SHM techniques to a wider spectrum of applications and to transfer those techniques to the industry, the CEA LIST develops novel numerical methods. These methods facilitate the evaluation of the robustness of SHM techniques for multiple applicative cases and ease the analysis of the influence of various parameters, such as sensors positioning or environmental conditions. The first numerical tool is the guided wave module integrated to the commercial software CIVA, relying on a hybrid modal-finite element formulation to compute the guided wave response of perturbations (cavities, flaws…) in extruded structures of arbitrary cross section such as rails or pipes. The second numerical tool is based on the spectral element method [2] and simulates guided waves in both isotropic (metals) and orthotropic (composites) plate like-structures. This tool is designed to match the widely accepted sparse piezoelectric transducer array SHM configuration in which each embedded sensor acts as both emitter and receiver of guided waves. This tool is under development and

Statistical analysis of modal parameters of a suspension bridge based on Bayesian spectral density approach and SHM data

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhijun; Feng, Maria Q.; Luo, Longxi; Feng, Dongming; Xu, Xiuli

2018-01-01

Uncertainty of modal parameters estimation appear in structural health monitoring (SHM) practice of civil engineering to quite some significant extent due to environmental influences and modeling errors. Reasonable methodologies are needed for processing the uncertainty. Bayesian inference can provide a promising and feasible identification solution for the purpose of SHM. However, there are relatively few researches on the application of Bayesian spectral method in the modal identification using SHM data sets. To extract modal parameters from large data sets collected by SHM system, the Bayesian spectral density algorithm was applied to address the uncertainty of mode extraction from output-only response of a long-span suspension bridge. The posterior most possible values of modal parameters and their uncertainties were estimated through Bayesian inference. A long-term variation and statistical analysis was performed using the sensor data sets collected from the SHM system of the suspension bridge over a one-year period. The t location-scale distribution was shown to be a better candidate function for frequencies of lower modes. On the other hand, the burr distribution provided the best fitting to the higher modes which are sensitive to the temperature. In addition, wind-induced variation of modal parameters was also investigated. It was observed that both the damping ratios and modal forces increased during the period of typhoon excitations. Meanwhile, the modal damping ratios exhibit significant correlation with the spectral intensities of the corresponding modal forces.

Regionalization Study of Satellite based Hydrological Model (SHM) in Hydrologically Homogeneous River Basins of India

Science.gov (United States)

Kumari, Babita; Paul, Pranesh Kumar; Singh, Rajendra; Mishra, Ashok; Gupta, Praveen Kumar; Singh, Raghvendra P.

2017-04-01

A new semi-distributed conceptual hydrological model, namely Satellite based Hydrological Model (SHM), has been developed under 'PRACRITI-2' program of Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad for sustainable water resources management of India by using data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites. Entire India is divided into 5km x 5km grid cells and properties at the center of the cells are assumed to represent the property of the cells. SHM contains five modules namely surface water, forest, snow, groundwater and routing. Two empirical equations (SCS-CN and Hargreaves) and water balance method have been used in the surface water module; the forest module is based on the calculations of water balancing & dynamics of subsurface. 2-D Boussinesq equation is used for groundwater modelling which is solved using implicit finite-difference. The routing module follows a distributed routing approach which requires flow path and network with the key point of travel time estimation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of SHM using regionalization technique which also checks the usefulness of a model in data scarce condition or for ungauged basins. However, homogeneity analysis is pre-requisite to regionalization. Similarity index (Φ) and hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis are adopted to test the homogeneity in terms of physical attributes of three basins namely Brahmani (39,033 km km^2)), Baitarani (10,982 km km^2)) and Kangsabati (9,660 km km^2)) with respect to Subarnarekha (29,196 km km^2)) basin. The results of both homogeneity analysis show that Brahmani basin is the most homogeneous with respect to Subarnarekha river basin in terms of physical characteristics (land use land cover classes, soiltype and elevation). The calibration and validation of model parameters of Brahmani basin is in progress which are to be transferred into the SHM set up of Subarnarekha basin and results are to be compared with the results of calibrated and validated

Guided wave based structural health monitoring: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitra, Mira; Gopalakrishnan, S

2016-01-01

The paper provides a state of the art review of guided wave based structural health monitoring (SHM). First, the fundamental concepts of guided wave propagation and its implementation for SHM is explained. Following sections present the different modeling schemes adopted, developments in the area of transducers for generation, and sensing of wave, signal processing and imaging technique, statistical and machine learning schemes for feature extraction. Next, a section is presented on the recent advancements in nonlinear guided wave for SHM. This is followed by section on Rayleigh and SH waves. Next is a section on real-life implementation of guided wave for industrial problems. The paper, though briefly talks about the early development for completeness, is primarily focussed on the recent progress made in the last decade. The paper ends by discussing and highlighting the future directions and open areas of research in guided wave based SHM. (topical review)

Wireless Impedance-Based SHM for Bolted Connections via Multiple PZT-Interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Khac Duy; Kim, Jeong Tae

2011-01-01

This study presents a structural health monitoring(SHM) method for bolted connections by using multi-channel wireless impedance sensor nodes and multiple PZT-interfaces. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. Firstly, a PZT-interface is designed to monitor bolt loosening in bolted connection based on variation of electro-mechanical(EM) impedance signatures. Secondly, a wireless impedance sensor node is designed for autonomous, cost-efficient and multi-channel monitoring. For the sensor platform, Imote2 is selected on the basis of its high operating speed, low power requirement and large storage memory. Finally, the performance of the wireless sensor node and the PZT-interfaces is experimentally evaluated for a bolt-connection model. Damage monitoring method using root mean square deviation(RMSD) index of EM impedance signatures is utilized to estimate the strength of the bolted joint

Develop an piezoelectric sensing based on SHM system for nuclear dry storage system

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Linlin; Lin, Bin; Sun, Xiaoyi; Howden, Stephen; Yu, Lingyu

2016-04-01

In US, there are over 1482 dry cask storage system (DCSS) in use storing 57,807 fuel assemblies. Monitoring is necessary to determine and predict the degradation state of the systems and structures. Therefore, nondestructive monitoring is in urgent need and must be integrated into the fuel cycle to quantify the "state of health" for the safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPP) and radioactive waste storage systems (RWSS). Innovative approaches are desired to evaluate the degradation and damage of used fuel containers under extended storage. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology that uses in-situ sensory system to perform rapid nondestructive detection of structural damage as well as long-term integrity monitoring. It has been extensively studied in aerospace engineering over the past two decades. This paper presents the development of a SHM and damage detection methodology based on piezoelectric sensors technologies for steel canisters in nuclear dry cask storage system. Durability and survivability of piezoelectric sensors under temperature influence are first investigated in this work by evaluating sensor capacitance and electromechanical admittance. Toward damage detection, the PES are configured in pitch catch setup to transmit and receive guided waves in plate-like structures. When the inspected structure has damage such as a surface defect, the incident guided waves will be reflected or scattered resulting in changes in the wave measurements. Sparse array algorithm is developed and implemented using multiple sensors to image the structure. The sparse array algorithm is also evaluated at elevated temperature.

Experimental Research on Quick Structural Health Monitoring Technique for Bridges Using Smartphone

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Xuefeng; Ri, Kwang; Han, Ruicong; Yu, Yan; Li, Mingchu; Ou, Jinping

2016-01-01

In the recent years, with the development and popularization of smartphone, the utilization of smartphone in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has attracted increasing attention owing to its unique feature. Since bridges are of great importance to society and economy, bridge health monitoring has very practical significance during its service life. Furthermore, rapid damage assessment of bridge after an extreme event such as earthquake is very important in the recovery work. Smartphone-b...

Virtual Environments for Visualizing Structural Health Monitoring Sensor Networks, Data, and Metadata.

Science.gov (United States)

Napolitano, Rebecca; Blyth, Anna; Glisic, Branko

2018-01-16

Visualization of sensor networks, data, and metadata is becoming one of the most pivotal aspects of the structural health monitoring (SHM) process. Without the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively between disparate groups working on a project, an SHM system can be underused, misunderstood, or even abandoned. For this reason, this work seeks to evaluate visualization techniques in the field, identify flaws in current practices, and devise a new method for visualizing and accessing SHM data and metadata in 3D. More precisely, the work presented here reflects a method and digital workflow for integrating SHM sensor networks, data, and metadata into a virtual reality environment by combining spherical imaging and informational modeling. Both intuitive and interactive, this method fosters communication on a project enabling diverse practitioners of SHM to efficiently consult and use the sensor networks, data, and metadata. The method is presented through its implementation on a case study, Streicker Bridge at Princeton University campus. To illustrate the efficiency of the new method, the time and data file size were compared to other potential methods used for visualizing and accessing SHM sensor networks, data, and metadata in 3D. Additionally, feedback from civil engineering students familiar with SHM is used for validation. Recommendations on how different groups working together on an SHM project can create SHM virtual environment and convey data to proper audiences, are also included.

Information processing for aerospace structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Lichtenwalner, Peter F.; White, Edward V.; Baumann, Erwin W.

1998-06-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technology provides a means to significantly reduce life cycle of aerospace vehicles by eliminating unnecessary inspections, minimizing inspection complexity, and providing accurate diagnostics and prognostics to support vehicle life extension. In order to accomplish this, a comprehensive SHM system will need to acquire data from a wide variety of diverse sensors including strain gages, accelerometers, acoustic emission sensors, crack growth gages, corrosion sensors, and piezoelectric transducers. Significant amounts of computer processing will then be required to convert this raw sensor data into meaningful information which indicates both the diagnostics of the current structural integrity as well as the prognostics necessary for planning and managing the future health of the structure in a cost effective manner. This paper provides a description of the key types of information processing technologies required in an effective SHM system. These include artificial intelligence techniques such as neural networks, expert systems, and fuzzy logic for nonlinear modeling, pattern recognition, and complex decision making; signal processing techniques such as Fourier and wavelet transforms for spectral analysis and feature extraction; statistical algorithms for optimal detection, estimation, prediction, and fusion; and a wide variety of other algorithms for data analysis and visualization. The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of the role of information processing for SHM, discuss various technologies which can contribute to accomplishing this role, and present some example applications of information processing for SHM implemented at the Boeing Company.

Comparative study of electromechanical impedance and Lamb wave techniques for fatigue crack detection and monitoring in metallic structures

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Say Ian; Liu, Yu; Soh, Chee Kiong

2012-04-01

Fatigue cracks often initiate at the weld toes of welded steel connections. Usually, these cracks cannot be identified by the naked eyes. Existing identification methods like dye-penetration test and alternating current potential drop (ACPD) may be useful for detecting fatigue cracks at the weld toes. To apply these non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques, the potential sites have to be accessible during inspection. Therefore, there is a need to explore other detection and monitoring techniques for fatigue cracks especially when their locations are inaccessible or cost of access is uneconomical. Electro-mechanical Impedance (EMI) and Lamb wave techniques are two fast growing techniques in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) community. These techniques use piezoelectric ceramics (PZT) for actuation and sensing. Since the monitoring site is only needed to be accessed once for the instrumentation of the transducers, remote monitoring is made possible. The permanent locations of these transducers also translate to having consistent measurement for monitoring. The main focus of this study is to conduct a comparative investigation on the effectiveness and efficiency of the EMI technique and the Lamb wave technique for successful fatigue crack identification and monitoring of welded steel connections using piezoelectric transducers. A laboratory-sized non-load carrying fillet weld specimen is used in this study. The specimen is subjected to cyclic tensile load and data for both techniques are acquired at stipulated intervals. It can be concluded that the EMI technique is sensitive to the crack initiation phase while the Lamb wave technique correlates well with the crack propagation phase.

SHM reliability and implementation - A personal military aviation perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Lindgren, Eric A.

2016-02-01

Structural Health Monitoring has been proposed as a solution to address the needs of military aviation to reduce the time and cost to perform nondestructive inspections. While the potential to realize significant benefits exist, there are considerations that have to be addressed before such systems can be integrated into military platforms. Some considerations are pervasive to all aviation, such as how to assess the reliability and reproducible capability of these systems. However, there are other challenges unique to military aviation that must be overcome before these types of systems can be used. This presentation and paper are intended as a complement to the review of the outcome of the SAE G-11 SHM committee special workshop on SHM reliability in April of 2015. It will address challenges unique to military aviation that stem from different approaches to managing structural integrity (i.e. safety), frequency of use, design differences, various maintenance practices, and additional descriptions addressing differences in the execution of inspections. The objective of this presentation is to improve the awareness of the research and development community to the different and unique requirements found in military aviation, including the differences between countries, services, and aircraft type. This information should assist the research and development community in identifying and attacking key challenges. It is not intended to be comprehensive overview of all stakeholders' perspectives, but to serve as a launch point for additional discussion and exploration of opportunities to realize the potential of Structural Health Monitoring to assist in the management of military aviation assets. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

Structural Health Monitoring of Wind Turbine Blades: Acoustic Source Localization Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Mabrok Bouzid

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM is important for reducing the maintenance and operation cost of safety-critical components and systems in offshore wind turbines. This paper proposes an in situ wireless SHM system based on an acoustic emission (AE technique. By using this technique a number of challenges are introduced due to high sampling rate requirements, limitations in the communication bandwidth, memory space, and power resources. To overcome these challenges, this paper focused on two elements: (1 the use of an in situ wireless SHM technique in conjunction with the utilization of low sampling rates; (2 localization of acoustic sources which could emulate impact damage or audible cracks caused by different objects, such as tools, bird strikes, or strong hail, all of which represent abrupt AE events and could affect the structural health of a monitored wind turbine blade. The localization process is performed using features extracted from aliased AE signals based on a developed constraint localization model. To validate the performance of these elements, the proposed system was tested by testing the localization of the emulated AE sources acquired in the field.

Novel Monitoring Techniques for Characterizing Frictional Interfaces in the Laboratory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul A. Selvadurai

2015-04-01

Full Text Available A pressure-sensitive film was used to characterize the asperity contacts along a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA interface in the laboratory. The film has structural health monitoring (SHM applications for flanges and other precision fittings and train rail condition monitoring. To calibrate the film, simple spherical indentation tests were performed and validated against a finite element model (FEM to compare normal stress profiles. Experimental measurements of the normal stress profiles were within −7.7% to 6.6% of the numerical calculations between 12 and 50 MPa asperity normal stress. The film also possessed the capability of quantifying surface roughness, an important parameter when examining wear and attrition in SHM applications. A high definition video camera supplied data for photometric analysis (i.e., the measure of visible light of asperities along the PMMA-PMMA interface in a direct shear configuration, taking advantage of the transparent nature of the sample material. Normal stress over individual asperities, calculated with the pressure-sensitive film, was compared to the light intensity transmitted through the interface. We found that the luminous intensity transmitted through individual asperities linearly increased 0.05643 ± 0.0012 candelas for an increase of 1 MPa in normal stress between normal stresses ranging from 23 to 33 MPa.

Integration of structural health monitoring solutions onto commercial aircraft via the Federal Aviation Administration structural health monitoring research program

Science.gov (United States)

Swindell, Paul; Doyle, Jon; Roach, Dennis

2017-02-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started a research program in structural health monitoring (SHM) in 2011. The program's goal was to understand the technical gaps of implementing SHM on commercial aircraft and the potential effects on FAA regulations and guidance. The program evolved into a demonstration program consisting of a team from Sandia National Labs Airworthiness Assurance NDI Center (AANC), the Boeing Corporation, Delta Air Lines, Structural Monitoring Systems (SMS), Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp (AEM) and the FAA. This paper will discuss the program from the selection of the inspection problem, the SHM system (Comparative Vacuum Monitoring-CVM) that was selected as the inspection solution and the testing completed to provide sufficient data to gain the first approved use of an SHM system for routine maintenance on commercial US aircraft.

Monitoring of structures: review of technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) aims at monitoring the integrity of structures either in a continuous way or periodically. SHM is used for the monitoring of big civil works like bridges, dams, railways or critical structures like nuclear power plants or chemical plants. The sensors fixed on the structure allow an in-service monitoring. SHM gathers various technologies like ultrasound, acoustic emission, vibrations, Foucault currents...A technology based on guided ultrasonic waves (Lamb waves) appears promising for monitoring large structures made of composite materials. Another technology based on optical fibers can be used in very harsh environment and the optic fiber does not require any more sensors, the optical fiber itself being the sensor. The optical fiber is generally integrated to the structure during the construction phase. (A.C.)

Health monitoring of 90° bolted joints using fuzzy pattern recognition of ultrasonic signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalalpour, M; El-Osery, A I; Austin, E M; Reda Taha, M M

2014-01-01

Bolted joints are important parts for aerospace structures. However, there is a significant risk associated with assembling bolted joints due to potential human error during the assembly process. Such errors are expensive to find and correct if exposed during environmental testing, yet checking the integrity of individual fasteners after assembly would be a time consuming task. Recent advances in structural health monitoring (SHM) can provide techniques to not only automate this process but also make it reliable. This integrity monitoring requires damage features to be related to physical conditions representing the structural integrity of bolted joints. In this paper an SHM technique using ultrasonic signals and fuzzy pattern recognition to monitor the integrity of 90° bolted joints in aerospace structures is described. The proposed technique is based on normalized fast Fourier transform (NFFT) of transmitted signals and fuzzy pattern recognition. Moreover, experimental observations of a case study on an aluminum 90° bolted joint are presented. We demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to efficiently monitor and indicate bolted joint integrity. (paper)

Structural health monitoring for DOT using magnetic shape memory alloy cables in concrete

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Allen; Mirsayar, Mirmilad; Sheahan, Emery; Hartl, Darren

2018-03-01

Embedding shape memory alloy (SMA) wires in concrete components offers the potential to monitor their structural health via external magnetic field sensing. Currently, structural health monitoring (SHM) is dominated by acoustic emission and vibration-based methods. Thus, it is attractive to pursue alternative damage sensing techniques that may lower the cost or increase the accuracy of SHM. In this work, SHM via magnetic field detection applied to embedded magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) is demonstrated both experimentally and using computational models. A concrete beam containing iron-based MSMA wire is subjected to a 3-point bend test where structural damage is induced, thereby resulting in a localized phase change of the MSMA wire. Magnetic field lines passing through the embedded MSMA domain are altered by this phase change and can thus be used to detect damage within the structure. A good correlation is observed between the computational and experimental results. Additionally, the implementation of stranded MSMA cables in place of the MSMA wire is assessed through similar computational models. The combination of these computational models and their subsequent experimental validation provide sufficient support for the feasibility of SHM using magnetic field sensing via MSMA embedded components.

Review on energy harvesting for structural health monitoring in aeronautical applications

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Minh Quyen; Capsal, Jean-Fabien; Lallart, Mickaël; Hebrard, Yoann; Van Der Ham, Andre; Reffe, Nicolas; Geynet, Lionel; Cottinet, Pierre-Jean

2015-11-01

This paper reviews recent developments in energy harvesting technologies for structural health monitoring (SHM) in aeronautical applications. Aeronautical industries show a great deal of interest in obtaining technologies that can be used to monitor the health of machinery and structures. In particular, the need for self-sufficient monitoring of structures has been ever-increasing in recent years. Autonomous SHM systems typically include embedded sensors, and elements for data acquisition, wireless communication, and energy harvesting. Among all of these components, this paper focuses on energy harvesting technologies. Actually, low-power sensors and wireless communication components are used in newer SHM systems, and a number of researchers have recently investigated such techniques to extract energy from the local environment to power these stand-alone systems. The first part of the paper is dedicated to the different energy sources available in aeronautical applications, i.e., for airplanes and helicopters. The second part gives a presentation of the various devices developed for converting ambient energy into electric power. The last part is dedicated to a comparison of the different technologies and the future development of energy harvesting for aeronautical applications.

A self-synchronizing and low-cost structural health monitoring scheme based on zero crossing detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guyomar, Daniel; Lallart, Mickaël; Li, Kaixiang; Gauthier, Jean-Yves; Monnier, Thomas

2010-01-01

Owing to their high specific strength and stiffness, composite materials are increasingly being used in aeronautics and astronautics, but such materials are vulnerable to impact damage and delamination. Structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques have been developed for detecting such defects in recent years. In situ, self-powered and low-cost SHM systems are a developmental tendency of this technique. This paper introduces the principles of a low-cost and self-synchronizing scheme for SHM. Based on the Lamb wave interactions with the structure, the proposed technique relies on detecting zero crossing time instants in order to derive an estimation of the structural state. It is shown that such a method provides a very simple and low-cost way to assess the structural integrity while being computationally efficient. Experimental investigations carried out on a composite plate with an increasing penetration hold validating the proposed technique show its effectiveness for detecting the damage. The proposed approach has also been applied on an aircraft outboard flap to detect the impact damage. The robustness is discussed versus time-shift and magnitude jitter assumptions by using the plate case. The temperature effect is also considered by defining a coefficient array in order to compensate for the material property changes. Finally, an embedded implementation of such a SHM technique is presented by using the proposed damage index

The Influence of Brittle Daniels System Characteristics on the Value of Load Monitoring Information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, Sebastian; Schneider, Ronald

This paper addresses the influence of deteriorating brittle Daniels system characteristics on the value of structural health monitoring (SHM). The value of SHM is quantified as the difference between the life cycle benefits with and without SHM. A value of SHM analysis is performed within...

Damage Detection with Streamlined Structural Health Monitoring Data

OpenAIRE

Li, Jian; Deng, Jun; Xie, Weizhi

2015-01-01

The huge amounts of sensor data generated by large scale sensor networks in on-line structural health monitoring (SHM) systems often overwhelms the systems’ capacity for data transmission and analysis. This paper presents a new concept for an integrated SHM system in which a streamlined data flow is used as a unifying thread to integrate the individual components of on-line SHM systems. Such an integrated SHM system has a few desirable functionalities including embedded sensor data compressio...

The performance of a piezoelectric-sensor-based SHM system under a combined cryogenic temperature and vibration environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qing, Xinlin P; Beard, Shawn J; Kumar, Amrita; Sullivan, Kevin; Aguilar, Robert; Merchant, Munir; Taniguchi, Mike

2008-01-01

A series of tests have been conducted to determine the survivability and functionality of a piezoelectric-sensor-based active structural health monitoring (SHM) SMART Tape system under the operating conditions of typical liquid rocket engines such as cryogenic temperature and vibration loads. The performance of different piezoelectric sensors and a low temperature adhesive under cryogenic temperature was first investigated. The active SHM system for liquid rocket engines was exposed to flight vibration and shock environments on a simulated large booster LOX-H 2 engine propellant duct conditioned to cryogenic temperatures to evaluate the physical robustness of the built-in sensor network as well as operational survivability and functionality. Test results demonstrated that the developed SMART Tape system can withstand operational levels of vibration and shock energy on a representative rocket engine duct assembly, and is functional under the combined cryogenic temperature and vibration environment

Structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Rumsey, Mark A.; Paquette, Joshua A.

2008-03-01

As electric utility wind turbines increase in size, and correspondingly, increase in initial capital investment cost, there is an increasing need to monitor the health of the structure. Acquiring an early indication of structural or mechanical problems allows operators to better plan for maintenance, possibly operate the machine in a de-rated condition rather than taking the unit off-line, or in the case of an emergency, shut the machine down to avoid further damage. This paper describes several promising structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques that were recently exercised during a fatigue test of a 9 meter glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy wind turbine blade. The SHM systems were implemented by teams from NASA Kennedy Space Center, Purdue University and Virginia Tech. A commercial off-the-shelf acoustic emission (AE) NDT system gathered blade AE data throughout the test. At a fatigue load cycle rate around 1.2 Hertz, and after more than 4,000,000 fatigue cycles, the blade was diagnostically and visibly failing at the out-board blade spar-cap termination point at 4.5 meters. For safety reasons, the test was stopped just before the blade completely failed. This paper provides an overview of the SHM and NDT system setups and some current test results.

Technical Specifications of Structural Health Monitoring for Highway Bridges: New Chinese Structural Health Monitoring Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Moreu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Governments and professional groups related to civil engineering write and publish standards and codes to protect the safety of critical infrastructure. In recent decades, countries have developed codes and standards for structural health monitoring (SHM. During this same period, rapid growth in the Chinese economy has led to massive development of civil engineering infrastructure design and construction projects. In 2016, the Ministry of Transportation of the People’s Republic of China published a new design code for SHM systems for large highway bridges. This document is the first technical SHM code by a national government that enforces sensor installation on highway bridges. This paper summarizes the existing international technical SHM codes for various countries and compares them with the new SHM code required by the Chinese Ministry of Transportation. This paper outlines the contents of the new Chinese SHM code and explains its relevance for the safety and management of large bridges in China, introducing key definitions of the Chinese–United States SHM vocabulary and their technical significance. Finally, this paper discusses the implications for the design and implementation of a future SHM codes, with suggestions for similar efforts in United States and other countries.

A Methodological Review of Piezoelectric Based Acoustic Wave Generation and Detection Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang Sun

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Piezoelectric transducers have a long history of applications in nondestructive evaluation of material and structure integrity owing to their ability of transforming mechanical energy to electrical energy and vice versa. As condition based maintenance has emerged as a valuable approach to enhancing continued aircraft airworthiness while reducing the life cycle cost, its enabling structural health monitoring (SHM technologies capable of providing on-demand diagnosis of the structure without interrupting the aircraft operation are attracting increasing R&D efforts. Piezoelectric transducers play an essential role in these endeavors. This paper is set forth to review a variety of ingenious ways in which piezoelectric transducers are used in today’s SHM technologies as a means of generation and/or detection of diagnostic acoustic waves.

Exploitation of the Reverberant Propagation of Elastic Waves in Structures: Towards a Concept of Low-resource SHM Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

Moulin, Emmanuel; Benmeddour, Farouk; Achdjian, Hossep; Chehami, Lynda; Assaad, Jamal; de Rosny, Julien; Prada, Claire

Actual implementation of an efficient SHM system is necessarily hampered by the constraints of power-consumption and intrusive- ness (weight, size, in-service integration) of sensors. In the field of ultrasound-based SHM, conventional methods rely on relatively powerful acoustic sources synchronized with the sensors, and exploit only the first propagated (ballistic) wavepackets. The aim of this paper is to present possible techniques to exploit the whole complexity of reverberation signals, in order to extract the maxi- mum information from limited hardware, software, or power resources. A first aspect is the extraction of statistical properties of the codas of multiply-reflected signals, which can be used to estimate structural properties from a small number of sensors. In this technique, the required signal processing is relatively light and synchronization between the acquisition channels is not necessary. A second aspect is concerned with the possibility of using ambient acoustic sources, naturally present for example in transportation applications, instead of artificial power-consuming ultrasound sources.

Assessing the value of structural health monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, S.; Faber, Michael Havbro

2013-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are designed for assisting owners and operators with information and forecasts concerning the fitness for purpose of structures and building systems. The benefit associated with the implementation of SHM may in some cases be intuitively anticipated...... as their responses and performances over their life-cycle. In addition, the quality of monitoring and the performance of possible remedial actions triggered by monitoring results are modeled probabilistically.The consequences accounted for, in principle include all consequences associated with the performance...

Wireless AE Event and Environmental Monitoring for Wind Turbine Blades at Low Sampling Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Bouzid, Omar M.; Tian, Gui Y.; Cumanan, K.; Neasham, J.

Integration of acoustic wireless technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications introduces new challenges due to requirements of high sampling rates, additional communication bandwidth, memory space, and power resources. In order to circumvent these challenges, this chapter proposes a novel solution through building a wireless SHM technique in conjunction with acoustic emission (AE) with field deployment on the structure of a wind turbine. This solution requires a low sampling rate which is lower than the Nyquist rate. In addition, features extracted from aliased AE signals instead of reconstructing the original signals on-board the wireless nodes are exploited to monitor AE events, such as wind, rain, strong hail, and bird strike in different environmental conditions in conjunction with artificial AE sources. Time feature extraction algorithm, in addition to the principal component analysis (PCA) method, is used to extract and classify the relevant information, which in turn is used to classify or recognise a testing condition that is represented by the response signals. This proposed novel technique yields a significant data reduction during the monitoring process of wind turbine blades.

Structural health monitoring and probability of detection estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Forsyth, David S.

2016-02-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) methods are often based on nondestructive testing (NDT) sensors and are often proposed as replacements for NDT to lower cost and/or improve reliability. In order to take advantage of SHM for life cycle management, it is necessary to determine the Probability of Detection (POD) of the SHM system just as for traditional NDT to ensure that the required level of safety is maintained. Many different possibilities exist for SHM systems, but one of the attractive features of SHM versus NDT is the ability to take measurements very simply after the SHM system is installed. Using a simple statistical model of POD, some authors have proposed that very high rates of SHM system data sampling can result in high effective POD even in situations where an individual test has low POD. In this paper, we discuss the theoretical basis for determining the effect of repeated inspections, and examine data from SHM experiments against this framework to show how the effective POD from multiple tests can be estimated.

Energy Harvesting for Aerospace Structural Health Monitoring Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearson, M R; Eaton, M J; Pullin, R; Featherston, C A; Holford, K M

2012-01-01

Recent research into damage detection methodologies, embedded sensors, wireless data transmission and energy harvesting in aerospace environments has meant that autonomous structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are becoming a real possibility. The most promising system would utilise wireless sensor nodes that are able to make decisions on damage and communicate this wirelessly to a central base station. Although such a system shows great potential and both passive and active monitoring techniques exist for detecting damage in structures, powering such wireless sensors nodes poses a problem. Two such energy sources that could be harvested in abundance on an aircraft are vibration and thermal gradients. Piezoelectric transducers mounted to the surface of a structure can be utilised to generate power from a dynamic strain whilst thermoelectric generators (TEG) can be used to generate power from thermal gradients. This paper reports on the viability of these two energy sources for powering a wireless SHM system from vibrations ranging from 20 to 400Hz and thermal gradients up to 50°C. Investigations showed that using a single vibrational energy harvester raw power levels of up to 1mW could be generated. Further numerical modelling demonstrated that by optimising the position and orientation of the vibrational harvester greater levels of power could be achieved. However using commercial TEGs average power levels over a flight period between 5 to 30mW could be generated. Both of these energy harvesting techniques show a great potential in powering current wireless SHM systems where depending on the complexity the power requirements range from 1 to 180mW.

Dynamic Analysis with Fibre Optic Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Paolozzi, Antonio; Gasbarri, Paolo

2006-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a new frontier of non destructing testing. Often SHM is associated with fibre optic sensors whose signals can be used to identify the structure and consequently its damage...

Review of Radio Frequency Identification and Wireless Technology for Structural Health Monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhital, Dipesh; Chia, Chen Ciang; Lee, Jung Ryul [Chonbuk National University, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Park, Chan Yik [Aeronautical Technology Directorate, Agency for Defense Development, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-06-15

Radio frequency identification(RFID) combined with wireless technology has good potential for structural health monitoring(SHM). We describe several advantages of RFID and wireless technologies for SHM, and review SHM examples with working principles, design and technical details for damage detection, heat exposure monitoring, force/strain sensing, and corrosion detection in concrete, steel, carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP), and other materials. Various sensors combined with wireless communication are also discussed. These methodologies can be readily developed, implemented, and customized. There are some technical difficulties, but solutions are being addressed. Lastly, a surface acoustic wave-based RFID system is presented, and possible future trends of SHM based on RFID and wireless technology are presented

Review of Radio Frequency Identification and Wireless Technology for Structural Health Monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhital, Dipesh; Chia, Chen Ciang; Lee, Jung Ryul; Park, Chan Yik

2010-01-01

Radio frequency identification(RFID) combined with wireless technology has good potential for structural health monitoring(SHM). We describe several advantages of RFID and wireless technologies for SHM, and review SHM examples with working principles, design and technical details for damage detection, heat exposure monitoring, force/strain sensing, and corrosion detection in concrete, steel, carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP), and other materials. Various sensors combined with wireless communication are also discussed. These methodologies can be readily developed, implemented, and customized. There are some technical difficulties, but solutions are being addressed. Lastly, a surface acoustic wave-based RFID system is presented, and possible future trends of SHM based on RFID and wireless technology are presented

Quantification of the Value of Structural Health Monitoring Information for Fatigue Deteriorating Structural Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, Sebastian; Schneider, Ronald; Faber, Michael Havbro

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the quantification of the value of structural health monitoring (SHM) before its implementation for structural systems on the basis of its Value of Information (VoI). The value of SHM is calculated utilizing the Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis modelling the structural...... life cycle performance, the integrity management and the structural risks. The relevance and precision of SHM information for the reduction of the structural system risks and the expected cost of the structural integrity management throughout the life cycle constitutes the value of SHM...... and is quantified with this framework. The approach is focused on fatigue deteriorating structural steel systems for which a continuous resistance deterioration formulation is introduced. In a case study, the value of SHM for load monitoring is calculated for a Daniels system subjected to fatigue deterioration...

Wireless sensor networks for structural health monitoring

CERN Document Server

Cao, Jiannong

2016-01-01

This brief covers the emerging area of wireless sensor network (WSN)-based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, and introduces the authors’ WSN-based platform called SenetSHM. It helps the reader differentiate specific requirements of SHM applications from other traditional WSN applications, and demonstrates how these requirements are addressed by using a series of systematic approaches. The brief serves as a practical guide, explaining both the state-of-the-art technologies in domain-specific applications of WSNs, as well as the methodologies used to address the specific requirements for a WSN application. In particular, the brief offers instruction for problem formulation and problem solving based on the authors’ own experiences implementing SenetSHM. Seven concise chapters cover the development of hardware and software design of SenetSHM, as well as in-field experiments conducted while testing the platform. The brief’s exploration of the SenetSHM platform is a valuable feature for civil engine...

Fast damage imaging using the time-reversal technique in the frequency–wavenumber domain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, R; Huang, G L; Yuan, F G

2013-01-01

The time-reversal technique has been successfully used in structural health monitoring (SHM) for quantitative imaging of damage. However, the technique is very time-consuming when it is implemented in the time domain. In this paper, we study the technique in the frequency–wavenumber (f–k) domain for fast real-time imaging of multiple damage sites in plates using scattered flexural plate waves. Based on Mindlin plate theory, the time reversibility of dispersive flexural waves in an isotropic plate is theoretically investigated in the f–k domain. A fast damage imaging technique is developed by using the cross-correlation between the back-propagated scattered wavefield and the incident wavefield in the frequency domain. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed technique cannot only localize multiple damage sites but also potentially identify their sizes. Moreover, the time-reversal technique in the f–k domain is about two orders of magnitude faster than the method in the time domain. Finally, experimental testing of an on-line SHM system with a sparse piezoelectric sensor array is conducted for fast multiple damage identification using the proposed technique. (paper)

Damage Detection with Streamlined Structural Health Monitoring Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Li

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The huge amounts of sensor data generated by large scale sensor networks in on-line structural health monitoring (SHM systems often overwhelms the systems’ capacity for data transmission and analysis. This paper presents a new concept for an integrated SHM system in which a streamlined data flow is used as a unifying thread to integrate the individual components of on-line SHM systems. Such an integrated SHM system has a few desirable functionalities including embedded sensor data compression, interactive sensor data retrieval, and structural knowledge discovery, which aim to enhance the reliability, efficiency, and robustness of on-line SHM systems. Adoption of this new concept will enable the design of an on-line SHM system with more uniform data generation and data handling capacity for its subsystems. To examine this concept in the context of vibration-based SHM systems, real sensor data from an on-line SHM system comprising a scaled steel bridge structure and an on-line data acquisition system with remote data access was used in this study. Vibration test results clearly demonstrated the prominent performance characteristics of the proposed integrated SHM system including rapid data access, interactive data retrieval and knowledge discovery of structural conditions on a global level.

Damage detection with streamlined structural health monitoring data.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jian; Deng, Jun; Xie, Weizhi

2015-04-15

The huge amounts of sensor data generated by large scale sensor networks in on-line structural health monitoring (SHM) systems often overwhelms the systems' capacity for data transmission and analysis. This paper presents a new concept for an integrated SHM system in which a streamlined data flow is used as a unifying thread to integrate the individual components of on-line SHM systems. Such an integrated SHM system has a few desirable functionalities including embedded sensor data compression, interactive sensor data retrieval, and structural knowledge discovery, which aim to enhance the reliability, efficiency, and robustness of on-line SHM systems. Adoption of this new concept will enable the design of an on-line SHM system with more uniform data generation and data handling capacity for its subsystems. To examine this concept in the context of vibration-based SHM systems, real sensor data from an on-line SHM system comprising a scaled steel bridge structure and an on-line data acquisition system with remote data access was used in this study. Vibration test results clearly demonstrated the prominent performance characteristics of the proposed integrated SHM system including rapid data access, interactive data retrieval and knowledge discovery of structural conditions on a global level.

An autonomous structural health monitoring solution

Science.gov (United States)

Featherston, Carol A.; Holford, Karen M.; Pullin, Rhys; Lees, Jonathan; Eaton, Mark; Pearson, Matthew

2013-05-01

Combining advanced sensor technologies, with optimised data acquisition and diagnostic and prognostic capability, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide real-time assessment of the integrity of bridges, buildings, aircraft, wind turbines, oil pipelines and ships, leading to improved safety and reliability and reduced inspection and maintenance costs. The implementation of power harvesting, using energy scavenged from ambient sources such as thermal gradients and sources of vibration in conjunction with wireless transmission enables truly autonomous systems, reducing the need for batteries and associated maintenance in often inaccessible locations, alongside bulky and expensive wiring looms. The design and implementation of such a system however presents numerous challenges. A suitable energy source or multiple sources capable of meeting the power requirements of the system, over the entire monitoring period, in a location close to the sensor must be identified. Efficient power management techniques must be used to condition the power and deliver it, as required, to enable appropriate measurements to be taken. Energy storage may be necessary, to match a continuously changing supply and demand for a range of different monitoring states including sleep, record and transmit. An appropriate monitoring technique, capable of detecting, locating and characterising damage and delivering reliable information, whilst minimising power consumption, must be selected. Finally a wireless protocol capable of transmitting the levels of information generated at the rate needed in the required operating environment must be chosen. This paper considers solutions to some of these challenges, and in particular examines SHM in the context of the aircraft environment.

An Experimental Study on Static and Dynamic Strain Sensitivity of Embeddable Smart Concrete Sensors Doped with Carbon Nanotubes for SHM of Large Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Meoni

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The availability of new self-sensing cement-based strain sensors allows the development of dense sensor networks for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM of reinforced concrete structures. These sensors are fabricated by doping cement-matrix mterials with conductive fillers, such as Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs, and can be embedded into structural elements made of reinforced concrete prior to casting. The strain sensing principle is based on the multifunctional composites outputting a measurable change in their electrical properties when subjected to a deformation. Previous work by the authors was devoted to material fabrication, modeling and applications in SHM. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of several sensors fabricated with and without aggregates and with different MWCNT contents. The strain sensitivity of the sensors, in terms of fractional change in electrical resistivity for unit strain, as well as their linearity are investigated through experimental testing under both quasi-static and sine-sweep dynamic uni-axial compressive loadings. Moreover, the responses of the sensors when subjected to destructive compressive tests are evaluated. Overall, the presented results contribute to improving the scientific knowledge on the behavior of smart concrete sensors and to furthering their understanding for SHM applications.

An Experimental Study on Static and Dynamic Strain Sensitivity of Embeddable Smart Concrete Sensors Doped with Carbon Nanotubes for SHM of Large Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Meoni, Andrea; D'Alessandro, Antonella; Downey, Austin; García-Macías, Enrique; Rallini, Marco; Materazzi, A Luigi; Torre, Luigi; Laflamme, Simon; Castro-Triguero, Rafael; Ubertini, Filippo

2018-03-09

The availability of new self-sensing cement-based strain sensors allows the development of dense sensor networks for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of reinforced concrete structures. These sensors are fabricated by doping cement-matrix mterials with conductive fillers, such as Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs), and can be embedded into structural elements made of reinforced concrete prior to casting. The strain sensing principle is based on the multifunctional composites outputting a measurable change in their electrical properties when subjected to a deformation. Previous work by the authors was devoted to material fabrication, modeling and applications in SHM. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of several sensors fabricated with and without aggregates and with different MWCNT contents. The strain sensitivity of the sensors, in terms of fractional change in electrical resistivity for unit strain, as well as their linearity are investigated through experimental testing under both quasi-static and sine-sweep dynamic uni-axial compressive loadings. Moreover, the responses of the sensors when subjected to destructive compressive tests are evaluated. Overall, the presented results contribute to improving the scientific knowledge on the behavior of smart concrete sensors and to furthering their understanding for SHM applications.

A structural health monitoring fastener for tracking fatigue crack growth in bolted metallic joints

Science.gov (United States)

Rakow, Alexi Schroder

Fatigue cracks initiating at fastener hole locations in metallic components are among the most common form of airframe damage. The fastener hole site has been surveyed as the second leading initiation site for fatigue related accidents of fixed wing aircraft. Current methods for inspecting airframes for these cracks are manual, whereby inspectors rely on non-destructive inspection equipment or hand-held probes to scan over areas of a structure. Use of this equipment often demands disassembly of the vehicle to search appropriate hole locations for cracks, which elevates the complexity and cost of these maintenance inspections. Improved reliability, safety, and reduced cost of such maintenance can be realized by the permanent integration of sensors with a structure to detect this damage. Such an integrated system of sensors would form a structural health monitoring (SHM) system. In this study, an Additive, Interleaved, Multi-layer Electromagnetic (AIME) sensor was developed and integrated with the shank of a fastener to form a SHM Fastener, a new SHM technology targeted at detection of fastener hole cracks. The major advantages of the SHM Fastener are its installation, which does not require joint layer disassembly, its capability to detect inner layer cracks, and its capability to operate in a continuous autonomous mode. Two methods for fabricating the proposed SHM Fastener were studied. The first option consisted of a thin flexible printed circuit film that was bonded around a thin metallic sleeve placed around the fastener shank. The second option consisted of coating sensor materials directly to the shank of a part in an effort to increase the durability of the sensor under severe loading conditions. Both analytical and numerical models were developed to characterize the capability of the sensors and provide a design tool for the sensor layout. A diagnostic technique for crack growth monitoring was developed to complete the SHM system, which consists of the

Reframing measurement for structural health monitoring: a full-field strategy for structural identification

Science.gov (United States)

Dizaji, Mehrdad S.; Harris, Devin K.; Alipour, Mohamad; Ozbulut, Osman E.

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) describes a decision-making framework that is fundamentally guided by state change detection of structural systems. This framework typically relies on the use of continuous or semi-continuous monitoring of measured response to quantify this state change in structural system behavior, which is often related to the initiation of some form of damage. Measurement approaches used for traditional SHM are numerous, but most are limited to either describing localized or global phenomena, making it challenging to characterize operational structural systems which exhibit both. In addition to these limitations in sensing, SHM has also suffered from the inherent robustness inherent to most full-scale structural systems, making it challenging to identify local damage. These challenges highlight the opportunity for alternative strategies for SHM, strategies that are able to provide data suitable to translate into rich information. This paper describes preliminary results from a refined structural identification (St-ID) approach using fullfield measurements derived from high-speed 3D Digital Image Correlation (HSDIC) to characterize uncertain parameters (i.e. boundary and constitutive properties) of a laboratory scale structural component. The St-ID approach builds from prior work by supplementing full-field deflection and strain response with vibration response derived from HSDIC. Inclusion of the modal characteristics within a hybrid-genetic algorithm optimization scheme allowed for simultaneous integration of mechanical and modal response, thus enabling a more robust St-ID strategy than could be achieved with traditional sensing techniques. The use of full-field data is shown to provide a more comprehensive representation of the global and local behavior, which in turn increases the robustness of the St-Id framework. This work serves as the foundation for a new paradigm in SHM that emphasizes characterizing structural performance using a

Fatigue of Ti6Al4V Structural Health Monitoring Systems Produced by Selective Laser Melting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Strantza

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Selective laser melting (SLM is an additive manufacturing (AM process which is used for producing metallic components. Currently, the integrity of components produced by SLM is in need of improvement due to residual stresses and unknown fracture behavior. Titanium alloys produced by AM are capable candidates for applications in aerospace and industrial fields due to their fracture resistance, fatigue behavior and corrosion resistance. On the other hand, structural health monitoring (SHM system technologies are promising and requested from the industry. SHM systems can monitor the integrity of a structure and during the last decades the research has primarily been influenced by bionic engineering. In that aspect a new philosophy for SHM has been developed: the so-called effective structural health monitoring (eSHM system. The current system uses the design freedom provided by AM. The working principle of the system is based on crack detection by means of a network of capillaries that are integrated in a structure. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the functionality of Ti6Al4V produced by the SLM process in the novel SHM system and to confirm that the eSHM system can successfully detect cracks in SLM components. In this study four-point bending fatigue tests on Ti6Al4V SLM specimens with an integrated SHM system were conducted. Fractographic analysis was performed after the final failure, while finite element simulations were used in order to determine the stress distribution in the capillary region and on the component. It was proven that the SHM system does not influence the crack initiation behavior during fatigue. The results highlight the effectiveness of the eSHM on SLM components, which can potentially be used by industrial and aerospace applications.

Smart Sensing Technologies for Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Engineering Structures

OpenAIRE

M. Sun; W. J. Staszewski; R. N. Swamy

2010-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) aims to develop automated systems for the continuous monitoring, inspection, and damage detection of structures with minimum labour involvement. The first step to set up a SHM system is to incorporate a level of structural sensing capability that is reliable and possesses long term stability. Smart sensing technologies including the applications of fibre optic sensors, piezoelectric sensors, magnetostrictive sensors and self-diagnosing fibre reinforced compo...

A self-diagnostic adhesive for monitoring bonded joints in aerospace structures

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Yitao; Li, Yu-hung; Kopsaftopoulos, Fotis; Chang, Fu-Kuo

2016-04-01

Bondline integrity is still one of the most critical concerns in the design of aircraft structures up to date. Due to the lack of confidence on the integrity of the bondline both during fabrication and service, the industry standards and regulations still require assembling the composite using conventional fasteners. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques are incapable of offering mature solutions on the issue of bondline integrity monitoring. Therefore, the objective of this work is the development of an intelligent adhesive film with integrated micro-sensors for monitoring the integrity of the bondline interface. The proposed method makes use of an electromechanical-impedance (EMI) based method, which is a rapidly evolving approach within the SHM family. Furthermore, an innovative screen-printing technique to fabricate piezoelectric ceramic sensors with minimal thickness has been developed at Stanford. The approach presented in this study is based on the use of (i) micro screen-printed piezoelectric sensors integrated into adhesive leaving a minimal footprint on the material, (ii) numerical and analytical modeling of the EMI spectrum of the adhesive bondline, (iii) novel diagnostic algorithms for monitoring the bondline integrity based on advanced signal processing techniques, and (iv) the experimental assessment via prototype adhesively bonded structures in static (varying loads) and dynamic (fatigue) environments. The proposed method will provide a huge confidence on the use of bonded joints for aerospace structures and lead to a paradigm change in their design by enabling enormous weight savings while maximizing the economic and performance efficiency.

Integrating structural health and condition monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

May, Allan; Thöns, Sebastian; McMillan, David

2015-01-01

window’ allowing for the possible detection of faults up to 6 months in advance. The SHM system model uses a reduction in the probability of failure factor to account for lower modelling uncertainties. A case study is produced that shows a reduction in operating costs and also a reduction in risk......There is a large financial incentive to minimise operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for offshore wind power by optimising the maintenance plan. The integration of condition monitoring (CM) and structural health monitoring (SHM) may help realise this. There is limited work on the integration...

Development of Structural Health Monitoring System for pipes in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eom, H. S.; Choi, Y. C.; Shin, S. H.; Youn, D. B.; Park, J. H.

2010-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has becoming an important issue in the maintenance of various structures such as large steel plates, vessels, and pipes in nuclear power plants. There are important factors to be considered in developing an SHM system. With consideration of these factors, we have developed a computerized multi-channel ultrasonic system that can handle array transducers and generate a high-power pulse for online SHM of the plates and pipes. The proposed system is compact but has all the necessary functions for SHM of important structure such as pipes and plates in a NPP

Sub-Frequency Interval Approach in Electromechanical Impedance Technique for Concrete Structure Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahador Sabet Divsholi

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The electromechanical (EM impedance technique using piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT transducers for structural health monitoring (SHM has attracted considerable attention in various engineering fields. In the conventional EM impedance technique, the EM admittance of a PZT transducer is used as a damage indicator. Statistical analysis methods such as root mean square deviation (RMSD have been employed to associate the damage level with the changes in the EM admittance signatures, but it is difficult to determine the location of damage using such methods. This paper proposes a new approach by dividing the large frequency (30–400 kHz range into sub-frequency intervals and calculating their respective RMSD values. The RMSD of the sub-frequency intervals (RMSD-S will be used to study the severity and location of damage. An experiment is carried out on a real size concrete structure subjected to artificial damage. It is observed that damage close to the PZT changes the high frequency range RMSD-S significantly, while the damage far away from the PZT changes the RMSD-S in the low frequency range significantly. The relationship between the frequency range and the PZT sensing region is also presented. Finally, a damage identification scheme is proposed to estimate the location and severity of damage in concrete structures.

Structural health monitoring for ship structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farrar, Charles [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Park, Gyuhae [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Angel, Marian [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bement, Matthew [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Salvino, Liming [NSWC, CADEROCK

2009-01-01

Currently the Office of Naval Research is supporting the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) technology for U.S. Navy ship structures. This application is particularly challenging because of the physical size of these structures, the widely varying and often extreme operational and environmental conditions associated with these ships missions, lack of data from known damage conditions, limited sensing that was not designed specifically for SHM, and the management of the vast amounts of data that can be collected during a mission. This paper will first define a statistical pattern recognition paradigm for SHM by describing the four steps of (1) Operational Evaluation, (2) Data Acquisition, (3) Feature Extraction, and (4) Statistical Classification of Features as they apply to ship structures. Note that inherent in the last three steps of this process are additional tasks of data cleansing, compression, normalization and fusion. The presentation will discuss ship structure SHM challenges in the context of applying various SHM approaches to sea trials data measured on an aluminum multi-hull high-speed ship, the HSV-2 Swift. To conclude, the paper will discuss several outstanding issues that need to be addressed before SHM can make the transition from a research topic to actual field applications on ship structures and suggest approaches for addressing these issues.

Monitoring of Engineering Buildings Behaviour Within the Disaster Management System

Science.gov (United States)

Oku Topal, G.; Gülal, E.

2017-11-01

The Disaster management aims to prevent events that result in disaster or to reduce their losses. Monitoring of engineering buildings, identification of unusual movements and taking the necessary precautions are very crucial for determination of the disaster risk so possible prevention could be taken to reduce big loss. Improving technology, increasing population due to increased construction and these areas largest economy lead to offer damage detection strategies. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is the most effective of these strategies. SHM research is very important to maintain all this structuring safely. The purpose of structural monitoring is determining in advance of possible accidents and taking necessary precaution. In this paper, determining the behaviour of construction using Global Positioning System (GPS) is investigated. For this purpose shaking table tests were performed. Shaking table was moved at different amplitude and frequency aiming to determine these movement with a GPS measuring system. The obtained data were evaluated by analysis of time series and Fast Fourier Transformation techniques and the frequency and amplitude values are calculated. By examining the results of the tests made, it will be determined whether the GPS measurement method can accurately detect the movements of the engineering structures.

Fielding a structural health monitoring system on legacy military aircraft: A business perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bos, Marcel J. [Dept. of Gas Turbines and Structural Integrity, National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2015-12-15

An important trend in the sustainment of military aircraft is the transition from preventative maintenance to condition based maintenance (CBM). For CBM, it is essential that the actual system condition can be measured and the measured condition can be reliably extrapolated to a convenient moment in the future in order to facilitate the planning process while maintaining flight safety. Much research effort is currently being made for the development of technologies that enable CBM, including structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. Great progress has already been made in sensors, sensor networks, data acquisition, models and algorithms, data fusion/mining techniques, etc. However, the transition of these technologies into service is very slow. This is because business cases are difficult to define and the certification of the SHM systems is very challenging. This paper describes a possibility for fielding a SHM system on legacy military aircraft with a minimum amount of certification issues and with a good prospect of a positive return on investment. For appropriate areas in the airframe the application of SHM will reconcile the fail-safety and slow crack growth damage tolerance approaches that can be used for safeguarding the continuing airworthiness of these areas, combining the benefits of both approaches and eliminating the drawbacks.

Fielding a structural health monitoring system on legacy military aircraft: A business perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bos, Marcel J.

2015-01-01

An important trend in the sustainment of military aircraft is the transition from preventative maintenance to condition based maintenance (CBM). For CBM, it is essential that the actual system condition can be measured and the measured condition can be reliably extrapolated to a convenient moment in the future in order to facilitate the planning process while maintaining flight safety. Much research effort is currently being made for the development of technologies that enable CBM, including structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. Great progress has already been made in sensors, sensor networks, data acquisition, models and algorithms, data fusion/mining techniques, etc. However, the transition of these technologies into service is very slow. This is because business cases are difficult to define and the certification of the SHM systems is very challenging. This paper describes a possibility for fielding a SHM system on legacy military aircraft with a minimum amount of certification issues and with a good prospect of a positive return on investment. For appropriate areas in the airframe the application of SHM will reconcile the fail-safety and slow crack growth damage tolerance approaches that can be used for safeguarding the continuing airworthiness of these areas, combining the benefits of both approaches and eliminating the drawbacks

Coupling Sensing Hardware with Data Interrogation Software for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles R. Farrar

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The process of implementing a damage detection strategy for aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering infrastructure is referred to as structural health monitoring (SHM. The authors' approach is to address the SHM problem in the context of a statistical pattern recognition paradigm. In this paradigm, the process can be broken down into four parts: (1 Operational Evaluation, (2 Data Acquisition and Cleansing, (3 Feature Extraction and Data Compression, and (4 Statistical Model Development for Feature Discrimination. These processes must be implemented through hardware or software and, in general, some combination of these two approaches will be used. This paper will discuss each portion of the SHM process with particular emphasis on the coupling of a general purpose data interrogation software package for structural health monitoring with a modular wireless sensing and processing platform. More specifically, this paper will address the need to take an integrated hardware/software approach to developing SHM solutions.

Diseño e implementación de un sistema de adquisición y monitoreo de datos (shm para un rectificador de protección catódica usado en ductos.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Alejandro Rodríguez-Caro

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background:Cathodic protection by impressed current is one of the methods to prevent corrosion of pipes or tanks, preserving the structural state and integrity of the material. For a cathodic protection system to function properly there must to be a control over the electrical variables involved in the process, which is why it is necessary to monitor variables such as (voltage, current and potential protection. Objective: to develop a system of data acquisition and monitoring in real time, in order to increase accessibility to electrical variables and thus improve the operation of the cathodic protection system. Methods: The monitoring and information analysis system is based on the concept of SHM (Structural Health Monitoring, which consists of an electronic system for remote acquisition and sending of signals (micro controller and GSM communications system and a system for visualization and analysis of information in a mobile system (cell using a web server for it. Given that the condition of structural integrity of the pipeline is determined by the correct operation of the rectifier. Results: It was possible to implement a monitoring and remote viewing system of the main variables of a cathodic protection system. An algorithm based on the concept of SHM was developed, allowing to correlate, generate trend and establish performance criteria for the cathodic protection system which allows to establish whether the system is ensuring the structural integrity of the crude transportation pipeline. Conclusion: the novelty of this work is to show the real-time behavior of the variables needed to analyze whether the pipeline is being properly protected and generate alarms and reports regarding cathodic protection, which is based on the concept of SHM (Structural Health Monitoring.

An Improved Gaussian Mixture Model for Damage Propagation Monitoring of an Aircraft Wing Spar under Changing Structural Boundary Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Lei; Yuan, Shenfang; Mei, Hanfei; Fang, Fang

2016-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology is considered to be a key technology to reduce the maintenance cost and meanwhile ensure the operational safety of aircraft structures. It has gradually developed from theoretic and fundamental research to real-world engineering applications in recent decades. The problem of reliable damage monitoring under time-varying conditions is a main issue for the aerospace engineering applications of SHM technology. Among the existing SHM methods, Guided Wave (GW) and piezoelectric sensor-based SHM technique is a promising method due to its high damage sensitivity and long monitoring range. Nevertheless the reliability problem should be addressed. Several methods including environmental parameter compensation, baseline signal dependency reduction and data normalization, have been well studied but limitations remain. This paper proposes a damage propagation monitoring method based on an improved Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). It can be used on-line without any structural mechanical model and a priori knowledge of damage and time-varying conditions. With this method, a baseline GMM is constructed first based on the GW features obtained under time-varying conditions when the structure under monitoring is in the healthy state. When a new GW feature is obtained during the on-line damage monitoring process, the GMM can be updated by an adaptive migration mechanism including dynamic learning and Gaussian components split-merge. The mixture probability distribution structure of the GMM and the number of Gaussian components can be optimized adaptively. Then an on-line GMM can be obtained. Finally, a best match based Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence is studied to measure the migration degree between the baseline GMM and the on-line GMM to reveal the weak cumulative changes of the damage propagation mixed in the time-varying influence. A wing spar of an aircraft is used to validate the proposed method. The results indicate that the crack

Identification of unusual events in multi-channel bridge monitoring data

Science.gov (United States)

Omenzetter, Piotr; Brownjohn, James Mark William; Moyo, Pilate

2004-03-01

Continuously operating instrumented structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are becoming a practical alternative to replace visual inspection for assessment of condition and soundness of civil infrastructure such as bridges. However, converting large amounts of data from an SHM system into usable information is a great challenge to which special signal processing techniques must be applied. This study is devoted to identification of abrupt, anomalous and potentially onerous events in the time histories of static, hourly sampled strains recorded by a multi-sensor SHM system installed in a major bridge structure and operating continuously for a long time. Such events may result, among other causes, from sudden settlement of foundation, ground movement, excessive traffic load or failure of post-tensioning cables. A method of outlier detection in multivariate data has been applied to the problem of finding and localising sudden events in the strain data. For sharp discrimination of abrupt strain changes from slowly varying ones wavelet transform has been used. The proposed method has been successfully tested using known events recorded during construction of the bridge, and later effectively used for detection of anomalous post-construction events.

Investigation of an expert health monitoring system for aeronautical structures based on pattern recognition and acousto-ultrasonics

Science.gov (United States)

Tibaduiza-Burgos, Diego Alexander; Torres-Arredondo, Miguel Angel

2015-08-01

Aeronautical structures are subjected to damage during their service raising the necessity for periodic inspection and maintenance of their components so that structural integrity and safe operation can be guaranteed. Cost reduction related to minimizing the out-of-service time of the aircraft, together with the advantages offered by real-time and safe-life service monitoring, have led to a boom in the design of inexpensive and structurally integrated transducer networks comprising actuators, sensors, signal processing units and controllers. These kinds of automated systems are normally referred to as smart structures and offer a multitude of new solutions to engineering problems and multi-functional capabilities. It is thus expected that structural health monitoring (SHM) systems will become one of the leading technologies for assessing and assuring the structural integrity of future aircraft. This study is devoted to the development and experimental investigation of an SHM methodology for the detection of damage in real scale complex aeronautical structures. The work focuses on each aspect of the SHM system and highlights the potentialities of the health monitoring technique based on acousto-ultrasonics and data-driven modelling within the concepts of sensor data fusion, feature extraction and pattern recognition. The methodology is experimentally demonstrated on an aircraft skin panel and fuselage panel for which several damage scenarios are analysed. The detection performance in both structures is quantified and presented.

Autonomous smart sensor network for full-scale structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Jennifer A.; Mechitov, Kirill A.; Spencer, B. F., Jr.; Agha, Gul A.

2010-04-01

The demands of aging infrastructure require effective methods for structural monitoring and maintenance. Wireless smart sensor networks offer the ability to enhance structural health monitoring (SHM) practices through the utilization of onboard computation to achieve distributed data management. Such an approach is scalable to the large number of sensor nodes required for high-fidelity modal analysis and damage detection. While smart sensor technology is not new, the number of full-scale SHM applications has been limited. This slow progress is due, in part, to the complex network management issues that arise when moving from a laboratory setting to a full-scale monitoring implementation. This paper presents flexible network management software that enables continuous and autonomous operation of wireless smart sensor networks for full-scale SHM applications. The software components combine sleep/wake cycling for enhanced power management with threshold detection for triggering network wide tasks, such as synchronized sensing or decentralized modal analysis, during periods of critical structural response.

Progress of the COST Action TU1402 on the Quantification of the Value of Structural Health Monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, Sebastian; Limongelli, Maria Pina; Ivankovic, Ana Mandic

2017-01-01

This paper summarizes the development of Value of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Information analyses and introduces the development, objectives and approaches of the COST Action TU1402 on this topic. SHM research and engineering has been focused on the extraction of loading, degradation...... for its quantification. This challenge can be met with Value of SHM Information analyses facilitating that the SHM contribution to substantial benefits for life safety, economy and beyond can be may be quantified, demonstrated and utilized. However, Value of SHM Information analyses involve complex models...... encompassing the infrastructure and the SHM systems, their functionality and thus require the interaction of several research disciplines. For progressing on these points, a scientific networking and dissemination project namely the COST Action TU1402 has been initiated....

Integration of High-Resolution Laser Displacement Sensors and 3D Printing for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Wei Chang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel experimental design for complex structural health monitoring (SHM studies achieved by integrating 3D printing technologies, high-resolution laser displacement sensors, and multiscale entropy SHM theory. A seven-story structure with a variety of composite bracing systems was constructed using a dual-material 3D printer. A wireless Bluetooth vibration speaker was used to excite the ground floor of the structure, and high-resolution laser displacement sensors (1-μm resolution were used to monitor the displacement history on different floors. Our results showed that the multiscale entropy SHM method could detect damage on the 3D-printed structures. The results of this study demonstrate that integrating 3D printing technologies and high-resolution laser displacement sensors enables the design of cheap, fast processing, complex, small-scale civil structures for future SHM studies. The novel experimental design proposed in this study provides a suitable platform for investigating the validity and sensitivity of SHM in different composite structures and damage conditions for real life applications in the future.

Integration of High-Resolution Laser Displacement Sensors and 3D Printing for Structural Health Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Shu-Wei; Lin, Tzu-Kang; Kuo, Shih-Yu; Huang, Ting-Hsuan

2017-12-22

This paper presents a novel experimental design for complex structural health monitoring (SHM) studies achieved by integrating 3D printing technologies, high-resolution laser displacement sensors, and multiscale entropy SHM theory. A seven-story structure with a variety of composite bracing systems was constructed using a dual-material 3D printer. A wireless Bluetooth vibration speaker was used to excite the ground floor of the structure, and high-resolution laser displacement sensors (1-μm resolution) were used to monitor the displacement history on different floors. Our results showed that the multiscale entropy SHM method could detect damage on the 3D-printed structures. The results of this study demonstrate that integrating 3D printing technologies and high-resolution laser displacement sensors enables the design of cheap, fast processing, complex, small-scale civil structures for future SHM studies. The novel experimental design proposed in this study provides a suitable platform for investigating the validity and sensitivity of SHM in different composite structures and damage conditions for real life applications in the future.

An embedded stress sensor for concrete SHM based on amorphous ferromagnetic microwires.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivera, Jesús; González, Margarita; Fuente, José Vicente; Varga, Rastislav; Zhukov, Arkady; Anaya, José Javier

2014-10-24

A new smart concrete aggregate design as a candidate for applications in structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical elements in civil infrastructure is proposed. The cement-based stress/strain sensor was developed by utilizing the stress/strain sensing properties of a magnetic microwire embedded in cement-based composite (MMCC). This is a contact-less type sensor that measures variations of magnetic properties resulting from stress variations. Sensors made of these materials can be designed to satisfy the specific demand for an economic way to monitor concrete infrastructure health. For this purpose, we embedded a thin magnetic microwire in the core of a cement-based cylinder, which was inserted into the concrete specimen under study as an extra aggregate. The experimental results show that the embedded MMCC sensor is capable of measuring internal compressive stress around the range of 1-30 MPa. Two stress sensing properties of the embedded sensor under uniaxial compression were studied: the peak amplitude and peak position of magnetic switching field. The sensitivity values for the amplitude and position within the measured range were 5 mV/MPa and 2.5 µs/MPa, respectively.

An Embedded Stress Sensor for Concrete SHM Based on Amorphous Ferromagnetic Microwires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús Olivera

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A new smart concrete aggregate design as a candidate for applications in structural health monitoring (SHM of critical elements in civil infrastructure is proposed. The cement-based stress/strain sensor was developed by utilizing the stress/strain sensing properties of a magnetic microwire embedded in cement-based composite (MMCC. This is a contact-less type sensor that measures variations of magnetic properties resulting from stress variations. Sensors made of these materials can be designed to satisfy the specific demand for an economic way to monitor concrete infrastructure health. For this purpose, we embedded a thin magnetic microwire in the core of a cement-based cylinder, which was inserted into the concrete specimen under study as an extra aggregate. The experimental results show that the embedded MMCC sensor is capable of measuring internal compressive stress around the range of 1–30 MPa. Two stress sensing properties of the embedded sensor under uniaxial compression were studied: the peak amplitude and peak position of magnetic switching field. The sensitivity values for the amplitude and position within the measured range were 5 mV/MPa and 2.5 µs/MPa, respectively.

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

You-Liang Ding

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge’s abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature.

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Lai-Yi

2015-01-01

Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge's abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature. PMID:26451387

Structural health monitoring (vibration) as a tool for identifying structural alterations of the lumbar spine: a twin control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawchuk, Gregory N; Hartvigsen, Jan; Edgecombe, Tiffany; Prasad, Narasimha; van Dieen, Jaap H

2016-03-11

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an engineering technique used to identify mechanical abnormalities not readily apparent through other means. Recently, SHM has been adapted for use in biological systems, but its invasive nature limits its clinical application. As such, the purpose of this project was to determine if a non-invasive form of SHM could identify structural alterations in the spines of living human subjects. Lumbar spines of 10 twin pairs were visualized by magnetic resonance imaging then assessed by a blinded radiologist to determine whether twin pairs were structurally concordant or discordant. Vibration was then applied to each subject's spine and the resulting response recorded from sensors overlying lumbar spinous processes. The peak frequency, area under the curve and the root mean square were computed from the frequency response function of each sensor. Statistical analysis demonstrated that in twins whose structural appearance was discordant, peak frequency was significantly different between twin pairs while in concordant twins, no outcomes were significantly different. From these results, we conclude that structural changes within the spine can alter its vibration response. As such, further investigation of SHM to identify spinal abnormalities in larger human populations is warranted.

Aspects of structural health and condition monitoring of offshore wind turbines.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoniadou, I; Dervilis, N; Papatheou, E; Maguire, A E; Worden, K

2015-02-28

Wind power has expanded significantly over the past years, although reliability of wind turbine systems, especially of offshore wind turbines, has been many times unsatisfactory in the past. Wind turbine failures are equivalent to crucial financial losses. Therefore, creating and applying strategies that improve the reliability of their components is important for a successful implementation of such systems. Structural health monitoring (SHM) addresses these problems through the monitoring of parameters indicative of the state of the structure examined. Condition monitoring (CM), on the other hand, can be seen as a specialized area of the SHM community that aims at damage detection of, particularly, rotating machinery. The paper is divided into two parts: in the first part, advanced signal processing and machine learning methods are discussed for SHM and CM on wind turbine gearbox and blade damage detection examples. In the second part, an initial exploration of supervisor control and data acquisition systems data of an offshore wind farm is presented, and data-driven approaches are proposed for detecting abnormal behaviour of wind turbines. It is shown that the advanced signal processing methods discussed are effective and that it is important to adopt these SHM strategies in the wind energy sector.

Aspects of structural health and condition monitoring of offshore wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Antoniadou, I.; Dervilis, N.; Papatheou, E.; Maguire, A. E.; Worden, K.

2015-01-01

Wind power has expanded significantly over the past years, although reliability of wind turbine systems, especially of offshore wind turbines, has been many times unsatisfactory in the past. Wind turbine failures are equivalent to crucial financial losses. Therefore, creating and applying strategies that improve the reliability of their components is important for a successful implementation of such systems. Structural health monitoring (SHM) addresses these problems through the monitoring of parameters indicative of the state of the structure examined. Condition monitoring (CM), on the other hand, can be seen as a specialized area of the SHM community that aims at damage detection of, particularly, rotating machinery. The paper is divided into two parts: in the first part, advanced signal processing and machine learning methods are discussed for SHM and CM on wind turbine gearbox and blade damage detection examples. In the second part, an initial exploration of supervisor control and data acquisition systems data of an offshore wind farm is presented, and data-driven approaches are proposed for detecting abnormal behaviour of wind turbines. It is shown that the advanced signal processing methods discussed are effective and that it is important to adopt these SHM strategies in the wind energy sector. PMID:25583864

Three-Dimensional Health Monitoring of Sandwich Composites, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This SBIR project delivers a single-chip structural health-monitoring (SHM) system that uses the impedance method to monitor bulk interiors and wave propagation...

Investigation of the stochastic subspace identification method for on-line wind turbine tower monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Kaoshan; Wang, Ying; Lu, Wensheng; Ren, Xiaosong; Huang, Zhenhua

2017-04-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) of wind turbines has been applied in the wind energy industry to obtain their real-time vibration parameters and to ensure their optimum performance. For SHM, the accuracy of its results and the efficiency of its measurement methodology and data processing algorithm are the two major concerns. Selection of proper measurement parameters could improve such accuracy and efficiency. The Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) is a widely used data processing algorithm for SHM. This research discussed the accuracy and efficiency of SHM using SSI method to identify vibration parameters of on-line wind turbine towers. Proper measurement parameters, such as optimum measurement duration, are recommended.

On the Value of Monitoring Information for the Structural Integrity and Risk Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, Sebastian

2018-01-01

facilitates the assessment of the value of information associated with SHM. The principal approach for the quantification of the value of SHM is formulated by modeling the fundamental decision of performing SHM or not in conjunction with their expected utilities. The expected utilities are calculated....... The calculation of the expected utilities necessitates a comprehensive and rigorous modeling, which is introduced close to the original formulations and for which analysis characteristics and simplifications are described and derived. The framework provides the basis for the optimization of the structural risk......This article introduces an approach and framework for the quantification of the value of structural health monitoring (SHM) in the context of the structural risk and integrity management for systems.The quantification of the value of SHM builds upon the Bayesian decision and utility theory, which...

Remote monitoring of bond line defects between a composite panel and a stiffener using distributed piezoelectric sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xudong; Fan, Zheng; Puliyakote, Sreedhar; Castaings, Michel

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) using ultrasonic guided waves has proven to be attractive for the identification of damage in composite plate-like structures, due to its realization of both significant propagation distances and reasonable sensitivity to defects. However, topographical features such as bends, lap joints, and bonded stiffeners are often encountered in these structures, and they are susceptible to various types of defects as a consequence of stress concentration and cyclic loading during the service life. Therefore, the health condition of such features has to be assessed effectively to ensure the safe operation of the entire structure. This paper proposes a novel feature guided wave (FGW) based SHM strategy, in which proper FGWs are exploited as a screening tool to rapidly interrogate the representative stiffener-adhesive bond-composite skin assembly. An array of sensors permanently attached to the vicinity of the feature is used to capture scattered waves from the localized damage occurring in the bond line. This technique is combined with an imaging approach, and the damage reconstruction is achieved by the synthetic focusing algorithm using these scattered signals. The proposed SHM scheme is implemented in both the 3D finite element simulation and the experiment, and the results are in good agreement, demonstrating the feasibility of such SHM strategy.

Surface density mapping of natural tissue by a scanning haptic microscope (SHM).

Science.gov (United States)

Moriwaki, Takeshi; Oie, Tomonori; Takamizawa, Keiichi; Murayama, Yoshinobu; Fukuda, Toru; Omata, Sadao; Nakayama, Yasuhide

2013-02-01

To expand the performance capacity of the scanning haptic microscope (SHM) beyond surface mapping microscopy of elastic modulus or topography, surface density mapping of a natural tissue was performed by applying a measurement theory of SHM, in which a frequency change occurs upon contact of the sample surface with the SHM sensor - a microtactile sensor (MTS) that vibrates at a pre-determined constant oscillation frequency. This change was mainly stiffness-dependent at a low oscillation frequency and density-dependent at a high oscillation frequency. Two paragon examples with extremely different densities but similar macroscopic elastic moduli in the range of natural soft tissues were selected: one was agar hydrogels and the other silicon organogels with extremely low (less than 25 mg/cm(3)) and high densities (ca. 1300 mg/cm(3)), respectively. Measurements were performed in saline solution near the second-order resonance frequency, which led to the elastic modulus, and near the third-order resonance frequency. There was little difference in the frequency changes between the two resonance frequencies in agar gels. In contrast, in silicone gels, a large frequency change by MTS contact was observed near the third-order resonance frequency, indicating that the frequency change near the third-order resonance frequency reflected changes in both density and elastic modulus. Therefore, a density image of the canine aortic wall was subsequently obtained by subtracting the image observed near the second-order resonance frequency from that near the third-order resonance frequency. The elastin-rich region had a higher density than the collagen-rich region.

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of electro-mechanical impedance based SHM system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosiek, M; Martowicz, A; Uhl, T

2010-01-01

The paper deals with the application of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis performed for FE simulations for electro-mechanical impedance based SHM system. The measurement of electro-mechanical impedance allows to follow changes of mechanical properties of monitored construction. Therefore it can be effectively applied to conclude about presence of damage. Coupled FE simulations have been carried out for simultaneous consideration of both structural dynamics and piezoelectric properties of a simple beam with bonded transducer. Several indexes have been used to assess the damage growth. In the paper the results obtained with both deterministic and stochastic simulations are shown and discussed. First, the relationship between size of introduced damage and its indexes has been studied. Second, ranges of variation of selected model properties have been assumed to find relationships between them and damage indexes. The most influential parameters have been found. Finally, the overall propagation of considered uncertainty has been assessed and related histograms plotted to discuss effectiveness and robustness of tested damage indexes based on the measurement of electro-mechanical impedance.

Reliability Assessment for PSC Box-Girder Bridges Based on SHM Strain Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuang Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A reliability assessment method for prestressed concrete (PSC continuous box-girder bridges based on structural health monitoring (SHM strain measurements was proposed. First, due to the fact that measured strain was compositive and the variation periods of its components were different, a series of limit state equations under normal use limit state were given. Then, a linear fitting method was used to determine the relationship between the ambient temperature and the measured strain, which was aimed at extracting the vehicle load effect and the temperature load effect from the measured strain. Finally, according to the equivalent normalization method, the load effects unsatisfying the normal distribution by probability density function fitting were transformed, and the daily failure probabilities of monitored positions were calculated for evaluating the safety state of the girder. The results show that (1 the top plate of the box girder is more sensitive than the bottom plate to the high temperature, (2 the daily and seasonal strain variations induced by uniform temperature reveal an inconsistent tendency to the seasonal variation for mid-span cross sections, and (3 the generalized extreme value distribution is recommended for temperature gradient stress and vehicle induced stress fitting for box-girder bridges.

Is it worth changing pattern recognition methods for structural health monitoring?

Science.gov (United States)

Bull, L. A.; Worden, K.; Cross, E. J.; Dervilis, N.

2017-05-01

The key element of this work is to demonstrate alternative strategies for using pattern recognition algorithms whilst investigating structural health monitoring. This paper looks to determine if it makes any difference in choosing from a range of established classification techniques: from decision trees and support vector machines, to Gaussian processes. Classification algorithms are tested on adjustable synthetic data to establish performance metrics, then all techniques are applied to real SHM data. To aid the selection of training data, an informative chain of artificial intelligence tools is used to explore an active learning interaction between meaningful clusters of data.

Embedded Active Fiber Optic Sensing Network for Structural Health Monitoring in Harsh Environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Anbo [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)

2016-09-30

This report summarizes technical progress on the program “Embedded Active Fiber Optic Sensing Network for Structural Health Monitoring in Harsh Environments” funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, and performed by the Center for Photonics Technology at Virginia Tech. The objective of this project is to develop a first-of-a-kind technology for remote fiber optic generation and detection of acoustic waves for structural health monitoring in harsh environments. During the project period, which is from April 1, 2013 to Septemeber 30, 2016, three different acoustic generation mechanisms were studied in detail for their applications in building a fiber optic acoustic generation unit (AGU), including laser induced plasma breakdown (LIP), Erbium-doped fiber laser absorption, and metal laser absorption. By comparing the performance of the AGUs designed based on these three mechanisms and analyzing the experimental results with simulations, the metal laser absorption method was selected to build a complete fiber optic structure health monitoring (FO-SHM) system for the proposed high temperature multi-parameter structure health monitoring application. Based on the simulation of elastic wave propagation and fiber Bragg grating acoustic pulse detection, an FO-SHM element together with a completed interrogation system were designed and built. This system was first tested on an aluminum piece in the low-temperature range and successfully demonstrated its capability of multi-parameter monitoring and multi-point sensing. In the later stages of the project, the research was focused on improving the surface attachment design and preparing the FO-SHM element for high temperature environment tests. After several upgrades to the surface attachment methods, the FO-SHM element was able to work reliably up to 600oC when attached to P91 pipes, which are the target material of this project. In the final stage of this project, this FO-SHM

Life-Cycle Monitoring of Long-Span PSC Box Girder Bridges through Distributed Sensor Network: Strategies, Methods, and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheheng Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM has attracted much attention in recent years, which enables early warnings of structural failure, condition assessments, and rational maintenance/repair strategies. In the context of bridges, many long-span steel bridges in China have been installed with the SHM systems; however, the applications of the SHM in prestressed concrete (PSC bridges are still rather limited. On the other hand, the PSC box girder bridges are extensively used in highway and railway systems and premature damage of these bridges is often reported, resulting in considerable maintenance and/or replacement costs. First, this paper presents a state-of-art review on the SHM of long-span PSC bridges. Monitoring strategies, methods, and previous applications for these bridges are summarized and discussed. In order to well capture the behavior of the bridge during its whole life and to maximize the use of sensors, a life-cycle monitoring strategy is proposed, in which the sensor layout is determined according to requirements for construction monitoring, completion test, and in-service monitoring. A case study is made on a three-span PSC box girder bridge in China. The system configuration, sensor layout, and data communications, and so forth, are presented. The up-to-date monitored structural responses are analyzed and compared with the design values.

Vibration monitoring of long bridges and their expansion joints and seismic devices

OpenAIRE

Islami Kleidi

2015-01-01

This paper presents a number of recently installed Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems: a) on a 2km double suspension bridge; b) on a long railway viaduct that has experienced cracking; and c) on a steel arch bridge in a seismically active area. Damage detection techniques have been applied based on high-frequency measurements of vibrations, pressure and strain, enabling a proper understanding of the structures’ behaviour to be gained. The diverse range of applications presented, desig...

Monitoring osseointegration and developing intelligent systems (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Salvino, Liming W.

2017-05-01

Effective monitoring of structural and biological systems is an extremely important research area that enables technology development for future intelligent devices, platforms, and systems. This presentation provides an overview of research efforts funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to establish structural health monitoring (SHM) methodologies in the human domain. Basic science efforts are needed to utilize SHM sensing, data analysis, modeling, and algorithms to obtain the relevant physiological and biological information for human-specific health and performance conditions. This overview of current research efforts is based on the Monitoring Osseointegrated Prosthesis (MOIP) program. MOIP develops implantable and intelligent prosthetics that are directly anchored to the bone of residual limbs. Through real-time monitoring, sensing, and responding to osseointegration of bones and implants as well as interface conditions and environment, our research program aims to obtain individualized actionable information for implant failure identification, load estimation, infection mitigation and treatment, as well as healing assessment. Looking ahead to achieve ultimate goals of SHM, we seek to expand our research areas to cover monitoring human, biological and engineered systems, as well as human-machine interfaces. Examples of such include 1) brainwave monitoring and neurological control, 2) detecting and evaluating brain injuries, 3) monitoring and maximizing human-technological object teaming, and 4) closed-loop setups in which actions can be triggered automatically based on sensors, actuators, and data signatures. Finally, some ongoing and future collaborations across different disciplines for the development of knowledge automation and intelligent systems will be discussed.

A variable-frequency structural health monitoring system based on omnidirectional shear horizontal wave piezoelectric transducers

Science.gov (United States)

Huan, Qiang; Miao, Hongchen; Li, Faxin

2018-02-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is of great importance for engineering structures as it may detect the early degradation and thus avoid life and financial loss. Guided wave based inspection is very useful in SHM due to its capability for long distance and wide range monitoring. The fundamental shear horizontal (SH0) wave based method should be most promising since SH0 is the unique non-dispersive wave mode in plate-like structures. In this work, a sparse array SHM system based on omnidirectional SH wave piezoelectric transducers (OSH-PT) was proposed and the multi data fusion method was used for defect inspection in a 2 mm thick aluminum plate. Firstly, the performances of three types OSH-PTs was comprehensively compared and the thickness-poled d15 mode OSH-PT used in this work was demonstrated obviously superior to the other two. Then, the signal processing method and imaging algorithm for this SHM system was presented. Finally, experiments were carried out to examine the performance of the proposed SHM system in defect localization and imaging. Results indicated that this SHM system can locate a through hole as small as 0.12λ (4 mm) in diameter (where λ is the wavelength corresponding to the central operation frequency) under frequencies from 90 to 150 kHz. It can also locate multiple defects accurately based on the baseline subtraction method. Obviously, this SHM system can detect larger areas with sparse sensors because of the adopted single mode, non-dispersive and low frequency SH0 wave which can propagate long distance with small attenuation. Considering its good performances, simple data processing and sparse array, this SH0 wave-based SHM system is expected to greatly promote the applications of guided wave inspection.

Opportunities and challenges for structural health monitoring of radioactive waste systems and structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giurgiutiu, Victor [University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 (United States); Mendez Torres, Adrian E. [Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC 29808 (United States)

2013-07-01

Radioactive waste systems and structures (RWSS) are safety-critical facilities in need of monitoring over prolonged periods of time. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology that aims at monitoring the state of a structure through the use of networks of permanently mounted sensors. SHM technologies have been developed primarily within the aerospace and civil engineering communities. This paper addresses the issue of transitioning the SHM concept to the monitoring of RWSS and evaluates the opportunities and challenges associated with this process. Guided wave SHM technologies utilizing structurally-mounted piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) have a wide range of applications based on both propagating-wave and standing-wave methodologies. Hence, opportunities exist for transitioning these SHM technologies into RWSS monitoring. However, there exist certain special operational conditions specific to RWSS such as: radiation field, caustic environments, marine environments, and chemical, mechanical and thermal stressors. In order to address the high discharge of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and the limited space in the storage pools the U.S. the Department of Energy (DOE) has adopted a 'Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste' (January 2013). This strategy endorses the key principles that underpin the Blue Ribbon Commission's on America's Nuclear Future recommendations to develop a sustainable program for deploying an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of UNF and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defense, national security, and other activities. This will require research to develop monitoring, diagnosis, and prognosis tools that can aid to establish a strong technical basis for extended storage and transportation of UNF. Monitoring of such structures is critical for assuring the safety and security of the

Life-Cycle Monitoring of Long-Span PSC Box Girder Bridges through Distributed Sensor Network: Strategies, Methods, and Applications

OpenAIRE

Chen, Zheheng; Guo, Tong; Yan, Shengyou

2015-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted much attention in recent years, which enables early warnings of structural failure, condition assessments, and rational maintenance/repair strategies. In the context of bridges, many long-span steel bridges in China have been installed with the SHM systems; however, the applications of the SHM in prestressed concrete (PSC) bridges are still rather limited. On the other hand, the PSC box girder bridges are extensively used in highway and railway...

Identification of unusual events in multichannel bridge monitoring data using wavelet transform and outlier analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Omenzetter, Piotr; Brownjohn, James M. W.; Moyo, Pilate

2003-08-01

Continuously operating instrumented structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are becoming a practical alternative to replace visual inspection for assessment of condition and soundness of civil infrastructure. However, converting large amount of data from an SHM system into usable information is a great challenge to which special signal processing techniques must be applied. This study is devoted to identification of abrupt, anomalous and potentially onerous events in the time histories of static, hourly sampled strains recorded by a multi-sensor SHM system installed in a major bridge structure in Singapore and operating continuously for a long time. Such events may result, among other causes, from sudden settlement of foundation, ground movement, excessive traffic load or failure of post-tensioning cables. A method of outlier detection in multivariate data has been applied to the problem of finding and localizing sudden events in the strain data. For sharp discrimination of abrupt strain changes from slowly varying ones wavelet transform has been used. The proposed method has been successfully tested using known events recorded during construction of the bridge, and later effectively used for detection of anomalous post-construction events.

In-situ health monitoring of piezoelectric sensors using electromechanical impedance: A numerical perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Bilgunde, Prathamesh N.; Bond, Leonard J.

2018-04-01

Current work presents a numerical investigation to classify the in-situ health of the piezoelectric sensors deployed for structural health monitoring (SHM) of large civil, aircraft and automotive structures. The methodology proposed in this work attempts to model the in-homogeneities in the adhesive with which typically the sensor is bonded to the structure for SHM. It was found that weakening of the bond state causes reduction in the resonance frequency of the structure and eventually approaches the resonance characteristics of a piezoelectric material under traction-free boundary conditions. These changes in the resonance spectrum are further quantified using root mean square deviation-based damage index. Results demonstrate that the electromechanical impedance method can be used to monitor structural integrity of the sensor bonded to the host structure. This cost-effective method can potentially reduce misinterpretation of SHM data for critical infrastructures.

Energy Harvesting for Structural Health Monitoring Sensor Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, G.; Farrar, C. R.; Todd, M. D.; Hodgkiss, T.; Rosing, T.

2007-02-26

This report has been developed based on information exchanges at a 2.5-day workshop on energy harvesting for embedded structural health monitoring (SHM) sensing systems that was held June 28-30, 2005, at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The workshop was hosted by the LANL/UCSD Engineering Institute (EI). This Institute is an education- and research-focused collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Jacobs School of Engineering. A Statistical Pattern Recognition paradigm for SHM is first presented and the concept of energy harvesting for embedded sensing systems is addressed with respect to the data acquisition portion of this paradigm. Next, various existing and emerging sensing modalities used for SHM and their respective power requirements are summarized, followed by a discussion of SHM sensor network paradigms, power requirements for these networks and power optimization strategies. Various approaches to energy harvesting and energy storage are discussed and limitations associated with the current technology are addressed. This discussion also addresses current energy harvesting applications and system integration issues. The report concludes by defining some future research directions and possible technology demonstrations that are aimed at transitioning the concept of energy harvesting for embedded SHM sensing systems from laboratory research to field-deployed engineering prototypes.

A framework for data compression and damage detection in structural health monitoring applied on a laboratory three-story structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manoel Afonso Pereira de Lima

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Structural Health Monitoring (SHM is an important technique used to preserve many types of structures in the short and long run, using sensor networks to continuously gather the desired data. However, this causes a strong impact in the data size to be stored and processed. A common solution to this is using compression algorithms, where the level of data compression should be adequate enough to allow the correct damage identification. In this work, we use the data sets from a laboratory three-story structure to evaluate the performance of common compression algorithms which, then, are combined with damage detection algorithms used in SHM. We also analyze how the use of Independent Component Analysis, a common technique to reduce noise in raw data, can assist the detection performance. The results showed that Piecewise Linear Histogram combined with Nonlinear PCA have the best trade-off between compression and detection for small error thresholds while Adaptive PCA with Principal Component Analysis perform better with higher values.

Active Wireless System for Structural Health Monitoring Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Perera, Ricardo; Pérez, Alberto; García-Diéguez, Marta; Zapico-Valle, José Luis

2017-12-11

The use of wireless sensors in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has increased significantly in the last years. Piezoelectric-based lead zirconium titanate (PZT) sensors have been on the rise in SHM due to their superior sensing abilities. They are applicable in different technologies such as electromechanical impedance (EMI)-based SHM. This work develops a flexible wireless smart sensor (WSS) framework based on the EMI method using active sensors for full-scale and autonomous SHM. In contrast to passive sensors, the self-sensing properties of the PZTs allow interrogating with or exciting a structure when desired. The system integrates the necessary software and hardware within a service-oriented architecture approach able to provide in a modular way the services suitable to satisfy the key requirements of a WSS. The framework developed in this work has been validated on different experimental applications. Initially, the reliability of the EMI method when carried out with the proposed wireless sensor system is evaluated by comparison with the wireless counterpart. Afterwards, the performance of the system is evaluated in terms of software stability and reliability of functioning.

Estimation of fatigue life using electromechanical impedance technique

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Yee Yan; Soh, Chee Kiong

2010-04-01

Fatigue induced damage is often progressive and gradual in nature. Structures subjected to large number of fatigue load cycles will encounter the process of progressive crack initiation, propagation and finally fracture. Monitoring of structural health, especially for the critical components, is therefore essential for early detection of potential harmful crack. Recent advent of smart materials such as piezo-impedance transducer adopting the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique and wave propagation technique are well proven to be effective in incipient damage detection and characterization. Exceptional advantages such as autonomous, real-time and online, remote monitoring may provide a cost-effective alternative to the conventional structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques. In this study, the main focus is to investigate the feasibility of characterizing a propagating fatigue crack in a structure using the EMI technique as well as estimating its remaining fatigue life using the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach. Uniaxial cyclic tensile load is applied on a lab-sized aluminum beam up to failure. Progressive shift in admittance signatures measured by the piezo-impedance transducer (PZT patch) corresponding to increase of loading cycles reflects effectiveness of the EMI technique in tracing the process of fatigue damage progression. With the use of LEFM, prediction of the remaining life of the structure at different cycles of loading is possible.

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor System for Monitoring Smart Composite Aerospace Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Moslehi, Behzad; Black, Richard J.; Gowayed, Yasser

2012-01-01

Lightweight, electromagnetic interference (EMI) immune, fiber-optic, sensor- based structural health monitoring (SHM) will play an increasing role in aerospace structures ranging from aircraft wings to jet engine vanes. Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for SHM include advanced signal processing, system and damage identification, and location and quantification algorithms. Potentially, the solution could be developed into an autonomous onboard system to inspect and perform non-destructive evaluation and SHM. A novel method has been developed to massively multiplex FBG sensors, supported by a parallel processing interrogator, which enables high sampling rates combined with highly distributed sensing (up to 96 sensors per system). The interrogation system comprises several subsystems. A broadband optical source subsystem (BOSS) and routing and interface module (RIM) send light from the interrogation system to a composite embedded FBG sensor matrix, which returns measurand-dependent wavelengths back to the interrogation system for measurement with subpicometer resolution. In particular, the returned wavelengths are channeled by the RIM to a photonic signal processing subsystem based on powerful optical chips, then passed through an optoelectronic interface to an analog post-detection electronics subsystem, digital post-detection electronics subsystem, and finally via a data interface to a computer. A range of composite structures has been fabricated with FBGs embedded. Stress tensile, bending, and dynamic strain tests were performed. The experimental work proved that the FBG sensors have a good level of accuracy in measuring the static response of the tested composite coupons (down to submicrostrain levels), the capability to detect and monitor dynamic loads, and the ability to detect defects in composites by a variety of methods including monitoring the decay time under different dynamic loading conditions. In addition to quasi-static and dynamic load monitoring, the

On the Value of Structural Health Monitoring Information for the Operation of Wind Parks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, Sebastian; Faber, Michael H.; Val, Dimitri V.

2017-01-01

wind turbine systems and its components is developed accounting for the wind park functionality, i.e. power production, its operation and its cascading damage and failure scenarios. This system model facilitates to quantify the expected benefits and risks throughout the service life accounting......In the present paper, an approach for the quantification of the Value of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Information building upon a framework for infrastructure system utility and decision analysis is developed and applied to the operation of wind parks. The quantification of the value of SHM...... facilitates a benefit and risk informed assessment and optimization of SHM strategies and encompasses models for the infrastructure functionality, the structural constituent and system risks and its management as well as the performance of SHM strategies. A wind park system model incorporating the structural...

An Experimental Study of Structural Identification of Bridges Using the Kinetic Energy Optimization Technique and the Direct Matrix Updating Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gwanghee Heo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to develop an SI (structural identification technique using the KEOT and the DMUM to decide on optimal location of sensors and to update FE model, respectively, which ultimately contributes to a composition of more effective SHM. Owing to the characteristic structural flexing behavior of cable bridges (e.g., cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges, which makes them vulnerable to any vibration, systematic and continuous structural health monitoring (SHM is pivotal for them. Since it is necessary to select optimal measurement locations with the fewest possible measurements and also to accurately assess the structural state of a bridge for the development of an effective SHM, an SI technique is as much important to accurately determine the modal parameters of the current structure based on the data optimally obtained. In this study, the kinetic energy optimization technique (KEOT was utilized to determine the optimal measurement locations, while the direct matrix updating method (DMUM was utilized for FE model updating. As a result of experiment, the required number of measurement locations derived from KEOT based on the target mode was reduced by approximately 80% compared to the initial number of measurement locations. Moreover, compared to the eigenvalue of the modal experiment, an improved FE model with a margin of error of less than 1% was derived from DMUM. Thus, the SI technique for cable-stayed bridges proposed in this study, which utilizes both KEOT and DMUM, is proven effective in minimizing the number of sensors while accurately determining the structural dynamic characteristics.

Structural health monitoring feature design by genetic programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, Dustin Y; Todd, Michael D

2014-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide real-time damage and performance information for civil, aerospace, and other high-capital or life-safety critical structures. Conventional data processing involves pre-processing and extraction of low-dimensional features from in situ time series measurements. The features are then input to a statistical pattern recognition algorithm to perform the relevant classification or regression task necessary to facilitate decisions by the SHM system. Traditional design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms can be an expensive and time-consuming process requiring extensive system knowledge and domain expertise. Genetic programming, a heuristic program search method from evolutionary computation, was recently adapted by the authors to perform automated, data-driven design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms for statistical pattern recognition applications. The proposed method, called Autofead, is particularly suitable to handle the challenges inherent in algorithm design for SHM problems where the manifestation of damage in structural response measurements is often unclear or unknown. Autofead mines a training database of response measurements to discover information-rich features specific to the problem at hand. This study provides experimental validation on three SHM applications including ultrasonic damage detection, bearing damage classification for rotating machinery, and vibration-based structural health monitoring. Performance comparisons with common feature choices for each problem area are provided demonstrating the versatility of Autofead to produce significant algorithm improvements on a wide range of problems. (paper)

Historic Bim: a New Repository for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Banfi, F.; Barazzetti, L.; Previtali, M.; Roncoroni, F.

2017-05-01

Recent developments in Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies are facilitating the management of historic complex structures using new applications. This paper proposes a generative method combining the morphological and typological aspects of the historic buildings (H-BIM), with a set of monitoring information. This combination of 3D digital survey, parametric modelling and monitoring datasets allows for the development of a system for archiving and visualizing structural health monitoring (SHM) data (Fig. 1). The availability of a BIM database allows one to integrate a different kind of data stored in different ways (e.g. reports, tables, graphs, etc.) with a representation directly connected to the 3D model of the structure with appropriate levels of detail (LoD). Data can be interactively accessed by selecting specific objects of the BIM, i.e. connecting the 3D position of the sensors installed with additional digital documentation. Such innovative BIM objects, which form a new BIM family for SHM, can be then reused in other projects, facilitating data archiving and exploitation of data acquired and processed. The application of advanced modeling techniques allows for the reduction of time and costs of the generation process, and support cooperation between different disciplines using a central workspace. However, it also reveals new challenges for parametric software and exchange formats. The case study presented is the medieval bridge Azzone Visconti in Lecco (Italy), in which multi-temporal vertical movements during load testing were integrated into H-BIM.

HISTORIC BIM: A NEW REPOSITORY FOR STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Banfi

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in Building Information Modelling (BIM technologies are facilitating the management of historic complex structures using new applications. This paper proposes a generative method combining the morphological and typological aspects of the historic buildings (H-BIM, with a set of monitoring information. This combination of 3D digital survey, parametric modelling and monitoring datasets allows for the development of a system for archiving and visualizing structural health monitoring (SHM data (Fig. 1. The availability of a BIM database allows one to integrate a different kind of data stored in different ways (e.g. reports, tables, graphs, etc. with a representation directly connected to the 3D model of the structure with appropriate levels of detail (LoD. Data can be interactively accessed by selecting specific objects of the BIM, i.e. connecting the 3D position of the sensors installed with additional digital documentation. Such innovative BIM objects, which form a new BIM family for SHM, can be then reused in other projects, facilitating data archiving and exploitation of data acquired and processed. The application of advanced modeling techniques allows for the reduction of time and costs of the generation process, and support cooperation between different disciplines using a central workspace. However, it also reveals new challenges for parametric software and exchange formats. The case study presented is the medieval bridge Azzone Visconti in Lecco (Italy, in which multi-temporal vertical movements during load testing were integrated into H-BIM.

TLP Structural Health Monitoring Based on Vibration Signal of Energy Harvesting System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vahid Jahangiri

Full Text Available Abstract Structural Health Monitoring (SHM of Tension Leg Platform (TLP is very crucial for preventing catastrophic and sudden collapse of the structures. One of the methods of monitoring these structures is implementing SHM sensors. Supplying energy for these sensors for a long period is a challenging problem. So, one of the new methods of supplying energy for SHM, is usage of mechanical energy. In this method, the piezoelectric material is employed to convert the mechanical energy which is resulted from vibration of structure, to electrical energy. The advantage of this method is based on not implementing the battery charging system. Therefore, in this paper, after modeling TLP structure, energy supplying of these sensors with piezoelectric converters is studied. Furthermore, fault diagnosis of these structures in the presence of different uncertainties is proposed by the features of voltage signal, produced from piezoelectric patches and fuzzy classification method. Results show that this method can diagnose faults of the structure with an acceptable success rate.

Principles in wireless building health monitoring systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Pentaris, F. P.; Makris, J. P.; Stonham, J.; Vallianatos, F.

2012-04-01

Monitoring the structural state of a building is essential for the safety of the people who work, live, visit or just use it as well as for the civil protection of urban areas. Many factors can affect the state of the health of a structure, namely man made, like mistakes in the construction, traffic, heavy loads on the structures, explosions, environmental impacts like wind loads, humidity, chemical reactions, temperature changes and saltiness, and natural hazards like earthquakes and landslides. Monitoring the health of a structure provides the ability to anticipate structural failures and secure the safe use of buildings especially those of public services. This work reviews the state of the art and the challenges of a wireless Structural Health Monitoring (WiSHM). Literature review reveals that although there is significant evolution in wireless structural health monitoring, in many cases, monitoring by itself is not enough to predict when a structure becomes inappropriate and/or unsafe for use, and the damage or low durability of a structure cannot be revealed (Chintalapudi, et al., 2006; Ramos, Aguilar, & Lourenço, 2011). Several features and specifications of WiSHM like wireless sensor networking, reliability and autonomy of sensors, algorithms of data transmission and analysis should still be evolved and improved in order to increase the predictive effectiveness of the SHM (Jinping Ou & Hui Li, 2010; Lu & Loh, 2010) . Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the ARCHEMEDES III Program of the Ministry of Education of Greece and the European Union in the framework of the project entitled «Interdisciplinary Multi-Scale Research of Earthquake Physics and Seismotectonics at the front of the Hellenic Arc (IMPACT-ARC) ».

Crucial Component Damage Detection, Monitoring and Mitigation, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This SBIR project delivers an on-board structural health-monitoring (SHM) system with embedded sensors that sense mechanical impedance deviations to flag incipient...

Application of multi-scale (cross-) sample entropy for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Tzu-Kang; Liang, Jui-Chang

2015-08-01

This study proposes an information-theoretic structural health monitoring (SHM) system based on multi-scale entropy (MSE) and multi-scale cross-sample entropy (MSCE). By measuring the ambient vibration signal from a structure, the damage condition can be rapidly evaluated via MSE analysis. The damage location can then be detected by analyzing the signals of different floors under the same damage condition via MSCE analysis. Moreover, a damage index is proposed to efficiently quantify the SHM process. Unlike some existing SHM methods, no experimental database or numerical model is required. Instead, a reference measurement of the current stage can initiate and launch the SHM system. A numerical simulation of a four-story steel structure is used to verify that the damage location and condition can be detected by the proposed SHM algorithm, and the location can be efficiently quantified by the damage index. A seven-story scaled-down benchmark structure is then employed for experimental verification. Based on the results, the damage condition can be correctly assessed, and average accuracy rates of 63.4 and 86.6% for the damage location can be achieved using the MSCE and damage index methods, respectively. As only the ambient vibration signal is required with a set of initial reference measurements, the proposed SHM system can be implemented practically with low cost.

Packaging of structural health monitoring components

Science.gov (United States)

Kessler, Seth S.; Spearing, S. Mark; Shi, Yong; Dunn, Christopher T.

2004-07-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies have the potential to realize economic benefits in a broad range of commercial and defense markets. Previous research conducted by Metis Design and MIT has demonstrated the ability of Lamb waves methods to provide reliable information regarding the presence, location and type of damage in composite specimens. The present NSF funded program was aimed to study manufacturing, packaging and interface concepts for critical SHM components. The intention is to be able to cheaply manufacture robust actuating/sensing devices, and isolate them from harsh operating environments including natural, mechanical, or electrical extremes. Currently the issues related to SHM system durability have remained undressed. During the course of this research several sets of test devices were fabricated and packaged to protect the piezoelectric component assemblies for robust operation. These assemblies were then tested in hot and wet conditions, as well as in electrically noisy environments. Future work will aim to package the other supporting components such as the battery and wireless chip, as well as integrating all of these components together for operation. SHM technology will enable the reduction or complete elimination of scheduled inspections, and will allow condition-based maintenance for increased reliability and reduced overall life-cycle costs.

Development of a PZT-based wireless digital monitor for composite impact monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Peipei; Yuan, Shenfang; Qiu, Lei

2012-01-01

One of the major concerns in the whole lifetime of composite materials in aircraft is their susceptibility to impact damage. And there has existed a need in recent years to develop an online structural health monitoring (SHM) system for impact monitoring. This paper proposes a new PZT-based wireless digital impact monitoring system development method aimed at giving a localized area for further inspection. Based on this method, a PZT-based wireless digital impact monitor (WDIM) with advantages of compactness, light weight, low power consumption and high efficiency is developed. Differently from conventional SHM systems, the complex analog circuits are removed and the whole process is achieved in a digital way by turning the output of the PZT sensor directly into a digital queue through a comparator. A simple but efficient sub-region location method is implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as the processing core of the WDIM to detect and record the impact events. In addition, wireless communication technology is used in the WDIM to transmit data and form a monitoring network. To illustrate the capability of the WDIM, a complete process dealing with an impact event is investigated and the stability of the WDIM is also evaluated in this paper. The WDIM shows its potential for real online applications in aircraft. (paper)

Monitoring of Structures and Mechanical Systems Using Virtual Visual Sensors for Video Analysis: Fundamental Concept and Proof of Feasibility

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Thomas Schumacher

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM has become a viable tool to provide owners of structures and mechanical systems with quantitative and objective data for maintenance and repair. Traditionally, discrete contact sensors such as strain gages or accelerometers have been used for SHM. However, distributed remote sensors could be advantageous since they don’t require cabling and can cover an area rather than a limited number of discrete points. Along this line we propose a novel monitoring methodology based on video analysis. By employing commercially available digital cameras combined with efficient signal processing methods we can measure and compute the fundamental frequency of vibration of structural systems. The basic concept is that small changes in the intensity value of a monitored pixel with fixed coordinates caused by the vibration of structures can be captured by employing techniques such as the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT. In this paper we introduce the basic concept and mathematical theory of this proposed so-called virtual visual sensor (VVS, we present a set of initial laboratory experiments to demonstrate the accuracy of this approach, and provide a practical in-service monitoring example of an in-service bridge. Finally, we discuss further work to improve the current methodology.

Effectiveness of compressed sensing and transmission in wireless sensor networks for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Fujiwara, Takahiro; Uchiito, Haruki; Tokairin, Tomoya; Kawai, Hiroyuki

2017-04-01

Regarding Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for seismic acceleration, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is a promising tool for low-cost monitoring. Compressed sensing and transmission schemes have been drawing attention to achieve effective data collection in WSN. Especially, SHM systems installing massive nodes of WSN require efficient data transmission due to restricted communications capability. The dominant frequency band of seismic acceleration is occupied within 100 Hz or less. In addition, the response motions on upper floors of a structure are activated at a natural frequency, resulting in induced shaking at the specified narrow band. Focusing on the vibration characteristics of structures, we introduce data compression techniques for seismic acceleration monitoring in order to reduce the amount of transmission data. We carry out a compressed sensing and transmission scheme by band pass filtering for seismic acceleration data. The algorithm executes the discrete Fourier transform for the frequency domain and band path filtering for the compressed transmission. Assuming that the compressed data is transmitted through computer networks, restoration of the data is performed by the inverse Fourier transform in the receiving node. This paper discusses the evaluation of the compressed sensing for seismic acceleration by way of an average error. The results present the average error was 0.06 or less for the horizontal acceleration, in conditions where the acceleration was compressed into 1/32. Especially, the average error on the 4th floor achieved a small error of 0.02. Those results indicate that compressed sensing and transmission technique is effective to reduce the amount of data with maintaining the small average error.

Active Wireless System for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

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Ricardo Perera

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The use of wireless sensors in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has increased significantly in the last years. Piezoelectric-based lead zirconium titanate (PZT sensors have been on the rise in SHM due to their superior sensing abilities. They are applicable in different technologies such as electromechanical impedance (EMI-based SHM. This work develops a flexible wireless smart sensor (WSS framework based on the EMI method using active sensors for full-scale and autonomous SHM. In contrast to passive sensors, the self-sensing properties of the PZTs allow interrogating with or exciting a structure when desired. The system integrates the necessary software and hardware within a service-oriented architecture approach able to provide in a modular way the services suitable to satisfy the key requirements of a WSS. The framework developed in this work has been validated on different experimental applications. Initially, the reliability of the EMI method when carried out with the proposed wireless sensor system is evaluated by comparison with the wireless counterpart. Afterwards, the performance of the system is evaluated in terms of software stability and reliability of functioning.

Crack diagnosis of metallic profiles based on structural damage indicators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preisler, A; Schröder, K-U; Steenbock, C

2015-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) faces several challenges before large-scale industrial application. First of all damage diagnosis has to be reliable. Therefore, common SHM approaches use highly advanced sensor techniques to monitor the whole structure on all possible failures. This results in an enormous amount of data gathered during service. The general effort can be drastically reduced, if the knowledge achieved during the sizing process is used. During sizing, potential failure modes and critical locations, so called hot spots, are already evaluated. A very sensitive SHM system can be developed, when the monitoring effort shifts from the damage to its impact on the structural behaviour and the so called damage indicators. These are the two main components of the SmartSHM approach, which reduces the monitoring effort significantly. Not only the amount of data is minimized, but also reliability and robustness are ensured by the SmartSHM approach.This contribution demonstrates the SmartSHM approach by a cracked four point bending beam. To show general applicability a parametric study considering different profiles (bar, box, I, C, T, L, Z), crack positions and lengths has been performed. Questions of sensitivity and minimum size of the sensor network are discussed based on the results of the parametric study. (paper)

Inspection of Piezoceramic Transducers Used for Structural Health Monitoring

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Inka Mueller

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The use of piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS for structural health monitoring (SHM purposes is state of the art for acousto-ultrasonic-based methods. For system reliability, detailed information about the PWAS itself is necessary. This paper gives an overview on frequent PWAS faults and presents the effects of these faults on the wave propagation, used for active acousto-ultrasonics-based SHM. The analysis of the wave field is based on velocity measurements using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV. New and established methods of PWAS inspection are explained in detail, listing advantages and disadvantages. The electro-mechanical impedance spectrum as basis for these methods is discussed for different sensor faults. This way this contribution focuses on a detailed analysis of PWAS and the need of their inspection for an increased reliability of SHM systems.

Data driven innovations in structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Rosales, M. J.; Liyanapathirana, R.

2017-05-01

At present, substantial investments are being allocated to civil infrastructures also considered as valuable assets at a national or global scale. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an indispensable tool required to ensure the performance and safety of these structures based on measured response parameters. The research to date on damage assessment has tended to focus on the utilization of wireless sensor networks (WSN) as it proves to be the best alternative over the traditional visual inspections and tethered or wired counterparts. Over the last decade, the structural health and behaviour of innumerable infrastructure has been measured and evaluated owing to several successful ventures of implementing these sensor networks. Various monitoring systems have the capability to rapidly transmit, measure, and store large capacities of data. The amount of data collected from these networks have eventually been unmanageable which paved the way to other relevant issues such as data quality, relevance, re-use, and decision support. There is an increasing need to integrate new technologies in order to automate the evaluation processes as well as to enhance the objectivity of data assessment routines. This paper aims to identify feasible methodologies towards the application of time-series analysis techniques to judiciously exploit the vast amount of readily available as well as the upcoming data resources. It continues the momentum of a greater effort to collect and archive SHM approaches that will serve as data-driven innovations for the assessment of damage through efficient algorithms and data analytics.

Structural Health Monitoring for a Z-Type Special Vehicle

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Chaolin Yuan

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays there exist various kinds of special vehicles designed for some purposes, which are different from regular vehicles in overall dimension and design. In that case, accidents such as overturning will lead to large economical loss and casualties. There are still no technical specifications to follow to ensure the safe operation and driving of these special vehicles. Owing to the poor efficiency of regular maintenance, it is more feasible and effective to apply real-time monitoring during the operation and driving process. In this paper, the fiber Bragg grating (FBG sensors are used to monitor the safety of a z-type special vehicle. Based on the structural features and force distribution, a reasonable structural health monitoring (SHM scheme is presented. Comparing the monitoring results with the finite element simulation results guarantees the accuracy and reliability of the monitoring results. Large amounts of data are collected during the operation and driving progress to evaluate the structural safety condition and provide reference for SHM systems developed for other special vehicles.

Automated wireless monitoring system for cable tension using smart sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Sung-Han; Li, Jian; Jo, Hongki; Park, Jongwoong; Cho, Soojin; Spencer, Billie F.; Yun, Chung-Bang

2013-04-01

Cables are critical load carrying members of cable-stayed bridges; monitoring tension forces of the cables provides valuable information for SHM of the cable-stayed bridges. Monitoring systems for the cable tension can be efficiently realized using wireless smart sensors in conjunction with vibration-based cable tension estimation approaches. This study develops an automated cable tension monitoring system using MEMSIC's Imote2 smart sensors. An embedded data processing strategy is implemented on the Imote2-based wireless sensor network to calculate cable tensions using a vibration-based method, significantly reducing the wireless data transmission and associated power consumption. The autonomous operation of the monitoring system is achieved by AutoMonitor, a high-level coordinator application provided by the Illinois SHM Project Services Toolsuite. The monitoring system also features power harvesting enabled by solar panels attached to each sensor node and AutoMonitor for charging control. The proposed wireless system has been deployed on the Jindo Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge located in South Korea. Tension forces are autonomously monitored for 12 cables in the east, land side of the bridge, proving the validity and potential of the presented tension monitoring system for real-world applications.

Towards "Zero" False Positive in Structural Health Monitoring

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Chiu, Wing K; Chang, F. K; Tian, Daniel T

2007-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is one aspect of a revolution based on the use of Smart Materials and Structures technologies that have the potential to provide major gains in structural performance and cost-efficient life management...

Guaranteeing robustness of structural condition monitoring to environmental variability

Science.gov (United States)

Van Buren, Kendra; Reilly, Jack; Neal, Kyle; Edwards, Harry; Hemez, François

2017-01-01

Advances in sensor deployment and computational modeling have allowed significant strides to be recently made in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). One widely used SHM strategy is to perform a vibration analysis where a model of the structure's pristine (undamaged) condition is compared with vibration response data collected from the physical structure. Discrepancies between model predictions and monitoring data can be interpreted as structural damage. Unfortunately, multiple sources of uncertainty must also be considered in the analysis, including environmental variability, unknown model functional forms, and unknown values of model parameters. Not accounting for these sources of uncertainty can lead to false-positives or false-negatives in the structural condition assessment. To manage the uncertainty, we propose a robust SHM methodology that combines three technologies. A time series algorithm is trained using "baseline" data to predict the vibration response, compare predictions to actual measurements collected on a potentially damaged structure, and calculate a user-defined damage indicator. The second technology handles the uncertainty present in the problem. An analysis of robustness is performed to propagate this uncertainty through the time series algorithm and obtain the corresponding bounds of variation of the damage indicator. The uncertainty description and robustness analysis are both inspired by the theory of info-gap decision-making. Lastly, an appropriate "size" of the uncertainty space is determined through physical experiments performed in laboratory conditions. Our hypothesis is that examining how the uncertainty space changes throughout time might lead to superior diagnostics of structural damage as compared to only monitoring the damage indicator. This methodology is applied to a portal frame structure to assess if the strategy holds promise for robust SHM. (Publication approved for unlimited, public release on October-28

Detecting delaminations and disbondings on full-scale wing composite panel by guided waves based SHM system

Science.gov (United States)

Monaco, E.; Boffa, N. D.; Memmolo, V.; Ricci, F.; Maio, L.

2016-04-01

A full-scale lower wing panel made of composite material has been designed, manufactured and sensorised within the European Funded research project named SARISTU. The authors contributed to the whole development of the system, from design to implementation as well as to the impacts campaign phase where Barely Visible and Visible Damages (BVID and VID) are to be artificially induced on the panel by a pneumatic impact machine. This work summarise part of the experimental results related to damages production, their assessment by C-SCAN as reference NDT method as well as damage detection of delimitations by a guided waves based SHM. The SHM system is made by customized piezoelectric patches secondary bonded on the wing plate acting both as guided waves sources and receivers. The paper will deal mostly with the experimental impact campaign and the signal analyses carried out to extract the metrics more sensitive to damages induced. Image reconstruction of the damages dimensions and shapes will be also described based mostly on the combination of metrics maps over the plate partial surfaces. Finally a comparison of damages maps obtained by the SHM approach and those obtained by "classic" C-SCAN will be presented analyzing briefly pros and cons of the two different approached as a combination to the most effective structural maintenance scenario of a commercial aircraft.

Development of a High-Sensitivity Wireless Accelerometer for Structural Health Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Li; Fu, Yuguang; Chow, Raymond; Spencer, Billie F; Park, Jong Woong; Mechitov, Kirill

2018-01-17

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring the safety of structures. A shift of SHM research away from traditional wired methods toward the use of wireless smart sensors (WSS) has been motivated by the attractive features of wireless smart sensor networks (WSSN). The progress achieved in Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technologies and wireless data transmission, has extended the effectiveness and range of applicability of WSSNs. One of the most common sensors employed in SHM strategies is the accelerometer; however, most accelerometers in WSS nodes have inadequate resolution for measurement of the typical accelerations found in many SHM applications. In this study, a high-resolution and low-noise tri-axial digital MEMS accelerometer is incorporated in a next-generation WSS platform, the Xnode. In addition to meeting the acceleration sensing demands of large-scale civil infrastructure applications, this new WSS node provides powerful hardware and a robust software framework to enable edge computing that can deliver actionable information. Hardware and software integration challenges are presented, and the associate resolutions are discussed. The performance of the wireless accelerometer is demonstrated experimentally through comparison with high-sensitivity wired accelerometers. This new high-sensitivity wireless accelerometer will extend the use of WSSN to a broader class of SHM applications.

Development of a High-Sensitivity Wireless Accelerometer for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Li; Fu, Yuguang; Chow, Raymond; Spencer, Billie F.; Park, Jong Woong; Mechitov, Kirill

2018-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring the safety of structures. A shift of SHM research away from traditional wired methods toward the use of wireless smart sensors (WSS) has been motivated by the attractive features of wireless smart sensor networks (WSSN). The progress achieved in Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technologies and wireless data transmission, has extended the effectiveness and range of applicability of WSSNs. One of the most common sensors employed in SHM strategies is the accelerometer; however, most accelerometers in WSS nodes have inadequate resolution for measurement of the typical accelerations found in many SHM applications. In this study, a high-resolution and low-noise tri-axial digital MEMS accelerometer is incorporated in a next-generation WSS platform, the Xnode. In addition to meeting the acceleration sensing demands of large-scale civil infrastructure applications, this new WSS node provides powerful hardware and a robust software framework to enable edge computing that can deliver actionable information. Hardware and software integration challenges are presented, and the associate resolutions are discussed. The performance of the wireless accelerometer is demonstrated experimentally through comparison with high-sensitivity wired accelerometers. This new high-sensitivity wireless accelerometer will extend the use of WSSN to a broader class of SHM applications. PMID:29342102

New applications of a model of electromechanical impedance for SHM

Science.gov (United States)

Pavelko, Vitalijs

2014-03-01

The paper focuses on the further development of the model of the electromechanical impedance (EMI) of the piezoceramics transducer (PZT) and its application for aircraft structural health monitoring (SHM). There was obtained an expression of the electromechanical impedance common to any dimension of models (1D, 2D, 3D), and directly independent from imposed constraints. Determination of the dynamic response of the system "host structure - PZT", which is crucial for the practical application supposes the use of modal analysis. This allows to get a general tool to determine EMI regardless of the specific features of a particular application. Earlier there was considered the technology of separate determination of the dynamic response for the PZT and the structural element". Here another version that involves the joint modal analysis of the entire system "host structure - PZT" is presented. As a result, the dynamic response is obtained in the form of modal decomposition of transducer mechanical strains. The use of models for the free and constrained transducer, analysis of the impact of the adhesive layer to the EMI is demonstrated. In all cases there was analyzed the influence of the dimension of the model (2D and 3D). The validity of the model is confirmed by experimental studies. Correlation between the fatigue crack length in a thin-walled Al plate and EMI of embedded PZT was simulated and compared with test result.

Uncertainty Evaluation in the Design of Structural Health Monitoring Systems for Damage Detection†

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Christine Schubert Kabban

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The validation of structural health monitoring (SHM systems for aircraft is complicated by the extent and number of factors that the SHM system must demonstrate for robust performance. Therefore, a time- and cost-efficient method for examining all of the sensitive factors must be conducted. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of using the simulation modeling environment to determine the SHM sensitive factors that must be considered for subsequent experiments, in order to enable the SHM validation. We demonstrate this concept by examining the effect of SHM system configuration and flaw characteristics on the response of a signal from a known piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS in an aluminum plate, using simulation models of a particular hot spot. We derive the signal responses mathematically and through the statistical design of experiments, we determine the significant factors that affect the damage indices that are computed from the signal, using only half the number of runs that are normally required. We determine that the transmitter angle is the largest source of variation for the damage indices that are considered, followed by signal frequency and transmitter distance to the hot spot. These results demonstrate that the use of efficient statistical design and simulation may enable a cost- and time-efficient sequential approach to quantifying sensitive SHM factors and system validation.

Investigation of Wireless Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

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Ping Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs are one of the most able technologies in the structural health monitoring (SHM field. Through intelligent, self-organising means, the contents of this paper will test a variety of different objects and different working principles of sensor nodes connected into a network and integrated with data processing functions. In this paper the key issues of WSN applied in SHM are discussed, including the integration of different types of sensors with different operational modalities, sampling frequencies, issues of transmission bandwidth, real-time ability, and wireless transmitter frequency. Furthermore, the topology, data fusion, integration, energy saving, and self-powering nature of different systems will be investigated. In the FP7 project “Health Monitoring of Offshore Wind Farms,” the above issues are explored.

Recent Developments on Wireless Sensor Networks Technology for Bridge Health Monitoring

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Guang-Dong Zhou

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM systems have shown great potential to sense the responses of a bridge system, diagnose the current structural conditions, predict the expected future performance, provide information for maintenance, and validate design hypotheses. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs that have the benefits of reducing implementation costs of SHM systems as well as improving data processing efficiency become an attractive alternative to traditional tethered sensor systems. This paper introduces recent technology developments in the field of bridge health monitoring using WSNs. As a special application of WSNs, the requirements and characteristics of WSNs when used for bridge health monitoring are firstly briefly discussed. Then, the state of the art in WSNs-based bridge health monitoring systems is reviewed including wireless sensor, network topology, data processing technology, power management, and time synchronization. Following that, the performance validations and applications of WSNs in bridge health monitoring through scale models and field deployment are presented. Finally, some existing problems and promising research efforts for promoting applications of WSNs technology in bridge health monitoring throughout the world are explored.

Investigation on the use of artificial neural networks to overcome the effects of environmental and operational changes on guided waves monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

El Mountassir, M.; Yaacoubi, S.; Dahmene, F.

2015-07-01

Intelligent feature extraction and advanced signal processing techniques are necessary for a better interpretation of ultrasonic guided waves signals either in structural health monitoring (SHM) or in nondestructive testing (NDT). Such signals are characterized by at least multi-modal and dispersive components. In addition, in SHM, these signals are closely vulnerable to environmental and operational conditions (EOCs), and can be severely affected. In this paper we investigate the use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to overcome these effects and to provide a reliable damage detection method with a minimal of false indications. An experimental case of study (full scale pipe) is presented. Damages sizes have been increased and their shapes modified in different steps. Various parameters such as the number of inputs and the number of hidden neurons were studied to find the optimal configuration of the neural network.

A distributed cloud-based cyberinfrastructure framework for integrated bridge monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Seongwoon; Hou, Rui; Lynch, Jerome P.; Sohn, Hoon; Law, Kincho H.

2017-04-01

This paper describes a cloud-based cyberinfrastructure framework for the management of the diverse data involved in bridge monitoring. Bridge monitoring involves various hardware systems, software tools and laborious activities that include, for examples, a structural health monitoring (SHM), sensor network, engineering analysis programs and visual inspection. Very often, these monitoring systems, tools and activities are not coordinated, and the collected information are not shared. A well-designed integrated data management framework can support the effective use of the data and, thereby, enhance bridge management and maintenance operations. The cloud-based cyberinfrastructure framework presented herein is designed to manage not only sensor measurement data acquired from the SHM system, but also other relevant information, such as bridge engineering model and traffic videos, in an integrated manner. For the scalability and flexibility, cloud computing services and distributed database systems are employed. The information stored can be accessed through standard web interfaces. For demonstration, the cyberinfrastructure system is implemented for the monitoring of the bridges located along the I-275 Corridor in the state of Michigan.

Flexible High Energy-Conversion Sensing Materials for Structural Health Monitoring, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The applicant is developing flexible highly-efficient piezoelectric materials for use in structural health monitoring (SHM) as contemplated in the solicitation...

Structural Health Monitoring with Fiber Bragg Grating and Piezo Arrays, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — IFOS and its research institute collaborator, Washington State University (WSU), have demonstrated feasibility of a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for...

Internet of Things (IoT Platform for Structure Health Monitoring

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Ahmed Abdelgawad

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Increase in the demand for reliable structural health information led to the development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM. Prediction of upcoming accidents and estimation of useful life span of a structure are facilitated through SHM. While data sensing is the core of any SHM, tracking the data anytime anywhere is a prevailing challenge. With the advancement in information technology, the concept of Internet of Things (IoT has made it possible to integrate SHM with Internet to track data anytime anywhere. In this paper, a SHM platform embedded with IoT is proposed to detect the size and location of damage in structures. The proposed platform consists of a Wi-Fi module, a Raspberry Pi, an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC, a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC, a buffer, and piezoelectric (PZT sensors. The piezoelectric sensors are mounted as a pair in the structure. Data collected from the piezoelectric sensors will be used to detect the size and location of damage using a proposed mathematical model. Implemented on a Raspberry Pi, the proposed mathematical model will estimate the size and location of structural damage, if any, and upload the data to Internet. This data will be stored and can be checked remotely from any mobile device. The system has been validated using a real test bed in the lab.

Phase Space Dissimilarity Measures for Structural Health Monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bubacz, Jacob A [ORNL; Chmielewski, Hana T [ORNL; Pape, Alexander E [ORNL; Depersio, Andrew J [ORNL; Hively, Lee M [ORNL; Abercrombie, Robert K [ORNL; Boone, Shane [ORNL

2011-11-01

A novel method for structural health monitoring (SHM), known as the Phase Space Dissimilarity Measures (PSDM) approach, is proposed and developed. The patented PSDM approach has already been developed and demonstrated for a variety of equipment and biomedical applications. Here, we investigate SHM of bridges via analysis of time serial accelerometer measurements. This work has four aspects. The first is algorithm scalability, which was found to scale linearly from one processing core to four cores. Second, the same data are analyzed to determine how the use of the PSDM approach affects sensor placement. We found that a relatively low-density placement sufficiently captures the dynamics of the structure. Third, the same data are analyzed by unique combinations of accelerometer axes (vertical, longitudinal, and lateral with respect to the bridge) to determine how the choice of axes affects the analysis. The vertical axis is found to provide satisfactory SHM data. Fourth, statistical methods were investigated to validate the PSDM approach for this application, yielding statistically significant results.

The Feasibility of Structural Health Monitoring Using the Fundamental Shear Horizontal Guided Wave in a Thin Aluminum Plate

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Jorge Franklin Mansur Rodrigues Filho

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM is emerging as an essential tool for constant monitoring of safety-critical engineering components. Ultrasonic guided waves stand out because of their ability to propagate over long distances and because they can offer good estimates of location, severity, and type of damage. The unique properties of the fundamental shear horizontal guided wave (SH0 mode have recently generated great interest among the SHM community. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of omnidirectional SH0 SHM in a thin aluminum plate using a three-transducer sparse array. Descriptions of the transducer, the finite element model, and the imaging algorithm are presented. The image localization maps show a good agreement between the simulations and experimental results. The SH0 SHM method proposed in this paper is shown to have a high resolution and to be able to locate defects within 5% of the true location. The short input signal as well the non-dispersive nature of SH0 leads to high resolution in the reconstructed images. The defect diameter estimated using the full width at half maximum was 10 mm or twice the size of the true diameter.

Probabilistic Structural Health Monitoring of the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge

Science.gov (United States)

Yap, Keng C.; Macias, Jesus; Kaouk, Mohamed; Gafka, Tammy L.; Kerr, Justin H.

2011-01-01

A structural health monitoring (SHM) system can contribute to the risk management of a structure operating under hazardous conditions. An example is the Wing Leading Edge Impact Detection System (WLEIDS) that monitors the debris hazards to the Space Shuttle Orbiter s Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels. Since Return-to-Flight (RTF) after the Columbia accident, WLEIDS was developed and subsequently deployed on board the Orbiter to detect ascent and on-orbit debris impacts, so as to support the assessment of wing leading edge structural integrity prior to Orbiter re-entry. As SHM is inherently an inverse problem, the analyses involved, including those performed for WLEIDS, tend to be associated with significant uncertainty. The use of probabilistic approaches to handle the uncertainty has resulted in the successful implementation of many development and application milestones.

In situ monitoring of mutagenicity of air pollutants in São Paulo City using Tradescantia-SHM bioassay

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Ferreira Maria Izildinha

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The Tradescantia stamen hair mutation assay (Trad-SHM was employed for assessing the environmental mutagenesis in two areas of São Paulo City. The study sites were defined as follows: 1 Celso Garcia Avenue, an industrial area on the outskirts of the urban center (Belém neighborhood, with an average daily traffic volume of 8,750 vehicles; 2 Doutor Arnaldo Avenue, in downtown area (Pinheiros neighborhood, with a mostly residential and business offices occupation, with an average daily traffic volume of 46,125 vehicles. The negative control (background site is located in the city of Jaguariúna, 138 km from São Paulo, in an area of low atmospheric pollution. The mutation frequency observed for Belém was similar to the background for clone 4430, whereas plants exposed in Pinheiros showed significant increases in mutation rate. Positive correlation was observed between mutation frequency and the levels of particulate matter in the atmosphere. This indicated a relationship between mutation frequency and the amount of atmospheric pollution present at the exposure sites in São Paulo City, with special reference to vehicular emissions.

Printing of microstructure strain sensor for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Minh Quyen; Ganet, Florent; Audigier, David; Capsal, Jean-Fabien; Cottinet, Pierre-Jean

2017-05-01

Recent advances in microelectronics and materials should allow the development of integrated sensors with transduction properties compatible with being printed directly onto a 3D substrate, especially metallic and polymer substrates. Inorganic and organic electronic materials in microstructured and nanostructured forms, intimately integrated in ink, offer particularly attractive characteristics, with realistic pathways to sophisticated embodiments. Here, we report on these strategies and demonstrate the potential of 3D-printed microelectronics based on a structural health monitoring (SHM) application for the precision weapon systems. We show that our printed sensors can be employed in non-invasive, high-fidelity and continuous strain monitoring of handguns, making it possible to implement printed sensors on a 3D substrate in either SHM or remote diagnostics. We propose routes to commercialization and novel device opportunities and highlight the remaining challenges for research.

Guided waves based SHM systems for composites structural elements: statistical analyses finalized at probability of detection definition and assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Monaco, E.; Memmolo, V.; Ricci, F.; Boffa, N. D.; Maio, L.

2015-03-01

Maintenance approaches based on sensorised structures and Structural Health Monitoring systems could represent one of the most promising innovations in the fields of aerostructures since many years, mostly when composites materials (fibers reinforced resins) are considered. Layered materials still suffer today of drastic reductions of maximum allowable stress values during the design phase as well as of costly and recurrent inspections during the life cycle phase that don't permit of completely exploit their structural and economic potentialities in today aircrafts. Those penalizing measures are necessary mainly to consider the presence of undetected hidden flaws within the layered sequence (delaminations) or in bonded areas (partial disbonding); in order to relax design and maintenance constraints a system based on sensors permanently installed on the structure to detect and locate eventual flaws can be considered (SHM system) once its effectiveness and reliability will be statistically demonstrated via a rigorous Probability Of Detection function definition and evaluation. This paper presents an experimental approach with a statistical procedure for the evaluation of detection threshold of a guided waves based SHM system oriented to delaminations detection on a typical wing composite layered panel. The experimental tests are mostly oriented to characterize the statistical distribution of measurements and damage metrics as well as to characterize the system detection capability using this approach. Numerically it is not possible to substitute part of the experimental tests aimed at POD where the noise in the system response is crucial. Results of experiments are presented in the paper and analyzed.

Sensor distributions for structural monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Bernal, Dionisio

2017-01-01

Deciding on the spatial distribution of output sensors for vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) is a task that has been, and still is, studied extensively. Yet, when referring to the conventional damage characterization hierarchy, composed of detection, localization, and quantificat......Deciding on the spatial distribution of output sensors for vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) is a task that has been, and still is, studied extensively. Yet, when referring to the conventional damage characterization hierarchy, composed of detection, localization......, and quantification, it is primarily the first component that has been addressed with regard to optimal sensor placement. In this particular context, a common approach is to distribute sensors, of which the amount is determined a priori, such that some scalar function of the probability of detection for a pre......-defined set of damage patterns is maximized. Obviously, the optimal sensor distribution, in terms of damage detection, is algorithm-dependent, but studies have showed how correlation generally exists between the different strategies. However, it still remains a question how this “optimality” correlates...

Social and hygienic monitoring today: state and prospects in conjunction with the risk-based supervision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.V. Zaitseva

2016-12-01

Full Text Available It is shown in the article that since the establishment in 1992 and until now the social and health monitoring (SHM operates as a complex open system of extended collection and processing of heterogeneous data about the parameters of the environment, socio-economic indicators of living of the population of the country’s regions, medical and demographic characteristics of society as a whole and of individual population groups. As part of the SHM system Rospotrebnadzor annually performs hundreds of thousands of instrumental measurements of objects in the environment of the Russian Federation. These federal and regional information assets have tremendous analytical capacity and allow a knowledge-based processing of information in the "health-environment" system for a variety of management tasks of sanitary and epidemiological situation. Changing of the general paradigm of control and supervisory activities of Rospotrebnadzor and giving a fundamentally new status of control measures to researches and measurements of the system of social and hygienic monitoring without interaction with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs were important bases for further improvement of the SHM. The development of SHM in conjunction with the risk-based supervision model can significantly improve analytical capabilities, effectiveness and efficiency of each system. This development requires the adoption of a new edition of The statements of the SHM, the development of a scientific approach to the formation of "risk profiles" of objects of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance; the development of methodological approaches to the selection of points and formation of programs of instrumental studies of air, water and soil as the control activities in the areas of influence of economic entities. Of great current interest are the development and consolidation of regulatory requirements for the registration of the results of sampling and measurement in the

Time-frequency Methods for Structural Health Monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pyayt, A.L.; Kozionov, A.P.; Mokhov, I.I.; Lang, B.; Meijer, R.J.; Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Sloot, P.M.A.

2014-01-01

Detection of early warning signals for the imminent failure of large and complex engineered structures is a daunting challenge with many open research questions. In this paper we report on novel ways to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of flood protection systems (levees, earthen dikes and

Time-frequency methods for structural health monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pyayt, A.L.; Kozionov, A.P.; Mokhov, I.I.; Lang, B.; Meijer, R.J.; Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Sloot, P.M.A.

2014-01-01

Detection of early warning signals for the imminent failure of large and complex engineered structures is a daunting challenge with many open research questions. In this paper we report on novel ways to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of flood protection systems (levees, earthen dikes and

An Ultrasonic Wireless Sensor Network for Data Communication and Structural Health Monitoring, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Typical Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) uses embedded ultrasonic transducers exclusively for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) purposes, whereas data transfer is...

Value of information: A roadmap to quantifying the benefit of structural health monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Straub, D.; Chatzi, E.; Bismut, E.

2017-01-01

The concept of value of information (VoI) enables quantification of the benefits provided by structural health monitoring (SHM) systems – in principle. Its implementation is challenging, as it requires an explicit modelling of the structural system’s life cycle, in particular of the decisions...... that are taken based on the SHM information. In this paper, we approach the VoI analysis through an influence diagram (ID), which supports the modelling process. We provide a simple example for illustration and discuss challenges associated with real-life implementation....

Multidisciplinary health monitoring of a steel bridge deck structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pahlavan, P.L.; Pijpers, R.J.M.; Paulissen, J.H.; Hakkesteegt, H.C.; Jansen, T.H.

2013-01-01

Fatigue cracks in orthotropic bridge decks are an important cause for the necessary renovation of existing bridges. Parallel utilization of various technologies based on different physical sensing principles can potentially maximize the efficiency of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for

Control of framed structures using intelligent monitoring networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Foti Dora

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper proposes the integration of structural monitoring with Building Management Systems for electricity and gas distributions. To assess the state of damage of existing buildings the technics of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM is adopted. SHM as well as to record the occurrence of sudden structural damage resulting from exceptional events (earthquakes, explosions, shocks and collisions with vehicles, etc., allows the monitoring of the progressive damage and structural performance under operating conditions through the extraction of the modal parameters of the structure. This approach requires time to process acquired data that, depending on the size of the building and the number of monitored points, varies from minutes to hours. In this paper, an intelligent system is proposed to immediately communicate during an earthquake the overrun of a certain ground shaking threshold so that gas delivery and selected power loads are interrupted, as suggested by current national regulations on structures. The use of low-cost and reduced size accelerometric sensors integrated with Energy Monitoring Systems is proposed in both highrisk earthquake centers and in all “strategic” buildings that must ensure their operation use immediately after the earthquake. The procedure for calibrating the horizontal and vertical acceleration threshold is also sketched.

Knowledge Discovery from Vibration Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Deng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The framework as well as the particular algorithms of pattern recognition process is widely adopted in structural health monitoring (SHM. However, as a part of the overall process of knowledge discovery from data bases (KDD, the results of pattern recognition are only changes and patterns of changes of data features. In this paper, based on the similarity between KDD and SHM and considering the particularity of SHM problems, a four-step framework of SHM is proposed which extends the final goal of SHM from detecting damages to extracting knowledge to facilitate decision making. The purposes and proper methods of each step of this framework are discussed. To demonstrate the proposed SHM framework, a specific SHM method which is composed by the second order structural parameter identification, statistical control chart analysis, and system reliability analysis is then presented. To examine the performance of this SHM method, real sensor data measured from a lab size steel bridge model structure are used. The developed four-step framework of SHM has the potential to clarify the process of SHM to facilitate the further development of SHM techniques.

Highly Reliable Structural Health Monitoring of Smart Composite Vanes for Jet Engine, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems and Auburn University propose a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) integrated Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) sensor system capable of...

Development and validation of a strain-based Structural Health Monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Katsikeros, Ch. E.; Labeas, G. N.

2009-02-01

An innovative Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) methodology, based on structural strain measurements, which are processed by a back-propagation feed-forward Artificial Neural Network (ANN), is proposed. The demonstration of the SHM methodology and the identification of its capabilities and drawbacks are performed by applying the method in the prediction of fatigue damage states of a typical aircraft cracked lap-joint structure. An ANN of suitable architecture is developed and trained by numerically generated strain data sets, which have been preprocessed by Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) for the extraction of the Fourier Descriptors (FDs). The Finite Element (FE) substructuring technique is implemented in the stress and strain analysis of the lap-joint structure, due to its efficiency in the calculation of the numerous strain data, which are necessary for the ANN training. The trained network is successfully validated, as it is proven capable to accurately predict crack positions and lengths of a lap-joint structure, which is damaged by fatigue cracks of unknown location and extent. The proposed methodology is applicable to the identification of more complex types of damage or to other critical structural locations, as its basic concept is generic.

Experimental Investigation on Admittance-Based Piezoelectric Sensor Diagnostic Process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jo, Hyejin; Park, Tongil; Park, Gyuhae [Chonnam National University, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2015-01-15

Structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques based on the use of active-sensing piezoelectric (PZT) materials have received considerable attention. The validation of the PZT functionality during SHM operation is critical to successfully implementing a reliable SHM system. In this study, we investigated several parameters that affect the admittance-based sensor diagnostic process. We experimentally identified the temperature dependency of the active-sensor diagnostic process. We found that the admittance-based sensor diagnostic process can differentiate the adhesion conditions of bonding materials that are used to install a PZT on a structure, which is important when designing a sensor diagnostic process for an SHM system.

Fiber Bragg Gratings, IT Techniques and Strain Gauge Validation for Strain Calculation on Aged Metal Specimens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ander Montero

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the feasibility of calculating strains in aged F114 steel specimens with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG sensors and infrared thermography (IT techniques. Two specimens have been conditioned under extreme temperature and relative humidity conditions making comparative tests of stress before and after aging using different adhesives. Moreover, a comparison has been made with IT techniques and conventional methods for calculating stresses in F114 steel. Implementation of Structural Health Monitoring techniques on real aircraft during their life cycle requires a study of the behaviour of FBG sensors and their wiring under real conditions, before using them for a long time. To simulate aging, specimens were stored in a climate chamber at 70 °C and 90% RH for 60 days. This study is framed within the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM and Non Destructuve Evaluation (NDE research lines, integrated into the avionics area maintained by the Aeronautical Technologies Centre (CTA and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU.

A bio-inspired memory model for structural health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng, Wei; Zhu, Yong

2009-01-01

Long-term structural health monitoring (SHM) systems need intelligent management of the monitoring data. By analogy with the way the human brain processes memories, we present a bio-inspired memory model (BIMM) that does not require prior knowledge of the structure parameters. The model contains three time-domain areas: a sensory memory area, a short-term memory area and a long-term memory area. First, the initial parameters of the structural state are specified to establish safety criteria. Then the large amount of monitoring data that falls within the safety limits is filtered while the data outside the safety limits are captured instantly in the sensory memory area. Second, disturbance signals are distinguished from danger signals in the short-term memory area. Finally, the stable data of the structural balance state are preserved in the long-term memory area. A strategy for priority scheduling via fuzzy c-means for the proposed model is then introduced. An experiment on bridge tower deformation demonstrates that the proposed model can be applied for real-time acquisition, limited-space storage and intelligent mining of the monitoring data in a long-term SHM system

A bio-inspired memory model for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Wei; Zhu, Yong

2009-04-01

Long-term structural health monitoring (SHM) systems need intelligent management of the monitoring data. By analogy with the way the human brain processes memories, we present a bio-inspired memory model (BIMM) that does not require prior knowledge of the structure parameters. The model contains three time-domain areas: a sensory memory area, a short-term memory area and a long-term memory area. First, the initial parameters of the structural state are specified to establish safety criteria. Then the large amount of monitoring data that falls within the safety limits is filtered while the data outside the safety limits are captured instantly in the sensory memory area. Second, disturbance signals are distinguished from danger signals in the short-term memory area. Finally, the stable data of the structural balance state are preserved in the long-term memory area. A strategy for priority scheduling via fuzzy c-means for the proposed model is then introduced. An experiment on bridge tower deformation demonstrates that the proposed model can be applied for real-time acquisition, limited-space storage and intelligent mining of the monitoring data in a long-term SHM system.

Development of a structural health monitoring system for the life assessment of critical transportation infrastructure.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roach, Dennis Patrick; Jauregui, David Villegas (New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM); Daumueller, Andrew Nicholas (New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM)

2012-02-01

Recent structural failures such as the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minnesota have underscored the urgent need for improved methods and procedures for evaluating our aging transportation infrastructure. This research seeks to develop a basis for a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system to provide quantitative information related to the structural integrity of metallic structures to make appropriate management decisions and ensuring public safety. This research employs advanced structural analysis and nondestructive testing (NDT) methods for an accurate fatigue analysis. Metal railroad bridges in New Mexico will be the focus since many of these structures are over 100 years old and classified as fracture-critical. The term fracture-critical indicates that failure of a single component may result in complete collapse of the structure such as the one experienced by the I-35W Bridge. Failure may originate from sources such as loss of section due to corrosion or cracking caused by fatigue loading. Because standard inspection practice is primarily visual, these types of defects can go undetected due to oversight, lack of access to critical areas, or, in riveted members, hidden defects that are beneath fasteners or connection angles. Another issue is that it is difficult to determine the fatigue damage that a structure has experienced and the rate at which damage is accumulating due to uncertain history and load distribution in supporting members. A SHM system has several advantages that can overcome these limitations. SHM allows critical areas of the structure to be monitored more quantitatively under actual loading. The research needed to apply SHM to metallic structures was performed and a case study was carried out to show the potential of SHM-driven fatigue evaluation to assess the condition of critical transportation infrastructure and to guide inspectors to potential problem areas. This project combines the expertise in transportation infrastructure at New

A novel optical investigation technique for railroad track inspection and assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Sabato, Alessandro; Beale, Christopher H.; Niezrecki, Christopher

2017-04-01

Track failures due to cross tie degradation or loss in ballast support may result in a number of problems ranging from simple service interruptions to derailments. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of railway track is important for safety reasons and to reduce downtime and maintenance costs. For this reason, novel and cost-effective track inspection technologies for assessing tracks' health are currently insufficient and needed. Advancements achieved in recent years in cameras technology, optical sensors, and image-processing algorithms have made machine vision, Structure from Motion (SfM), and three-dimensional (3D) Digital Image Correlation (DIC) systems extremely appealing techniques for extracting structural deformations and geometry profiles. Therefore, optically based, non-contact measurement techniques may be used for assessing surface defects, rail and tie deflection profiles, and ballast condition. In this study, the design of two camera-based measurement systems is proposed for crossties-ballast condition assessment and track examination purposes. The first one consists of four pairs of cameras installed on the underside of a rail car to detect the induced deformation and displacement on the whole length of the track's cross tie using 3D DIC measurement techniques. The second consists of another set of cameras using SfM techniques for obtaining a 3D rendering of the infrastructure from a series of two-dimensional (2D) images to evaluate the state of the track qualitatively. The feasibility of the proposed optical systems is evaluated through extensive laboratory tests, demonstrating their ability to measure parameters of interest (e.g. crosstie's full-field displacement, vertical deflection, shape, etc.) for assessment and SHM of railroad track.

A probabilistic approach for optimal sensor allocation in structural health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azarbayejani, M; Reda Taha, M M; El-Osery, A I; Choi, K K

2008-01-01

Recent advances in sensor technology promote using large sensor networks to efficiently and economically monitor, identify and quantify damage in structures. In structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, the effectiveness and reliability of the sensor network are crucial to determine the optimal number and locations of sensors in SHM systems. Here, we suggest a probabilistic approach for identifying the optimal number and locations of sensors for SHM. We demonstrate a methodology to establish the probability distribution function that identifies the optimal sensor locations such that damage detection is enhanced. The approach is based on using the weights of a neural network trained from simulations using a priori knowledge about damage locations and damage severities to generate a normalized probability distribution function for optimal sensor allocation. We also demonstrate that the optimal sensor network can be related to the highest probability of detection (POD). The redundancy of the proposed sensor network is examined using a 'leave one sensor out' analysis. A prestressed concrete bridge is selected as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed approach can provide a robust design for sensor networks that are more efficient than a uniform distribution of sensors on a structure

Development of a cost-effective and flexible vibration DAQ system for long-term continuous structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Theanh; Chan, Tommy H. T.; Thambiratnam, David P.; King, Les

2015-12-01

In the structural health monitoring (SHM) field, long-term continuous vibration-based monitoring is becoming increasingly popular as this could keep track of the health status of structures during their service lives. However, implementing such a system is not always feasible due to on-going conflicts between budget constraints and the need of sophisticated systems to monitor real-world structures under their demanding in-service conditions. To address this problem, this paper presents a comprehensive development of a cost-effective and flexible vibration DAQ system for long-term continuous SHM of a newly constructed institutional complex with a special focus on the main building. First, selections of sensor type and sensor positions are scrutinized to overcome adversities such as low-frequency and low-level vibration measurements. In order to economically tackle the sparse measurement problem, a cost-optimized Ethernet-based peripheral DAQ model is first adopted to form the system skeleton. A combination of a high-resolution timing coordination method based on the TCP/IP command communication medium and a periodic system resynchronization strategy is then proposed to synchronize data from multiple distributed DAQ units. The results of both experimental evaluations and experimental-numerical verifications show that the proposed DAQ system in general and the data synchronization solution in particular work well and they can provide a promising cost-effective and flexible alternative for use in real-world SHM projects. Finally, the paper demonstrates simple but effective ways to make use of the developed monitoring system for long-term continuous structural health evaluation as well as to use the instrumented building herein as a multi-purpose benchmark structure for studying not only practical SHM problems but also synchronization related issues.

Bridge Health Monitoring Using a Machine Learning Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

The goal of this project was to cast the SHM problem within a statistical pattern recognition framework. Techniques borrowed from speaker recognition, particularly speaker verification, were used as this discipline deals with problems very similar to...

In situ health monitoring for bogie systems of CRH380 train on Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Ming; Wang, Qiang; Su, Zhongqing; Cheng, Li

2014-04-01

Based on the authors' research efforts over the years, an in situ structural health monitoring (SHM) technique taking advantage of guided elastic waves has been developed and deployed via an online diagnosis system. The technique and the system were recently implemented on China's latest high-speed train (CRH380CL) operated on Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. The system incorporated modularized components including active sensor network, active wave generation, multi-channel data acquisition, signal processing, data fusion, and results presentation. The sensor network, inspired by a new concept—"decentralized standard sensing", was integrated into the bogie frames during the final assembly of CRH380CL, to generate and acquire bogie-guided ultrasonic waves, from which a wide array of signal features were extracted. Fusion of signal features through a diagnostic imaging algorithm led to a graphic illustration of the overall health state of the bogie in a real-time and intuitive manner. The in situ experimentation covered a variety of high-speed train operation events including startup, acceleration/deceleration, full-speed operation (300 km/h), emergency braking, track change, as well as full stop. Mock-up damage affixed to the bogie was identified quantitatively and visualized in images. This in situ testing has demonstrated the feasibility, effectiveness, sensitivity, and reliability of the developed SHM technique and the system towards real-world applications.

Direction-sensitive smart monitoring of structures using heterogeneous smartphone sensor data and coordinate system transformation

Science.gov (United States)

Ozer, Ekin; Feng, Maria Q.

2017-04-01

Mobile, heterogeneous, and smart sensor networks produce pervasive structural health monitoring (SHM) information. With various embedded sensors, smartphones have emerged to innovate SHM by empowering citizens to serve as sensors. By default, smartphones meet the fundamental smart sensor criteria, thanks to the built-in processor, memory, wireless communication units and mobile operating system. SHM using smartphones, however, faces technical challenges due to citizen-induced uncertainties, undesired sensor-structure integration, and lack of control over the sensing platform. Previously, the authors presented successful applications of smartphone accelerometers for structural vibration measurement and proposed a monitoring framework under citizen-induced spatiotemporal uncertainties. This study aims at extending the capabilities of smartphone-based SHM with a special focus on the lack of control over the sensor (i.e., the phone) positioning by citizens resulting in unknown sensor orientations. Using smartphone gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer; instantaneous sensor orientation can be obtained with respect to gravitational and magnetic north directions. Using these sensor data, mobile operating system frameworks return processed features such as attitude and heading that can be used to correct misaligned sensor signals. For this purpose, a coordinate transformation procedure is proposed and illustrated on a two-story laboratory structural model and real-scale bridges with various sensor positioning examples. The proposed method corrects the sensor signals by tracking their orientations and improves measurement accuracy. Moreover, knowing structure’s coordinate system a priori, even the data from arbitrarily positioned sensors can automatically be transformed to the structural coordinates. In addition, this paper also touches some secondary mobile and heterogeneous data issues including imperfect sampling and geolocation services. The coordinate system

A Brillouin smart FRP material and a strain data post processing software for structural health monitoring through laboratory testing and field application on a highway bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Bastianini, Filippo; Matta, Fabio; Galati, Nestore; Nanni, Antonio

2005-05-01

Strain and temperature sensing obtained through frequency shift evaluation of Brillouin scattered light is a technology that seems extremely promising for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Due to the intrinsic distributed sensing capability, Brillouin can measure the deformation of any individual segment of huge lengths of inexpensive single-mode fiber. In addition, Brillouin retains other typical advantages of Fiber Optic Sensors (FOS), such as harsh environment durability and interference rejection. Despite these advantages, the diffusion of Brillouin for SHM is constrained by different factors, such as the high equipment cost, the commercial unavailability of specific SHM oriented fiber products and even some prejudices on the required sensitivity performances. In the present work, a complete SHM pilot application was developed, installed and successfully operated during a diagnostic load test on the High Performance Steel (HPS) bridge A6358 located at the Lake of the Ozarks (Miller County, MO, USA). Four out of five girders were extensively instrumented with a "smart" Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) tape having embedded fibers for strain sensing and thermal compensation. Data collected during a diagnostic load test were elaborated through a specific post-processing software, and the strain profiles retrieved were compared to traditional strain gauges and theoretical results based on the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications for structural assessment purposes. The excellent results obtained confirm the effectiveness of Brillouin SHM systems for the monitoring of real applications.

A feasibility study on embedded micro-electromechanical sensors and systems (MEMS) for monitoring highway structures.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-01

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) provide vast improvements over existing sensing methods in the context of structural health monitoring (SHM) of highway infrastructure systems, including improved system reliability, improved longevity and enhan...

Cointegration as a data normalization tool for structural health monitoring applications

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Dustin Y.; Todd, Michael D.

2012-04-01

The structural health monitoring literature has shown an abundance of features sensitive to various types of damage in laboratory tests. However, robust feature extraction in the presence of varying operational and environmental conditions has proven to be one of the largest obstacles in the development of practical structural health monitoring systems. Cointegration, a technique adapted from the field of econometrics, has recently been introduced to the SHM field as one solution to the data normalization problem. Response measurements and feature histories often show long-run nonstationarity due to fluctuating temperature, load conditions, or other factors that leads to the occurrence of false positives. Cointegration theory allows nonstationary trends common to two or more time series to be modeled and subsequently removed. Thus, the residual retains sensitivity to damage with dependence on operational and environmental variability removed. This study further explores the use of cointegration as a data normalization tool for structural health monitoring applications.

Time-Frequency Methods for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander L. Pyayt

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Detection of early warning signals for the imminent failure of large and complex engineered structures is a daunting challenge with many open research questions. In this paper we report on novel ways to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM of flood protection systems (levees, earthen dikes and concrete dams using sensor data. We present a robust data-driven anomaly detection method that combines time-frequency feature extraction, using wavelet analysis and phase shift, with one-sided classification techniques to identify the onset of failure anomalies in real-time sensor measurements. The methodology has been successfully tested at three operational levees. We detected a dam leakage in the retaining dam (Germany and “strange” behaviour of sensors installed in a Boston levee (UK and a Rhine levee (Germany.

A new corrosion monitoring technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Gerald K.

2000-01-01

Internal Corrosion Monitoring has relied upon 5 basic techniques. Little improvement in performance has been achieved in any of these. Many newer internal corrosion monitoring techniques have proved of little value in the field although some have instances of success in the laboratory. Industry has many high value hydrocarbon applications requiring corrosion rate monitoring for real-time problem solving and control. The high value of assets and the cost of asset replacement makes it necessary to practice cost effective process and corrosion control with sensitivity beyond the 5 basic techniques. This new metal loss technology offers this sensitivity. Traditional metal loss technology today provides either high sensitivity with short life, or conversely, long life but with substantially reduced sensitivity. The new metal loss technology offers an improved working life of sensors without significantly compromising performance. The paper discusses the limitations of existing on-line technologies and describes the performance of a new technology. This new metal loss technology was introduced at NACE Corrosion 99'. Since that time several field projects have been completed or are ongoing. This paper will discuss the new metal loss technology and report on some of the data that has been obtained.(author)

The Model Of One-Type Aircraft Fleet Behaviour While Service And Advantages SHM V. NDT Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lewitowicz Jerzy

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper defines the essence of durability characteristics of the designing structure of an airframe in terms of flight safety. Particular attention is drawn to one of the main factors influencing the durability characteristics of the airframe – diagnostics system for the health assessment of the airframe during the process of operation. The effectiveness of the use of integrated solutions to the structure of the airframe providing a continuous assessment of the technical condition is presented. Continuous diagnostics system integrated with the airframe, SHM, is classified as an intelligent solution. This paper presents a model of the behavior of one-type aircraft operating in the air operator’s fleet in terms of susceptibility to failure. Justified assumption in the description of this behavior, in the form of a “bathtub curve”. The analysis is supported by real data of failures. The benefits of using a continuous diagnostics system integrated with the airframe, SHM, is interpreted in relation to the classical approach with the use of non-destructive testing, NDT, for the three phases of the bathtub curve.

Acoustic emission detection with fiber optical sensors for dry cask storage health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Bin; Bao, Jingjing; Yu, Lingyu; Giurgiutiu, Victor

2016-04-01

The increasing number, size, and complexity of nuclear facilities deployed worldwide are increasing the need to maintain readiness and develop innovative sensing materials to monitor important to safety structures (ITS). In the past two decades, an extensive sensor technology development has been used for structural health monitoring (SHM). Technologies for the diagnosis and prognosis of a nuclear system, such as dry cask storage system (DCSS), can improve verification of the health of the structure that can eventually reduce the likelihood of inadvertently failure of a component. Fiber optical sensors have emerged as one of the major SHM technologies developed particularly for temperature and strain measurements. This paper presents the development of optical equipment that is suitable for ultrasonic guided wave detection for active SHM in the MHz range. An experimental study of using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) as acoustic emission (AE) sensors was performed on steel blocks. FBG have the advantage of being durable, lightweight, and easily embeddable into composite structures as well as being immune to electromagnetic interference and optically multiplexed. The temperature effect on the FBG sensors was also studied. A multi-channel FBG system was developed and compared with piezoelectric based AE system. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.

Structural Health Monitoring with Fiber Bragg Grating and Piezo Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Richard J.; Faridian, Ferey; Moslehi, Behzad; Sotoudeh, Vahid

2012-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is one of the most important tools available for the maintenance, safety, and integrity of aerospace structural systems. Lightweight, electromagnetic-interference- immune, fiber-optic sensor-based SHM will play an increasing role in more secure air transportation systems. Manufacturers and maintenance personnel have pressing needs for significantly improving safety and reliability while providing for lower inspection and maintenance costs. Undetected or untreated damage may grow and lead to catastrophic structural failure. Damage can originate from the strain/stress history of the material, imperfections of domain boundaries in metals, delamination in multi-layer materials, or the impact of machine tools in the manufacturing process. Damage can likewise develop during service life from wear and tear, or under extraordinary circumstances such as with unusual forces, temperature cycling, or impact of flying objects. Monitoring and early detection are key to preventing a catastrophic failure of structures, especially when these are expected to perform near their limit conditions.

Vibration monitoring of long bridges and their expansion joints and seismic devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Islami Kleidi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a number of recently installed Structural Health Monitoring (SHM systems: a on a 2km double suspension bridge; b on a long railway viaduct that has experienced cracking; and c on a steel arch bridge in a seismically active area. Damage detection techniques have been applied based on high-frequency measurements of vibrations, pressure and strain, enabling a proper understanding of the structures’ behaviour to be gained. The diverse range of applications presented, designed in collaboration with structure owners and design engineers, includes damage detection on expansion joints of suspension bridges, crack analysis and correlation with accelerations of high-speed trains, and high-frequency performance monitoring of seismic devices. These case studies, based on both static and dynamic approaches, demonstrate the usefulness and ease of use of such systems, and the enormous gains in efficiency they offer.

Development of Meandering Winding Magnetometer (MWM (Register Trademark)) Eddy Current Sensors for the Health Monitoring, Modeling and Damage Detection of High Temperature Composite Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Richard; Washabaugh, Andy; Sheiretov, Yanko; Martin, Christopher; Goldfine, Neil

2011-01-01

The increased use of high-temperature composite materials in modern and next generation aircraft and spacecraft have led to the need for improved nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring techniques. Such technologies are desirable to improve quality control, damage detection, stress evaluation and temperature measurement capabilities. Novel eddy current sensors and sensor arrays, such as Meandering Winding Magnetometers (MWMs) have provided alternate or complimentary techniques to ultrasound and thermography for both nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM). This includes imaging of composite material quality, damage detection and .the monitoring of fiber temperatures and multidirectional stresses. Historically, implementation of MWM technology for the inspection of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Reinforced Carbon-Carbon Composite (RCC) leading edge panels was developed by JENTEK Sensors and was subsequently transitioned by NASA as an operational pre and post flight in-situ inspection at the Kennedy Space Center. A manual scanner, which conformed'automatically to the curvature of the RCC panels was developed and used as a secondary technique if a defect was found during an infrared thermography screening, During a recent proof of concept study on composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV's), three different MWM sensors were tested at three orientations to demonstrate the ability of the technology to measure stresses at various fiber orientations and depths. These results showed excellent correlation with actual surface strain gage measurements. Recent advancements of this technology have been made applying MWM sensor technology for scanning COPVs for mechanical damage. This presentation will outline the recent advance in the MWM.technology and the development of MWM techniques for NDE and SHM of carbon wraped composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) including the measurement of internal stresses via a surface mounted sensor

Structural health monitoring for fatigue life prediction of orthotropic brdige decks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pijpers, R.J.M.; Pahlavan, P.L.; Paulissen, J.H.; Hakkesteegt, H.C.; Jansen, T.H.

2013-01-01

Infrastructure asset owners are more and more confronted with structures reaching the end of their structural life. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems should provide up-to-date information about the actual condition, as well predict the structural life and required maintenance of the assets

Remote and unattended monitoring techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abedin-Zadeh, R.; Whichello, J.

1998-01-01

In the last years, there has been a tremendous growth in the number of unattended assay and monitoring systems in the field. These systems have enabled reduced presence of inspectors while increasing the verification coverage. As part of the Strengthened safeguards System and in particular as part of the measures to improve the cost-effectiveness of safeguards, the possibility of remote transfer of authenticated and encrypted video surveillance, seals and radiation sensor data via telephone or special satellite links have been demonstrated and the necessary arrangements and infrastructure have been prepared. The evaluation of field trials of the remote monitoring systems have shown that the systems are effective in monitoring events of safeguards relevance in near real times. The systems are competitive from a cost standpoint when compared to current methods. The reduction of inspection efforts can be realized by application of remote monitoring technique with scheduled inspections and more effectively with the short notice or unannounced random inspections. It is expected that, upon completion of the necessary arrangements with the Member States authorities, the safeguards department will implement the technique widely before the year 2000

Acoustic Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Frankenstein, B.; Augustin, J.; Hentschel, D.; Schubert, F.; Köhler, B.; Meyendorf, N.

2008-02-01

Future safety and maintenance strategies for industrial components and vehicles are based on combinations of monitoring systems that are permanently attached to or embedded in the structure, and periodic inspections. The latter belongs to conventional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and can be enhanced or partially replaced by structural health monitoring systems. However, the main benefit of this technology for the future will consist of systems that can be differently designed based on improved safety philosophies, including continuous monitoring. This approach will increase the efficiency of inspection procedures at reduced inspection times. The Fraunhofer IZFP Dresden Branch has developed network nodes, miniaturized transmitter and receiver systems for active and passive acoustical techniques and sensor systems that can be attached to or embedded into components or structures. These systems have been used to demonstrate intelligent sensor networks for the monitoring of aerospace structures, railway systems, wind energy generators, piping system and other components. Material discontinuities and flaws have been detected and monitored during full scale fatigue testing. This paper will discuss opportunities and future trends in nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring based on new sensor principles and advanced microelectronics. It will outline various application examples of monitoring systems based on acoustic techniques and will indicate further needs for research and development.

Design of external sensors board based on Bluetooth interface of smart phones for structural health monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yan; Zhou, Yaping; Zhao, Xuefeng; Li, Dongsheng; Ou, Jinping

2016-04-01

As an important part of new information technology, the Internet of Things(IoT) is based on intelligent perception, recognition technology, ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous network integration, and it is known as the third wave of the development of information industry in the world after the computer and the Internet. And Smart Phones are the general term for a class of mobile phones with a separate operating system and operational memory, in which the third-party service programs including software, games, navigation, et.al, can be installed. Smart Phones, with not only sensors but also actuators, are widely used in the IoT world. As the current hot issues in the engineering area, Structural health monitoring (SHM) is also facing new problems about design ideas in the IoT environment. The development of IoT, wireless sensor network and mobile communication technology, provides a good technical platform for SHM. Based on these facts, this paper introduces a kind of new idea for Structural Health Monitoring using Smart Phones Technique. The system is described in detail, and the external sensor board based on Bluetooth interface is designed, the test based on Smart Phones is finished to validate the implementation and feasibility. The research is preliminary and more tests need to be carried out before it can be of practical use.

Strength and fatigue life evaluation of composite laminate with embedded sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Rathod, Vivek T.; Hiremath, S. R.; Roy Mahapatra, D.

2014-04-01

Prognosis regarding durability of composite structures using various Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques is an important and challenging topic of research. Ultrasonic SHM systems with embedded transducers have potential application here due to their instant monitoring capability, compact packaging potential toward unobtrusiveness and noninvasiveness as compared to non-contact ultrasonic and eddy current techniques which require disassembly of the structure. However, embedded sensors pose a risk to the structure by acting as a flaw thereby reducing life. The present paper focuses on the determination of strength and fatigue life of the composite laminate with embedded film sensors like CNT nanocomposite, PVDF thin films and piezoceramic films. First, the techniques of embedding these sensors in composite laminates is described followed by the determination of static strength and fatigue life at coupon level testing in Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Failure mechanisms of the composite laminate with embedded sensors are studied for static and dynamic loading cases. The coupons are monitored for loading and failure using the embedded sensors. A comparison of the performance of these three types of embedded sensors is made to study their suitability in various applications. These three types of embedded sensors cover a wide variety of applications, and prove to be viable in embedded sensor based SHM of composite structures.

A triaxial accelerometer monkey algorithm for optimal sensor placement in structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Jingqing; Feng, Shuo; Liu, Wei

2015-06-01

Optimal sensor placement (OSP) technique is a vital part of the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). Triaxial accelerometers have been widely used in the SHM of large-scale structures in recent years. Triaxial accelerometers must be placed in such a way that all of the important dynamic information is obtained. At the same time, the sensor configuration must be optimal, so that the test resources are conserved. The recommended practice is to select proper degrees of freedom (DOF) based upon several criteria and the triaxial accelerometers are placed at the nodes corresponding to these DOFs. This results in non-optimal placement of many accelerometers. A ‘triaxial accelerometer monkey algorithm’ (TAMA) is presented in this paper to solve OSP problems of triaxial accelerometers. The EFI3 measurement theory is modified and involved in the objective function to make it more adaptable in the OSP technique of triaxial accelerometers. A method of calculating the threshold value based on probability theory is proposed to improve the healthy rate of monkeys in a troop generation process. Meanwhile, the processes of harmony ladder climb and scanning watch jump are proposed and given in detail. Finally, Xinghai NO.1 Bridge in Dalian is implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of TAMA. The final results obtained by TAMA are compared with those of the original monkey algorithm and EFI3 measurement, which show that TAMA can improve computational efficiency and get a better sensor configuration.

An Advanced Multi-Sensor Acousto-Ultrasonic Structural Health Monitoring System: Development and Aerospace Demonstration.

Science.gov (United States)

Smithard, Joel; Rajic, Nik; van der Velden, Stephen; Norman, Patrick; Rosalie, Cedric; Galea, Steve; Mei, Hanfei; Lin, Bin; Giurgiutiu, Victor

2017-07-20

A key longstanding objective of the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) research community is to enable the embedment of SHM systems in high value assets like aircraft to provide on-demand damage detection and evaluation. As against traditional non-destructive inspection hardware, embedded SHM systems must be compact, lightweight, low-power and sufficiently robust to survive exposure to severe in-flight operating conditions. Typical Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems can be bulky, costly and are often inflexible in their configuration and/or scalability, which militates against in-service deployment. Advances in electronics have resulted in ever smaller, cheaper and more reliable components that facilitate the development of compact and robust embedded SHM systems, including for Acousto-Ultrasonics (AU), a guided plate-wave inspection modality that has attracted strong interest due mainly to its capacity to furnish wide-area diagnostic coverage with a relatively low sensor density. This article provides a detailed description of the development, testing and demonstration of a new AU interrogation system called the Acousto Ultrasonic Structural health monitoring Array Module⁺ (AUSAM⁺). This system provides independent actuation and sensing on four Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor (PWAS) elements with further sensing on four Positive Intrinsic Negative (PIN) photodiodes for intensity-based interrogation of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). The paper details the development of a novel piezoelectric excitation amplifier, which, in conjunction with flexible acquisition-system architecture, seamlessly provides electromechanical impedance spectroscopy for PWAS diagnostics over the full instrument bandwidth of 50 KHz-5 MHz. The AUSAM⁺ functionality is accessed via a simple hardware object providing a myriad of custom software interfaces that can be adapted to suit the specific requirements of each individual application.

A review on bridge dynamic displacement monitoring using global positioning system and accelerometer

Science.gov (United States)

Yunus, Mohd Zulkifli Mohd; Ibrahim, Nuremira; Ahmad, Fatimah Shafinaz

2018-02-01

This paper reviews previous research on bridge dynamic displacement monitoring using Global Positioning System (GPS) and an accelerometer for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of bridge. These include the review of the advantages and disadvantages of the measurement as well as the methodology of the measurements used in the recent research study. This review could provide a preliminary decision overview for students or researchers before initiating a research related to the bridge dynamic displacement monitoring.

Structural health monitoring for bolt loosening via a non-invasive vibro-haptics human-machine cooperative interface

Science.gov (United States)

Pekedis, Mahmut; Mascerañas, David; Turan, Gursoy; Ercan, Emre; Farrar, Charles R.; Yildiz, Hasan

2015-08-01

For the last two decades, developments in damage detection algorithms have greatly increased the potential for autonomous decisions about structural health. However, we are still struggling to build autonomous tools that can match the ability of a human to detect and localize the quantity of damage in structures. Therefore, there is a growing interest in merging the computational and cognitive concepts to improve the solution of structural health monitoring (SHM). The main object of this research is to apply the human-machine cooperative approach on a tower structure to detect damage. The cooperation approach includes haptic tools to create an appropriate collaboration between SHM sensor networks, statistical compression techniques and humans. Damage simulation in the structure is conducted by releasing some of the bolt loads. Accelerometers are bonded to various locations of the tower members to acquire the dynamic response of the structure. The obtained accelerometer results are encoded in three different ways to represent them as a haptic stimulus for the human subjects. Then, the participants are subjected to each of these stimuli to detect the bolt loosened damage in the tower. Results obtained from the human-machine cooperation demonstrate that the human subjects were able to recognize the damage with an accuracy of 88 ± 20.21% and response time of 5.87 ± 2.33 s. As a result, it is concluded that the currently developed human-machine cooperation SHM may provide a useful framework to interact with abstract entities such as data from a sensor network.

Manufacturing technology of integrated textile-based sensor networks for in situ monitoring applications of composite wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Haentzsche, Eric; Mueller, Ralf; Huebner, Matthias; Ruder, Tristan; Unger, Reimar; Nocke, Andreas; Cherif, Chokri

2016-10-01

Based on in situ strain sensors consisting of piezo-resistive carbon filament yarns (CFYs), which have been successfully integrated into textile reinforcement structures during their textile-technological manufacturing process, a continuous load of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) components has been realised. These sensors are also suitable for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The two-dimensional sensor layout is made feasible by the usage of a modular warp yarn path manipulation unit. Using a functional model of a small wind turbine blade in thermoset composite design, the sensor function for basic SHM applications (e.g. static load monitoring) are demonstrated. Any mechanical loads along the pressure or suction side of the wind turbine blade can be measured and calculated via a correlative change in resistance of the CFYs within the textile reinforcement plies. Performing quasi-static load tests on both tensile specimen and full-scale wind turbine blade, elementary results have been obtained concerning electro-mechanical behaviour and spatial resolution of global and even local static stresses according to the CFY sensor integration length. This paper demonstrates the great potential of textile-based and textile-technological integrated sensors in reinforcement structures for future SHM applications of FRPs.

Experiences on MIC monitoring by electrochemical techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cristiani, P.; Perboni, G.; Hilbert, Lisbeth Rischel

2002-01-01

Some results of practical experiences on the performances of electrochemical and electric MIC monitoring techniques, coming from the discussion in the Brite-Euram thematic network "MIC of industrial materials", are presented in this paper.......Some results of practical experiences on the performances of electrochemical and electric MIC monitoring techniques, coming from the discussion in the Brite-Euram thematic network "MIC of industrial materials", are presented in this paper....

Novel OSNR Monitoring Technique in Dense WDM Systems using Inherently Generated CW Monitoring Channels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Martin Nordal

2007-01-01

We present a simple, yet effective OSNR monitoring technique based on an inherent effect in the optical modulator. Highly accurate OSNR monitoring is demonstrated in a 40 Gb/s dense WDM system with 50 GHz channel spacing.......We present a simple, yet effective OSNR monitoring technique based on an inherent effect in the optical modulator. Highly accurate OSNR monitoring is demonstrated in a 40 Gb/s dense WDM system with 50 GHz channel spacing....

Structural Health Monitoring Using Wireless Technologies: An Ambient Vibration Test on the Adolphe Bridge, Luxembourg City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrien Oth

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Major threats to bridges primarily consist of the aging of the structural elements, earthquake-induced shaking and standing waves generated by windstorms. The necessity of information on the state of health of structures in real-time, allowing for timely warnings in the case of damaging events, requires structural health monitoring (SHM systems that allow the risks of these threats to be mitigated. Here we present the results of a short-duration experiment carried out with low-cost wireless instruments for monitoring the vibration characteristics and dynamic properties of a strategic civil infrastructure, the Adolphe Bridge in Luxembourg City. The Adolphe Bridge is a masonry arch construction dating from 1903 and will undergo major renovation works in the upcoming years. Our experiment shows that a network of these wireless sensing units is well suited to monitor the vibration characteristics of such a historical arch bridge and hence represents a low-cost and efficient solution for SHM.

Fatigue life estimation of a 1D aluminum beam under mode-I loading using the electromechanical impedance technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Yee Yan; Soh, Chee Kiong

2011-01-01

Structures in service are often subjected to fatigue loads. Cracks would develop and lead to failure if left unnoticed after a large number of cyclic loadings. Monitoring the process of fatigue crack propagation as well as estimating the remaining useful life of a structure is thus essential to prevent catastrophe while minimizing earlier-than-required replacement. The advent of smart materials such as piezo-impedance transducers (lead zirconate titanate, PZT) has ushered in a new era of structural health monitoring (SHM) based on non-destructive evaluation (NDE). This paper presents a series of investigative studies to evaluate the feasibility of fatigue crack monitoring and estimation of remaining useful life using the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique employing a PZT transducer. Experimental tests were conducted to study the ability of the EMI technique in monitoring fatigue crack in 1D lab-sized aluminum beams. The experimental results prove that the EMI technique is very sensitive to fatigue crack propagation. A proof-of-concept semi-analytical damage model for fatigue life estimation has been developed by incorporating the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) theory into the finite element (FE) model. The prediction of the model matches closely with the experiment, suggesting the possibility of replacing costly experiments in future

Fatigue life estimation of a 1D aluminum beam under mode-I loading using the electromechanical impedance technique

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Yee Yan; Kiong Soh, Chee

2011-12-01

Structures in service are often subjected to fatigue loads. Cracks would develop and lead to failure if left unnoticed after a large number of cyclic loadings. Monitoring the process of fatigue crack propagation as well as estimating the remaining useful life of a structure is thus essential to prevent catastrophe while minimizing earlier-than-required replacement. The advent of smart materials such as piezo-impedance transducers (lead zirconate titanate, PZT) has ushered in a new era of structural health monitoring (SHM) based on non-destructive evaluation (NDE). This paper presents a series of investigative studies to evaluate the feasibility of fatigue crack monitoring and estimation of remaining useful life using the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique employing a PZT transducer. Experimental tests were conducted to study the ability of the EMI technique in monitoring fatigue crack in 1D lab-sized aluminum beams. The experimental results prove that the EMI technique is very sensitive to fatigue crack propagation. A proof-of-concept semi-analytical damage model for fatigue life estimation has been developed by incorporating the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) theory into the finite element (FE) model. The prediction of the model matches closely with the experiment, suggesting the possibility of replacing costly experiments in future.

FOREWORD: Structural Health Monitoring and Intelligent Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhishen; Fujino, Yozo

2005-06-01

This special issue collects together 19 papers that were originally presented at the First International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring and Intelligent Infrastructure (SHMII-1'2003), held in Tokyo, Japan, on 13-15 November 2003. This conference was organized by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) with partial financial support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology, Japan. Many related organizations supported the conference. A total of 16 keynote papers including six state-of-the-art reports from different counties, six invited papers and 154 contributed papers were presented at the conference. The conference was attended by a diverse group of about 300 people from a variety of disciplines in academia, industry and government from all over the world. Structural health monitoring (SHM) and intelligent materials, structures and systems have been the subject of intense research and development in the last two decades and, in recent years, an increasing range of applications in infrastructure have been discovered both for existing structures and for new constructions. SHMII-1'2003 addressed progress in the development of building, transportation, marine, underground and energy-generating structures, and other civilian infrastructures that are periodically, continuously and/or actively monitored where there is a need to optimize their performance. In order to focus the current needs on SHM and intelligent technologies, the conference theme was set as 'Structures/Infrastructures Sustainability'. We are pleased to have the privilege to edit this special issue on SHM and intelligent infrastructure based on SHMII-1'2003. We invited some of the presenters to submit a revised/extended version of their paper that was included in the SHMII-1'2003 proceedings for possible publication in the special issue. Each paper included in this special issue was edited with the same

Development and Application of a Structural Health Monitoring System Based on Wireless Smart Aggregates.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Shi; Ma, Haoyan; Li, Peng; Song, Gangbing; Wu, Jianxin

2017-07-17

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems can improve the safety and reliability of structures, reduce maintenance costs, and extend service life. Research on concrete SHMs using piezoelectric-based smart aggregates have reached great achievements. However, the newly developed techniques have not been widely applied in practical engineering, largely due to the wiring problems associated with large-scale structural health monitoring. The cumbersome wiring requires much material and labor work, and more importantly, the associated maintenance work is also very heavy. Targeting a practical large scale concrete crack detection (CCD) application, a smart aggregates-based wireless sensor network system is proposed for the CCD application. The developed CCD system uses Zigbee 802.15.4 protocols, and is able to perform dynamic stress monitoring, structural impact capturing, and internal crack detection. The system has been experimentally validated, and the experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system. This work provides important support for practical CCD applications using wireless smart aggregates.

High temperature flexible ultrasonic transducers for structural health monitoring and NDT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shih, J.L. [McGill Univ., Montreal, PQ (Canada). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Kobayashi, M.; Jen, C.K.; Tatibouet, J. [National Research Council of Canada, Boucherville, PQ (Canada). Industrial Materials Inst.; Mrad, N. [Department of National Defence, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Air Vehicles Research Station

2009-07-01

Ultrasonic techniques are often used for non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) of pipes in nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, petrochemical plants and other structures as a method to improve safety and extend the service life of the structure. In such applications, ultrasonic transducers (UTs) must be able to operate at high temperature, and must come in contact with structures that have surfaces with different curvatures. As such, flexible UTs (FUTs) are most suitable because they ensure self-alignment to the object's surface. The purpose of this study was to develop FUTs that have high flexibility similar to commercially available polyvinylidene fluoride PVDF FUTs, but which can operate at up to at least 150 degrees C and have a high ultrasonic performance comparable to commercial broadband UTs. The fabrication of the FUT consisted of a sol-gel based sensor fabrication process. The substrate was a 75 {mu}m thick titanium (Ti) membrane, a piezoelectric composite with a thickness larger than 85 {mu}m and a top electrode. The ultrasonic performance of the FUT in terms of signal strength was found to be at least as good as commercially available broadband ultrasonic transducers at room temperature. Onsite gluing and brazing installation techniques which bond the FUTs onto steel pipes for SHM and NDT purposes up to 100 and 150 degrees C were developed, respectively. The best thickness measurement accuracy of FUT at 150 degrees C was estimated to be 26 {mu}m. 18 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.

Fatigue Life Assessment of Structures Using Electro-Mechanical Impedance Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhalla, S

2012-01-01

This paper describes a new experimental approach for fatigue life assessment of structures based on the equivalent stiffness determined by surface bonded piezo-impedance transducers through the electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) technique. The remaining life of the component (in terms of the cycles of loading that can be sustained) is non-dimensionally correlated with the equivalent identified stiffness. The proposed approach circumvents the determination of the absolute stiffness of the joint and employs the admittance signature of the surface-bonded piezo-transducers directly. The second part of the paper briefly describes the recent advances made in the field of impedance based structural health monitoring (SHM) in terms of low-cost hardware system and improved damage diagnosis through the integration of global dynamic and EMI techniques using the same set of piezo-sensors. Other recent applications such as bio-sensors and traffic sensors pioneered at the Smart Structures and Dynamics Laboratory (SSDL) are also briefly covered.

Load monitoring of aerospace structures utilizing micro-electro-mechanical systems for static and quasi-static loading conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, M; Rocha, B; Li, M; Shi, G; Beltempo, A; Rutledge, R; Yanishevsky, M

2012-01-01

The National Research Council Canada (NRC) has worked on the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) test platforms for assessing the performance of sensor systems for load monitoring applications. The first SHM platform consists of a 5.5 m cantilever aluminum beam that provides an optimal scenario for evaluating the ability of a load monitoring system to measure bending, torsion and shear loads. The second SHM platform contains an added level of structural complexity, by consisting of aluminum skins with bonded/riveted stringers, typical of an aircraft lower wing structure. These two load monitoring platforms are well characterized and documented, providing loading conditions similar to those encountered during service. In this study, a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) for acquiring data from triads of gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers is described. The system was used to compute changes in angles at discrete stations along the platforms. The angles obtained from the MEMS were used to compute a second, third or fourth order degree polynomial surface from which displacements at every point could be computed. The use of a new Kalman filter was evaluated for angle estimation, from which displacements in the structure were computed. The outputs of the newly developed algorithms were then compared to the displacements obtained from the linear variable displacement transducers connected to the platforms. The displacement curves were subsequently post-processed either analytically, or with the help of a finite element model of the structure, to estimate strains and loads. The estimated strains were compared with baseline strain gauge instrumentation installed on the platforms. This new approach for load monitoring was able to provide accurate estimates of applied strains and shear loads. (paper)

A Sensor Data Fusion System Based on k-Nearest Neighbor Pattern Classification for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Vitola

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Civil and military structures are susceptible and vulnerable to damage due to the environmental and operational conditions. Therefore, the implementation of technology to provide robust solutions in damage identification (by using signals acquired directly from the structure is a requirement to reduce operational and maintenance costs. In this sense, the use of sensors permanently attached to the structures has demonstrated a great versatility and benefit since the inspection system can be automated. This automation is carried out with signal processing tasks with the aim of a pattern recognition analysis. This work presents the detailed description of a structural health monitoring (SHM system based on the use of a piezoelectric (PZT active system. The SHM system includes: (i the use of a piezoelectric sensor network to excite the structure and collect the measured dynamic response, in several actuation phases; (ii data organization; (iii advanced signal processing techniques to define the feature vectors; and finally; (iv the nearest neighbor algorithm as a machine learning approach to classify different kinds of damage. A description of the experimental setup, the experimental validation and a discussion of the results from two different structures are included and analyzed.

Structural Health Monitoring Analysis for the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge

Science.gov (United States)

Yap, Keng C.

2010-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews Structural Health Monitoring Analysis for the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge. The Wing Leading Edge Impact Detection System (WLE IDS) and the Impact Analysis Process are also described to monitor WLE debris threats. The contents include: 1) Risk Management via SHM; 2) Hardware Overview; 3) Instrumentation; 4) Sensor Configuration; 5) Debris Hazard Monitoring; 6) Ascent Response Summary; 7) Response Signal; 8) Distribution of Flight Indications; 9) Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA); 10) Model Correlation; 11) Impact Tests; 12) Wing Leading Edge Modeling; 13) Ascent Debris PRA Results; and 14) MM/OD PRA Results.

Design, Manufacturing and Experimental Validation of Optical Fiber Sensors Based Devices for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela CORICCIATI

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The use of optical fiber sensors is a promising and rising technique used for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM, because permit to monitor continuously the strain and the temperature of the structure where they are applied. In the present paper three different types of smart devices, that are composite materials with an optical fiber sensor embedded inside them during the manufacturing process, are described: Smart Patch, Smart Rebar and Smart Textile, which are respectively a plate for local exterior intervention, a rod for shear and flexural interior reinforcement and a textile for an external whole application. In addition to the monitoring aim, the possible additional function of these devices could be the reinforcement of the structures where they are applied. In the present work, after technology manufacturing description, the experimental laboratory characterization of each device is discussed. At last, smart devices application on medium scale masonry walls and their validation by mechanical tests is described.

On the value of structural health monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faber, Michael Havbro; Thöns, Sebastian

2014-01-01

in the fields of SHM and the quantification of value of information as well as the identification of typical situations in structural engineering in which SHM has the potential to provide value beyond its costs. Subsequently, the theoretical framework which allows for the quantification of the value...... of information collected through SHM systems is developed and elaborated. It is shown how the value of information can be quantified to support the assessment and optimization of decisions on whether and how to implement SHM. To illustrate the use of the developed theoretical framework for evaluating the benefit...

Economics important in selecting monitoring techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, D.P.; Byars, H.G.

1990-01-01

Failure/risk costs need to be considered when deciding on the type of corrosion monitoring and inspection. Locations with high-pressure, high-velocity streams need closer monitoring. This article discusses the risks associated with different types of fluid streams and the various inspection techniques that can range from a low-cost visual examination to mechanical calipers and electromagnetic, radiographic, and ultrasonic tools

Structural health monitoring of compression connectors for overhead transmission lines

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hong; Wang, Jy-An John; Swindeman, Joseph P.; Ren, Fei; Chan, John

2017-04-01

Two-stage aluminum conductor steel-reinforced (ACSR) compression connectors are extensively used in US overhead transmission lines. The connectors are made by crimping a steel sleeve onto a steel core and an aluminum sleeve over electrical conducting aluminum strands. The connectors are designed to operate at temperatures up to 125°C, but their performance is increasingly degrading because of overloading of lines. Currently, electric utilities conduct routine line inspections using thermal and electrical measurements, but these methods do not provide information about the structural integrity of connectors. In this work, structural health monitoring (SHM) of compression connectors was studied using electromechanical impedance (EMI) analysis. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-5A was identified as a smart material for SHM. A flexible high-temperature bonding layer was used to address challenges in PZT integration due to a significant difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion of PZT and the aluminum substrate. The steel joint on the steel core was investigated because it is responsible for the ultimate tensile strength of the connector. Tensile testing was used to induce structural damage to the joint, or steel core pullout, and thermal cycling introduced additional structural perturbations. EMI measurements were conducted between the tests. The root mean square deviation (RMSD) of EMI was identified as a damage index. The use of steel joints has been shown to enable SHM under simulated conditions. The EMI signature is sensitive to variations in structural conditions. RMSD can be correlated to the structural health of a connector and has potential for use in the SHM and structural integrity evaluation.

ZnO Piezoelectric Nanowires for Use in a Self-Powered Structural Health Monitoring Device for Fiber-Reinforced Composites Uploading Attachment Instructions

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The goal of this proposed research is to develop a new self-powered structural health monitoring (SHM) system for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites by using...

Development of an embedded thin-film strain-gauge-based SHM network into 3D-woven composite structure for wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Dongning; Rasool, Shafqat; Forde, Micheal; Weafer, Bryan; Archer, Edward; McIlhagger, Alistair; McLaughlin, James

2017-04-01

Recently, there has been increasing demand in developing low-cost, effective structure health monitoring system to be embedded into 3D-woven composite wind turbine blades to determine structural integrity and presence of defects. With measuring the strain and temperature inside composites at both in-situ blade resin curing and in-service stages, we are developing a novel scheme to embed a resistive-strain-based thin-metal-film sensory into the blade spar-cap that is made of composite laminates to determine structural integrity and presence of defects. Thus, with fiberglass, epoxy, and a thinmetal- film sensing element, a three-part, low-cost, smart composite laminate is developed. Embedded strain sensory inside composite laminate prototype survived after laminate curing process. The internal strain reading from embedded strain sensor under three-point-bending test standard is comparable. It proves that our proposed method will provide another SHM alternative to reduce sensing costs during the renewable green energy generation.

Monitoring Techniques for Microbially Influenced Corrosion of Carbon Steel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hilbert, Lisbeth Rischel

2000-01-01

corrosion rates, when biofilm and corrosion products cover the steel surface. However, EIS might be used for detection of MIC. EN is a suitable technique to characterise the type of corrosion attack, but is unsuitable for corrosion rate estimation. The concentric electrodes galvanic probe arrangement......Abstract Monitoring Techniques for Microbially Influenced Corrosion of Carbon Steel Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of carbon steel may occur in media with microbiological activity of especially sulphate-reducing bacteria, e.g. on pipelines buried in soil and on marine structures. MIC...... of carbon steel must be monitored on-line in order to provide an efficient protection and control the corrosion. A number of monitoring techniques is industrially used today, and the applicability and reliability of these for monitoring MIC is evaluated. Coupons and ER are recommended as necessary basic...

Condition Monitoring of Cables Task 3 Report: Condition Monitoring Techniques for Electric Cables

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Villaran, M.; Lofaro, R.; na

2009-11-30

For more than 20 years the NRC has sponsored research studying electric cable aging degradation, condition monitoring, and environmental qualification testing practices for electric cables used in nuclear power plants. This report summarizes several of the most effective and commonly used condition monitoring techniques available to detect damage and measure the extent of degradation in electric cable insulation. The technical basis for each technique is summarized, along with its application, trendability of test data, ease of performing the technique, advantages and limitations, and the usefulness of the test results to characterize and assess the condition of electric cables.

[Applications of spectral analysis technique to monitoring grasshoppers].

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hui; Han, Jian-guo; Zhang, Lu-da

2008-12-01

Grasshopper monitoring is of great significance in protecting environment and reducing economic loss. However, how to predict grasshoppers accurately and effectively is a difficult problem for a long time. In the present paper, the importance of forecasting grasshoppers and its habitat is expounded, and the development in monitoring grasshopper populations and the common arithmetic of spectral analysis technique are illustrated. Meanwhile, the traditional methods are compared with the spectral technology. Remote sensing has been applied in monitoring the living, growing and breeding habitats of grasshopper population, and can be used to develop a forecast model combined with GIS. The NDVI values can be analyzed throughout the remote sensing data and be used in grasshopper forecasting. Hyper-spectra remote sensing technique which can be used to monitor grasshoppers more exactly has advantages in measuring the damage degree and classifying damage areas of grasshoppers, so it can be adopted to monitor the spatial distribution dynamic of rangeland grasshopper population. Differentialsmoothing can be used to reflect the relations between the characteristic parameters of hyper-spectra and leaf area index (LAI), and indicate the intensity of grasshopper damage. The technology of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy has been employed in judging grasshopper species, examining species occurrences and monitoring hatching places by measuring humidity and nutrient of soil, and can be used to investigate and observe grasshoppers in sample research. According to this paper, it is concluded that the spectral analysis technique could be used as a quick and exact tool in monitoring and forecasting the infestation of grasshoppers, and will become an important means in such kind of research for their advantages in determining spatial orientation, information extracting and processing. With the rapid development of spectral analysis methodology, the goal of sustainable monitoring

Transformer ageing modern condition monitoring techniques and their interpretations

CERN Document Server

Purkait, Prithwiraj

2017-01-01

This book is a one-stop guide to state-of-the-art research in transformer ageing, condition monitoring and diagnosis. It is backed by rigorous research projects supported by the Australian Research Council in collaboration with several transmission and distribution companies. Many of the diagnostic techniques and tools developed in these projects have been applied by electricity utilities and would appeal to both researchers and practicing engineers. Important topics covered in this book include transformer insulation materials and their ageing behaviour, transformer condition monitoring techniques and detailed diagnostic techniques and their interpretation schemes. It also features a monitoring framework for smart transformers as well as a chapter on biodegradable oil.

Composite Stress Rupture NDE Research and Development Project (Kevlar[R] and Carbon)

Science.gov (United States)

Saulsberry, Regor

2010-01-01

The objective was to develop and demonstrate nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques capable of assessing stress rupture related strength degradation for carbon composite pressure vessels, either in a structural health monitoring (SHM) or periodic inspection mode.

Monitoring severe accidents using AI techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No, Young Gyu; Ahn, Kwang Il [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Ju Hyun; Na, Man Gyun [Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of); Lim, Dong Hyuk [Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control, Daejon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-05-15

After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, there has been increasing concern regarding severe accidents in nuclear facilities. Severe accident scenarios are difficult for operators to monitor and identify. Therefore, accurate prediction of a severe accident is important in order to manage it appropriately in the unfavorable conditions. In this study, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as support vector classification (SVC), probabilistic neural network (PNN), group method of data handling (GMDH), and fuzzy neural network (FNN), were used to monitor the major transient scenarios of a severe accident caused by three different initiating events, the hot-leg loss of coolant accident (LOCA), the cold-leg LOCA, and the steam generator tube rupture in pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The SVC and PNN models were used for the event classification. The GMDH and FNN models were employed to accurately predict the important timing representing severe accident scenarios. In addition, in order to verify the proposed algorithm, data from a number of numerical simulations were required in order to train the AI techniques due to the shortage of real LOCA data. The data was acquired by performing simulations using the MAAP4 code. The prediction accuracy of the three types of initiating events was sufficiently high to predict severe accident scenarios. Therefore, the AI techniques can be applied successfully in the identification and monitoring of severe accident scenarios in real PWRs.

Monitoring severe accidents using AI techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

No, Young Gyu; Ahn, Kwang Il; Kim, Ju Hyun; Na, Man Gyun; Lim, Dong Hyuk

2012-01-01

After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, there has been increasing concern regarding severe accidents in nuclear facilities. Severe accident scenarios are difficult for operators to monitor and identify. Therefore, accurate prediction of a severe accident is important in order to manage it appropriately in the unfavorable conditions. In this study, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as support vector classification (SVC), probabilistic neural network (PNN), group method of data handling (GMDH), and fuzzy neural network (FNN), were used to monitor the major transient scenarios of a severe accident caused by three different initiating events, the hot-leg loss of coolant accident (LOCA), the cold-leg LOCA, and the steam generator tube rupture in pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The SVC and PNN models were used for the event classification. The GMDH and FNN models were employed to accurately predict the important timing representing severe accident scenarios. In addition, in order to verify the proposed algorithm, data from a number of numerical simulations were required in order to train the AI techniques due to the shortage of real LOCA data. The data was acquired by performing simulations using the MAAP4 code. The prediction accuracy of the three types of initiating events was sufficiently high to predict severe accident scenarios. Therefore, the AI techniques can be applied successfully in the identification and monitoring of severe accident scenarios in real PWRs.

Modern techniques for condition monitoring of railway vehicle dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ngigi, R W; Pislaru, C; Ball, A; Gu, F

2012-01-01

A modern railway system relies on sophisticated monitoring systems for maintenance and renewal activities. Some of the existing conditions monitoring techniques perform fault detection using advanced filtering, system identification and signal analysis methods. These theoretical approaches do not require complex mathematical models of the system and can overcome potential difficulties associated with nonlinearities and parameter variations in the system. Practical applications of condition monitoring tools use sensors which are mounted either on the track or rolling stock. For instance, monitoring wheelset dynamics could be done through the use of track-mounted sensors, while vehicle-based sensors are preferred for monitoring the train infrastructure. This paper attempts to collate and critically appraise the modern techniques used for condition monitoring of railway vehicle dynamics by analysing the advantages and shortcomings of these methods.

A novel HVSR approach on structural heath monitoring for structural vulnerability assesement

Science.gov (United States)

Pentaris, Fragkiskos P.; Papadopoulos, Ilias

2014-05-01

This work suggests a novel approach for vulnerability assessment in structural health monitoring (SHM) through Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) method. Acceleration recordings of different age concrete buildings [1] are analyzed using the conventional method for estimation of fundamental frequency in SHM (Fast Furrier Transform-FFT method). The results of frequency spectrum are verified theoretically (mass and stiffness matrices models) but also by practical techniques applied in real structure data, for the estimation of structural resonance frequencies [2-4]. The same recordings are analyzed by HVSR method and study the differences and the similarities of both methods (FFT and HVSR) under earthquake excitation. Both methods can reveal resonance frequencies and amplitude of buildings under study, with great detail and efficiency in terms of ease of deployment, computation, cost and time. Furthermore HVSR recordings of strong seismic motion are compared with HVSR recordings of ambient noise for the case study buildings. The similarities of HVSR recordings (between earthquake and ambient noise) reveal the same analogy in HVSR spectrum. This enables a simple HVSR noise recording in a building to present the same information with an earthquake HVSR recording that are much rarer. This study presents a novel index which compute the increase of HVSR between floors and correlates the increasing rate with the structural vulnerability of the specific building. The main idea is that this HVSR rate index is strongly related with the differential acceleration (between floors), a determinant measurement for SHM assessment in concrete buildings. Experimental data verify the above HVSR rise index by presentation of higher HVSR rise in older buildings (with visible cracks in beams, damage and stress in their structure) than other younger buildings without any visible damage. Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the ARCHEMEDES III Program of the Ministry

A new approach for structural health monitoring by applying anomaly detection on strain sensor data

Science.gov (United States)

Trichias, Konstantinos; Pijpers, Richard; Meeuwissen, Erik

2014-03-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems help to monitor critical infrastructures (bridges, tunnels, etc.) remotely and provide up-to-date information about their physical condition. In addition, it helps to predict the structure's life and required maintenance in a cost-efficient way. Typically, inspection data gives insight in the structural health. The global structural behavior, and predominantly the structural loading, is generally measured with vibration and strain sensors. Acoustic emission sensors are more and more used for measuring global crack activity near critical locations. In this paper, we present a procedure for local structural health monitoring by applying Anomaly Detection (AD) on strain sensor data for sensors that are applied in expected crack path. Sensor data is analyzed by automatic anomaly detection in order to find crack activity at an early stage. This approach targets the monitoring of critical structural locations, such as welds, near which strain sensors can be applied during construction and/or locations with limited inspection possibilities during structural operation. We investigate several anomaly detection techniques to detect changes in statistical properties, indicating structural degradation. The most effective one is a novel polynomial fitting technique, which tracks slow changes in sensor data. Our approach has been tested on a representative test structure (bridge deck) in a lab environment, under constant and variable amplitude fatigue loading. In both cases, the evolving cracks at the monitored locations were successfully detected, autonomously, by our AD monitoring tool.

Machine monitoring via current signature analysis techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.F.; Castleberry, K.N.; Nowlin, C.H.

1992-01-01

A significant need in the effort to provide increased production quality is to provide improved plant equipment monitoring capabilities. Unfortunately, in today's tight economy, even such monitoring instrumentation must be implemented in a recognizably cost effective manner. By analyzing the electric current drawn by motors, actuator, and other line-powered industrial equipment, significant insights into the operations of the movers, driven equipment, and even the power source can be obtained. The generic term 'current signature analysis' (CSA) has been coined to describe several techniques for extracting useful equipment or process monitoring information from the electrical power feed system. A patented method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is described which recognizes the presence of line-current modulation produced by motors and actuators driving varying loads. The in-situ application of applicable linear demodulation techniques to the analysis of numerous motor-driven systems is also discussed. The use of high-quality amplitude and angle-demodulation circuitry has permitted remote status monitoring of several types of medium and high-power gas compressors in (US DOE facilities) driven by 3-phase induction motors rated from 100 to 3,500 hp, both with and without intervening speed increasers. Flow characteristics of the compressors, including various forms of abnormal behavior such as surging and rotating stall, produce at the output of the specialized detectors specific time and frequency signatures which can be easily identified for monitoring, control, and fault-prevention purposes. The resultant data are similar in form to information obtained via standard vibration-sensing techniques and can be analyzed using essentially identical methods. In addition, other machinery such as refrigeration compressors, brine pumps, vacuum pumps, fans, and electric motors have been characterized

Techniques for the generation and monitoring of vapors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, G.O.

1981-01-01

Controlled test atmospheres can be produced using a variety of techniques. Gases are usually generated by using flow dilution methods while vapors are produced by using solvent injection and vaporization, saturation, permeation and diffusion techniques. The resulting gas mixtures can be monitored and measured using flame ionization, photoionization, electrochemical and infrared analytical systems. An ideal system for the production of controlled test atmospheres would not only be able to generate controlled test atmospheres, but also monitor all pertinent environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and air flow

Combination of digital signal processing methods towards an improved analysis algorithm for structural health monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Pentaris, Fragkiskos P.; Makris, John P.

2013-04-01

In Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is of great importance to reveal valuable information from the recorded SHM data that could be used to predict or indicate structural fault or damage in a building. In this work a combination of digital signal processing methods, namely FFT along with Wavelet Transform is applied, together with a proposed algorithm to study frequency dispersion, in order to depict non-linear characteristics of SHM data collected in two university buildings under natural or anthropogenic excitation. The selected buildings are of great importance from civil protection point of view, as there are the premises of a public higher education institute, undergoing high use, stress, visit from academic staff and students. The SHM data are collected from two neighboring buildings that have different age (4 and 18 years old respectively). Proposed digital signal processing methods are applied to the data, presenting a comparison of the structural behavior of both buildings in response to seismic activity, weather conditions and man-made activity. Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the Archimedes III Program of the Ministry of Education of Greece, through the Operational Program "Educational and Lifelong Learning", in the framework of the project entitled «Interdisciplinary Multi-Scale Research of Earthquake Physics and Seismotectonics at the front of the Hellenic Arc (IMPACT-ARC) » and is co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek National Fund.

Impurity monitoring by laser-induced fluorescence techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelbwachs, J.A.

1984-01-01

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy can provide a highly sensitive and selective means of detecting atomic and ionic impurities. Because the photodetector can be physically isolated from the laser-excited region, these techniques can be applied to monitoring in hostile environments. The basic concepts behind fluorescence detection are reviewed. Saturated optical excitation is shown to maximize impurity atom emission yield while mitigating effects of laser intensity fluctuations upon absolute density calibration. Monitoring in high- and low-pressure monitoring environments is compared. Methods to improve detection sensitivity by luminescence background suppression are presented

The development of digital monitoring technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, In Soo; Kim, D. H.; Kim, J. S.; Kim, C. H.; Kim, G. O.; Park, H. Y.; Suh, S. Y.; Sung, S. H.; Song, S. J.; Lee, C. K.; Jang, G. S.; Hur, S.

1997-08-01

A study has been performed for advanced DSP technology for the digital nuclear I and C systems for the monitoring and diagnosis techniques for high-pressurized structures integrity in NSSS. In the development of advanced DSP technology, real time process, communication network and signal validation were selected as the essential technologies of the digital signal process, and the requirements and methodology for the application of these technologies in NPP were established through technical analysis. Based on its results, the DPIS and the signal validation algorithm were developed. For the real-time process, the necessary requirements were define and the methodology of real-time software modeling was developed. For the communication network, the methodology of selection of the communication technique and developing procedure were established with an extraction of requirements. Functions, requirements, structure and technical specification were developed for the DPIS, and a real-time signal validation algorithm was developed and implemented for the signal validation. In a study on monitoring techniques for abnormal conditions, test and experimental facilities have been set up in order to carry out the required tests during research activities. Studies concentrated on how to acquire proper vibration or emission signals from mechanical structures and equipments, and to diagnose effectively the abnormal conditions of high pressure structure integrity. The algorithms of automatic signal analysis and diagnosis for abnormal conditions have been developed in this study to assist the operator's monitoring and diagnosis activities on structure integrity using new technologies. (author). 23 refs., 68 tabs., 196 figs

The development of digital monitoring technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koo, In Soo; Kim, D. H.; Kim, J. S.; Kim, C. H.; Kim, G. O.; Park, H. Y.; Suh, S. Y.; Sung, S. H.; Song, S. J.; Lee, C. K.; Jang, G. S.; Hur, S.

1997-08-01

A study has been performed for advanced DSP technology for the digital nuclear I and C systems for the monitoring and diagnosis techniques for high-pressurized structures integrity in NSSS. In the development of advanced DSP technology, real time process, communication network and signal validation were selected as the essential technologies of the digital signal process, and the requirements and methodology for the application of these technologies in NPP were established through technical analysis. Based on its results, the DPIS and the signal validation algorithm were developed. For the real-time process, the necessary requirements were define and the methodology of real-time software modeling was developed. For the communication network, the methodology of selection of the communication technique and developing procedure were established with an extraction of requirements. Functions, requirements, structure and technical specification were developed for the DPIS, and a real-time signal validation algorithm was developed and implemented for the signal validation. In a study on monitoring techniques for abnormal conditions, test and experimental facilities have been set up in order to carry out the required tests during research activities. Studies concentrated on how to acquire proper vibration or emission signals from mechanical structures and equipments, and to diagnose effectively the abnormal conditions of high pressure structure integrity. The algorithms of automatic signal analysis and diagnosis for abnormal conditions have been developed in this study to assist the operator`s monitoring and diagnosis activities on structure integrity using new technologies. (author). 23 refs., 68 tabs., 196 figs.

Pump failure leads to alternative vertical pump condition monitoring technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeVilliers, Adriaan; Glandon, Kevin

2011-01-01

Condition monitoring and detecting early signs of potential failure mechanisms present particular problems in vertical pumps. Most often, the majority of the pump assembly is not readily accessible for visual or audible inspection or conventional vibration monitoring techniques using accelerometers and/or proximity sensors. The root cause failure analysis of a 2-stage vertical centrifugal service-water pump at a nuclear power generating facility in the USA is presented, highlighting this long standing challenge in condition monitoring of vertical pumps. This paper will summarize the major findings of the root cause analysis (RCA), highlight the limitations of traditional monitoring techniques, and present an expanded application of motor current monitoring as a means to gain insight into the mechanical performance and condition of a pump. The 'real-world' example of failure, monitoring and correlation of the monitoring technique to a detailed pump disassembly inspection is also presented. This paper will explain some of the reasons behind well known design principles requiring natural frequency separation from known forcing frequencies, as well as explore an unexpected submerged brittle fracture failure mechanism, and how such issues may be avoided. (author)

Electromagnetic-based force sensor for Structural Health Monitoring(SHM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Man Yong; Park, Hae Won; Park, Jeong Hak; Sam, R.

2002-01-01

The demand for maintenance of structural health and safety to acceptable standards poses challenges for research and development of effective technologies for monitoring and measurement of parameters governing safety and health of structures. In this work, an electromagnetic based sensor has been investigated and developed for measuring force in pre-stressed steel cables and tendons. The change in magnetic permeability of a material caused by mechanical stress is exploited to measure force in the material. The sensor consists of a pair of sensing coils and a pair of reference coils. The sensing coils are wound around a stressed material while the reference pair are wound on a dummy specimen of same material as that under stress. When sensing and reference primary coils are excited by same current simultaneously, both the stressed and dummy materials are equally magnetized by the magnetic field generated by the current, and voltage is induced in the sensing and reference secondary coils. The induced voltage in each secondary coil is dependent on a number of factors including the magnetic permeability of its core which is a function of the core magnetizing current, temperature and stress/load. By suitably arranging the sensing and reference coils electro-magnetically, the effects of temperature and magnetizing current on the permeability of a stressed material can be eliminated in the output voltage of the sensor. The output voltage is a function of only the mechanical load in the stressed material, and can be calibrated for determination of force in pre-stressed materials

A Novel Differential Time-of-Arrival Estimation Technique for Impact Localization on Carbon Fiber Laminate Sheets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugenio Marino Merlo

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Composite material structures are commonly used in many industrial sectors (aerospace, automotive, transportation, and can operate in harsh environments where impacts with other parts or debris may cause critical safety and functionality issues. This work presents a method for improving the accuracy of impact position determination using acoustic source triangulation schemes based on the data collected by piezoelectric sensors attached to the structure. A novel approach is used to estimate the Differential Time-of-Arrival (DToA between the impact response signals collected by a triplet of sensors, overcoming the limitations of classical methods that rely on amplitude thresholds calibrated for a specific sensor type. An experimental evaluation of the proposed technique was performed with specially made circular piezopolymer (PVDF sensors designed for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM applications, and compared with commercial piezoelectric SHM sensors of similar dimensions. Test impacts at low energies from 35 mJ to 600 mJ were generated in a laboratory by free-falling metal spheres on a 500 mm × 500 mm × 1.25 mm quasi-isotropic Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP laminate plate. From the analysis of many impact signals, the resulting localization error was improved for all types of sensors and, in particular, for the circular PVDF sensor an average error of 20.3 mm and a standard deviation of 8.9 mm was obtained.

Design of overload vehicle monitoring and response system based on DSP

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yan; Liu, Yiheng; Zhao, Xuefeng

2014-03-01

The overload vehicles are making much more damage to the road surface than the regular ones. Many roads and bridges are equipped with structural health monitoring system (SHM) to provide early-warning to these damage and evaluate the safety of road and bridge. However, because of the complex nature of SHM system, it's expensive to manufacture, difficult to install and not well-suited for the regular bridges and roads. Based on this application background, this paper designs a compact structural health monitoring system based on DSP, which is highly integrated, low-power, easy to install and inexpensive to manufacture. The designed system is made up of sensor arrays, the charge amplifier module, the DSP processing unit, the alarm system for overload, and the estimate for damage of the road and bridge structure. The signals coming from sensor arrays go through the charge amplifier. DSP processing unit will receive the amplified signals, estimate whether it is an overload signal or not, and convert analog variables into digital ones so that they are compatible with the back-end digital circuit for further processing. The system will also restrict certain vehicles that are overweight, by taking image of the car brand, sending the alarm, and transferring the collected pressure data to remote data center for further monitoring analysis by rain-flow counting method.

AN EVALUATION OF CONDITION MONITORING TECHNIQUES FOR LOW-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC CABLES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

LOFARO, R.J.; GROVE, E.; SOO, P.

2000-01-01

Aging of systems and components in nuclear power plants is a well known occurrence that must be managed to ensure the continued safe operation of these plants. Much of the degradation due to aging is controlled through periodic maintenance and/or component replacement. However, there are components that do not receive periodic maintenance or monitoring once they are installed; electric cables are such a component. To provide a means of monitoring the condition of electric cables, research is ongoing to evaluate promising condition monitoring (CM) techniques that can be used in situ to monitor cable condition and predict remaining life. While several techniques are promising, each has limitations that must be considered in its application. This paper discusses the theory behind several of the promising cable CM techniques being studied, along with their effectiveness for monitoring aging degradation in typical cable insulation materials, such as cross-linked polyethylene and ethylene propylene rubber. Successes and limitations of each technique are also presented

Study of laser monitoring techniques of pollutants in atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, T. A. A.

2006-01-01

There are several techniques used as a tool for monitoring the pollutions in the atmosphere, where the laser radiation sending through the sample of atmosphere to be investigated ether transmission or the scattering of the light, all the way through a variety of different techniques for monitoring the air quality. We are showed in this study the comparison of detection techniques through measuring the light scattered in some particular direction, rather than measuring direction the attenuation due to two type of scattering (Rayieh scattering and Mie scattering) during (optical Radar, Roman backscattering and Resonance fluorescence).(Author)

Assessment of ground-based monitoring techniques applied to landslide investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Uhlemann, S.; Smith, A.; Chambers, J.; Dixon, N.; Dijkstra, T.; Haslam, E.; Meldrum, P.; Merritt, A.; Gunn, D.; Mackay, J.

2016-01-01

A landslide complex in the Whitby Mudstone Formation at Hollin Hill, North Yorkshire, UK is periodically re-activated in response to rainfall-induced pore-water pressure fluctuations. This paper compares long-term measurements (i.e., 2009-2014) obtained from a combination of monitoring techniques that have been employed together for the first time on an active landslide. The results highlight the relative performance of the different techniques, and can provide guidance for researchers and practitioners for selecting and installing appropriate monitoring techniques to assess unstable slopes. Particular attention is given to the spatial and temporal resolutions offered by the different approaches that include: Real Time Kinematic-GPS (RTK-GPS) monitoring of a ground surface marker array, conventional inclinometers, Shape Acceleration Arrays (SAA), tilt meters, active waveguides with Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring, and piezometers. High spatial resolution information has allowed locating areas of stability and instability across a large slope. This has enabled identification of areas where further monitoring efforts should be focused. High temporal resolution information allowed the capture of 'S'-shaped slope displacement-time behaviour (i.e. phases of slope acceleration, deceleration and stability) in response to elevations in pore-water pressures. This study shows that a well-balanced suite of monitoring techniques that provides high temporal and spatial resolutions on both measurement and slope scale is necessary to fully understand failure and movement mechanisms of slopes. In the case of the Hollin Hill landslide it enabled detailed interpretation of the geomorphological processes governing landslide activity. It highlights the benefit of regularly surveying a network of GPS markers to determine areas for installation of movement monitoring techniques that offer higher resolution both temporally and spatially. The small sensitivity of tilt meter measurements

Optimum wireless sensor deployment scheme for structural health monitoring: a simulation study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Chengyin; Fang, Kun; Teng, Jun

2015-01-01

With the rapid advancements in smart sensing technology and wireless communication technology, the wireless sensor network (WSN) offers an alternative solution to structural health monitoring (SHM). In WSNs, dense deployment of wireless nodes aids the identification of structural dynamic characteristics, while data transmission is a significant issue since wireless channels typically have a lower bandwidth and a limited power supply. This paper provides a wireless sensor deployment optimization scheme for SHM, in terms of both energy consumption and modal identification accuracy. A spherical energy model is established to formulate the energy consumption within a WSN. The optimal number of sensors and their locations are obtained through solving a multi-objective function with weighting factors on energy consumption and modal identification accuracy using a genetic algorithm (GA). Simulation and comparison results with traditional sensor deployment methods demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed optimization scheme. (paper)

Monitoring of bone healing by piezoelectric-EMI method

Science.gov (United States)

Mazlina, M. H.; Sarpinah, Bibi; Tawie, Rudy; Daho, Claira Dalislone; Annuar, Ishak

2016-02-01

Smart Piezoelectric devices which have excellent piezoelectric properties have been employed for various sensor and actuators applications. The work presented here is an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of bone healing monitoring by using piezoelectric-electromechanical impedance (EMI) method that have several advantages such as low cost, portable, light weight and simplicity in measurement. A Piezoelectric sensor (PZT) has been widely used in damage detection of various structures including concrete, pipes and bones due to their unique sensing and actuating properties. The EMI technique has emerged as a universal Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) tool suitable for almost all engineering materials and structures. The method used for this proposed study consists of put healing agent in the host structure in particular cracks bone to be monitored by PZT-needle sensor which is embedded to the host structure. The measurements were taken in the frequency range between 0.04 to 100 kHz at 1 kHz interval using AD5933 evaluation board. The signals retrieved from the AD5933 evaluation board, were quantify and analyse to obtain Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) percentage value. Measurements were taken every hour for 12 hours. The result from the study shows the feasibility of the piezoelectric-EMI method to effectively detect changes during bone-cracks healing process until the cracks bone is fully recovered.

Monitoring Severe Accidents Using AI Techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

No, Young Gyu; Kim, Ju Hyun; Na, Man Gyun; Ahn, Kwang Il

2011-01-01

It is very difficult for nuclear power plant operators to monitor and identify the major severe accident scenarios following an initiating event by staring at temporal trends of important parameters. The objective of this study is to develop and verify the monitoring for severe accidents using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as support vector classification (SVC), probabilistic neural network (PNN), group method of data handling (GMDH) and fuzzy neural network (FNN). The SVC and PNN are used for event classification among the severe accidents. Also, GMDH and FNN are used to monitor for severe accidents. The inputs to AI techniques are initial time-integrated values obtained by integrating measurement signals during a short time interval after reactor scram. In this study, 3 types of initiating events such as the hot-leg LOCA, the cold-leg LOCA and SGTR are considered and it is verified how well the proposed scenario identification algorithm using the GMDH and FNN models identifies the timings when the reactor core will be uncovered, when CET will exceed 1200 .deg. F and when the reactor vessel will fail. In cases that an initiating event develops into a severe accident, the proposed algorithm showed accurate classification of initiating events. Also, it well predicted timings for important occurrences during severe accident progression scenarios, which is very helpful for operators to perform severe accident management

Recent advances in electronic nose techniques for monitoring of fermentation process.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Hui; Zhang, Hang; Chen, Quansheng; Mei, Congli; Liu, Guohai

2015-12-01

Microbial fermentation process is often sensitive to even slight changes of conditions that may result in unacceptable end-product quality. Thus, the monitoring of the process is critical for discovering unfavorable deviations as early as possible and taking the appropriate measures. However, the use of traditional analytical techniques is often time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this sense, the most effective way of developing rapid, accurate and relatively economical method for quality assurance in microbial fermentation process is the use of novel chemical sensor systems. Electronic nose techniques have particular advantages in non-invasive monitoring of microbial fermentation process. Therefore, in this review, we present an overview of the most important contributions dealing with the quality control in microbial fermentation process using the electronic nose techniques. After a brief description of the fundamentals of the sensor techniques, some examples of potential applications of electronic nose techniques monitoring are provided, including the implementation of control strategies and the combination with other monitoring tools (i.e. sensor fusion). Finally, on the basis of the review, the electronic nose techniques are critically commented, and its strengths and weaknesses being highlighted. In addition, on the basis of the observed trends, we also propose the technical challenges and future outlook for the electronic nose techniques.

An optimal baseline selection methodology for data-driven damage detection and temperature compensation in acousto-ultrasonics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres-Arredondo, M-A; Sierra-Pérez, Julián; Cabanes, Guénaël

2016-01-01

The process of measuring and analysing the data from a distributed sensor network all over a structural system in order to quantify its condition is known as structural health monitoring (SHM). For the design of a trustworthy health monitoring system, a vast amount of information regarding the inherent physical characteristics of the sources and their propagation and interaction across the structure is crucial. Moreover, any SHM system which is expected to transition to field operation must take into account the influence of environmental and operational changes which cause modifications in the stiffness and damping of the structure and consequently modify its dynamic behaviour. On that account, special attention is paid in this paper to the development of an efficient SHM methodology where robust signal processing and pattern recognition techniques are integrated for the correct interpretation of complex ultrasonic waves within the context of damage detection and identification. The methodology is based on an acousto-ultrasonics technique where the discrete wavelet transform is evaluated for feature extraction and selection, linear principal component analysis for data-driven modelling and self-organising maps for a two-level clustering under the principle of local density. At the end, the methodology is experimentally demonstrated and results show that all the damages were detectable and identifiable. (paper)

An optimal baseline selection methodology for data-driven damage detection and temperature compensation in acousto-ultrasonics

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Arredondo, M.-A.; Sierra-Pérez, Julián; Cabanes, Guénaël

2016-05-01

The process of measuring and analysing the data from a distributed sensor network all over a structural system in order to quantify its condition is known as structural health monitoring (SHM). For the design of a trustworthy health monitoring system, a vast amount of information regarding the inherent physical characteristics of the sources and their propagation and interaction across the structure is crucial. Moreover, any SHM system which is expected to transition to field operation must take into account the influence of environmental and operational changes which cause modifications in the stiffness and damping of the structure and consequently modify its dynamic behaviour. On that account, special attention is paid in this paper to the development of an efficient SHM methodology where robust signal processing and pattern recognition techniques are integrated for the correct interpretation of complex ultrasonic waves within the context of damage detection and identification. The methodology is based on an acousto-ultrasonics technique where the discrete wavelet transform is evaluated for feature extraction and selection, linear principal component analysis for data-driven modelling and self-organising maps for a two-level clustering under the principle of local density. At the end, the methodology is experimentally demonstrated and results show that all the damages were detectable and identifiable.

The use of an improved technique to reduce the variability of output voltage in real-time Fibre Bragg Grating based monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Vorathin, E.; Hafizi, Z. M.; Che Ghani, S. A.; Lim, K. S.; Aizzuddin, A. M.

2017-10-01

Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors have been widely utilized in the structural health monitoring (SHM) of structures. However, one of the main challenges of FBGs is the existence of inconsistency in output voltage during wavelength intensity demodulation utilizing photodetector (PD) to convert the light signal into digital voltage readings. Thus, the designation of this experimental work is to develop a robust FBG real-time monitoring system with the benefit of MATLAB graphical user interface (GUI) and voltage normalization algorithm to scale down the voltage inconsistency. Low-cost edge filter interrogation system has been practiced in the experimentation and splitter optical component is make use to reduce the intensity of the high power light source that leads to the formation of noise due to unwanted reflected wavelengths. The results revealed that with the advancement of the proposed monitoring system, the sensitivity of the FBG has been increased from 2.4 mV/N to 3.8 mV/N across the range of 50 N. The redundancy in output voltage variation data points has been reduced from 26 data/minute to 17 data/minute. The accuracy of the FBG in detecting the load induced falls in the acceptable range of total average error which is 1.38 %.

Structural health monitoring of the Gröndals Bridge in Sweden: the behaviour of CFRP strengthening in cold temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Hejll, Arvid; Täljsten, Björn; Carolin, Anders

2006-03-01

To obtain a better knowledge of existing structures behaviour monitoring can be used. The use of monitoring in bridge structures by the use of instruments to assess the integrity of structures is not new and there are reports from structures tested as early as in the 19th century according to ISIS Canada1 However, the term SHM (Structural Health Monitoring) is relatively new to civil engineering and the driving force to implement SHM comes from recognising the limitations of conventional visual inspections and evaluations using conservative codes of practice. The possibilities to monitor existing structures with help of the rapidly evolving Information Technology are to day carried out. The objective of SHM is to monitor the in-situ behaviour of a structure accurately and efficiently, to assess its performance under various service conditions, to detect damage or deterioration, and to determine the health or condition of the structure1. In Sweden strengthening and periodic monitoring of a large freivorbau bridge (pre-stresed concrete box girder bridge) has been carried out, the Gröndals Bridge. The bridge is located in Stockholm and is approximately 400 m in length with a free span of 120 m. It was opened to tram traffic in year 2000. Just after opening cracks were noticed in the webs, these cracks have then increased, the size of the largest cracks exceeded 0.5 mm, and at the end of year 2001 the bridge was temporarily strengthened. This was carried out with externally placed prestressed steel stays. The reason for cracking is quite clear but the responsibility is still debated. Nevertheless, it was evidently that the bridge needed to be strengthened. The strengthening methods used were CFRP plates in the Service Limit State (SLS) and prestressed dywidag stays in the Ultimate Limit State (ULS). The strengthening was carried out during year 2002. At the same time monitoring of the bridge commenced, using LVDT crack gauges as well as optical fibre sensors. This

Behavior change techniques implemented in electronic lifestyle activity monitors: a systematic content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Elizabeth J; Lewis, Zakkoyya H; Mayrsohn, Brian G; Rowland, Jennifer L

2014-08-15

Electronic activity monitors (such as those manufactured by Fitbit, Jawbone, and Nike) improve on standard pedometers by providing automated feedback and interactive behavior change tools via mobile device or personal computer. These monitors are commercially popular and show promise for use in public health interventions. However, little is known about the content of their feedback applications and how individual monitors may differ from one another. The purpose of this study was to describe the behavior change techniques implemented in commercially available electronic activity monitors. Electronic activity monitors (N=13) were systematically identified and tested by 3 trained coders for at least 1 week each. All monitors measured lifestyle physical activity and provided feedback via an app (computer or mobile). Coding was based on a hierarchical list of 93 behavior change techniques. Further coding of potentially effective techniques and adherence to theory-based recommendations were based on findings from meta-analyses and meta-regressions in the research literature. All monitors provided tools for self-monitoring, feedback, and environmental change by definition. The next most prevalent techniques (13 out of 13 monitors) were goal-setting and emphasizing discrepancy between current and goal behavior. Review of behavioral goals, social support, social comparison, prompts/cues, rewards, and a focus on past success were found in more than half of the systems. The monitors included a range of 5-10 of 14 total techniques identified from the research literature as potentially effective. Most of the monitors included goal-setting, self-monitoring, and feedback content that closely matched recommendations from social cognitive theory. Electronic activity monitors contain a wide range of behavior change techniques typically used in clinical behavioral interventions. Thus, the monitors may represent a medium by which these interventions could be translated for

Techniques for Non-Invasive Monitoring of Arterial Blood Pressure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnes S. Meidert

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Since both, hypotension and hypertension, can potentially impair the function of vital organs such as heart, brain, or kidneys, monitoring of arterial blood pressure (BP is a mainstay of hemodynamic monitoring in acutely or critically ill patients. Arterial BP can either be obtained invasively via an arterial catheter or non-invasively. Non-invasive BP measurement provides either intermittent or continuous readings. Most commonly, an occluding upper arm cuff is used for intermittent non-invasive monitoring. BP values are then obtained either manually (by auscultation of Korotkoff sounds or palpation or automatically (e.g., by oscillometry. For continuous non-invasive BP monitoring, the volume clamp method or arterial applanation tonometry can be used. Both techniques enable the arterial waveform and BP values to be obtained continuously. This article describes the different techniques for non-invasive BP measurement, their advantages and limitations, and their clinical applicability.

Sensor agent robot with servo-accelerometer for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Nobukazu; Mita, Akira

2012-04-01

SHM systems are becoming feasible with the growth of computer and sensor technologies during the last decade. However, high cost prevents SHM to become common in general homes. The reason of this high cost is partially due to many accelerometers. In this research, we propose a moving sensor agent robot with accelerometers and a laser range finder (LRF). If this robot can properly measure accurate acceleration data, the cost of SHM would be cut down and resulting in the spread of SHM systems. Our goal is to develop a platform for SHM using the sensor agent robot. We designed the prototype robot to correctly detect the floor vibrations and acquire the micro tremor information. When the sensor agent robot is set in the mode of acquiring the data, the dynamics of the robot should be tuned not to be affected by its flexibility. To achieve this purpose the robot frame was modified to move down to the ground and to provide enough rigidity to obtain good data. In addition to this mechanism, we tested an algorithm to correctly know the location of the robot and the map of the floor to be used in the SHM system using the LRF and Simultaneously Localization and Mapping (SLAM).

Damage assessment using flexibility and flexibility-based curvature for structural health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catbas, F N; Gul, M; Burkett, J L

2008-01-01

As a result of the recent advances in sensors, information technologies and material science, a considerable amount of research has been conducted in the area of smart infrastructures. While there are many important components of a smart infrastructure, an automated and continuous structural health monitoring (SHM) system is a critical one. SHM is typically used to track and evaluate the performance of a structure, symptoms of operational incidents, anomalies due to deterioration and damage during regular operation as well as after an extreme event. Successful health monitoring applications can be achieved by integrating experimental, analytical and information technologies on real-life operating structures. However, real-life investigations must be backed up by laboratory benchmark studies for validating theory, concepts, and new technologies. For this reason, a physical bridge model is developed to implement SHM methods and technologies. In this study, different aspects of model development are outlined in terms of design considerations, instrumentation, finite element modeling, and simulating damage scenarios. Different damage detection methods are evaluated using the numerical and the physical models. Modal parameter estimation studies are carried out to reliably identify the eigenvalues, eigenvectors and modal scaling from the measurement data. To assess the simulated damage, modal flexibility-based displacements and curvatures are employed. Structural behavior after damage is evaluated by inspecting the deflected shapes obtained using modal flexibility. More localized damage simulations such as stiffness reduction at a joint yield a very subtle stiffness decrease. In this case, the writers use a baseline to identify damage and also investigate the use of curvature as a complementary index. Curvature is advantageous for certain cases where the displacement results do not provide substantial changes. Issues related to using curvature as a damage identification

A regime-switching cointegration approach for removing environmental and operational variations in structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Haichen; Worden, Keith; Cross, Elizabeth J.

2018-03-01

Cointegration is now extensively used to model the long term common trends among economic variables in the field of econometrics. Recently, cointegration has been successfully implemented in the context of structural health monitoring (SHM), where it has been used to remove the confounding influences of environmental and operational variations (EOVs) that can often mask the signature of structural damage. However, restrained by its linear nature, the conventional cointegration approach has limited power in modelling systems where measurands are nonlinearly related; this occurs, for example, in the benchmark study of the Z24 Bridge, where nonlinear relationships between natural frequencies were induced during a period of very cold temperatures. To allow the removal of EOVs from SHM data with nonlinear relationships like this, this paper extends the well-established cointegration method to a nonlinear context, which is to allow a breakpoint in the cointegrating vector. In a novel approach, the augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) statistic is used to find which position is most appropriate for inserting a breakpoint, the Johansen procedure is then utilised for the estimation of cointegrating vectors. The proposed approach is examined with a simulated case and real SHM data from the Z24 Bridge, demonstrating that the EOVs can be neatly eliminated.

A Wireless Sensor Network for Structural Health Monitoring: Performance and Experience

OpenAIRE

Paek, Jeongyeup; Chintalapudi, Krishna; Caffrey, John; Govindan, Ramesh; Masri, Sami

2005-01-01

While sensor network research has made significant strides in the past few years, the literature has relatively few examples of papers that have evaluated and validated a complete experimental system. In this paper we discuss our deployment experiences and evaluate the performance of a multi-hop wireless data acquisition system (called Wisden) for structural health monitoring (SHM) on a large seismic test structure used by civil engineers. Our experiments indicate that, with the latest sensor...

Modal content based damage indicators and phased array transducers for structural health monitoring of aircraft structures using ultrasonic guided waves

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Baiyang

Composite materials, especially carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), have been widely used in the aircraft industry because of their high specific strength and stiffness, resistance to corrosion and good fatigue life. Due to their highly anisotropic material properties and laminated structures, joining methods like bolting and riveting are no longer appropriate for joining CFRP since they initiate defects during the assembly and severely compromise the integrity of the structure; thus new techniques for joining CFRP are highly demanded. Adhesive bonding is a promising method because it relieves stress concentration, reduces weight and provides smooth surfaces. Additionally, it is a low-cost alternative to the co-cured method which is currently used to manufacture components of aircraft fuselage. Adhesive defects, disbonds at the interface between adherend and adhesive layer, are focused on in this thesis because they can be initialized by either poor surface preparation during the manufacturing or fatigue loads during service. Aircraft need structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to increase safety and reduce loss, and adhesive bonds usually represent the hotspots of the assembled structure. There are many nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods for bond inspection. However, these methods cannot be readily integrated into an SHM system because of the bulk size and weight of the equipment and requirement of accessibility to one side of the bonded joint. The first objective of this work is to develop instruments, actuators, sensors and a data acquisition system for SHM of bond lines using ultrasonic guided waves which are well known to be able to cover large volume of the structure and inaccessible regions. Different from widely used guided wave sensors like PZT disks, the new actuators, piezoelectric fiber composite (PFC) phased array transducers0 (PAT), can control the modal content of the excited waves and the new sensors, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF

Identifying Time Periods of Minimal Thermal Gradient for Temperature-Driven Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Reilly

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Temperature changes play a large role in the day to day structural behavior of structures, but a smaller direct role in most contemporary Structural Health Monitoring (SHM analyses. Temperature-Driven SHM will consider temperature as the principal driving force in SHM, relating a measurable input temperature to measurable output generalized strain (strain, curvature, etc. and generalized displacement (deflection, rotation, etc. to create three-dimensional signatures descriptive of the structural behavior. Identifying time periods of minimal thermal gradient provides the foundation for the formulation of the temperature–deformation–displacement model. Thermal gradients in a structure can cause curvature in multiple directions, as well as non-linear strain and stress distributions within the cross-sections, which significantly complicates data analysis and interpretation, distorts the signatures, and may lead to unreliable conclusions regarding structural behavior and condition. These adverse effects can be minimized if the signatures are evaluated at times when thermal gradients in the structure are minimal. This paper proposes two classes of methods based on the following two metrics: (i the range of raw temperatures on the structure, and (ii the distribution of the local thermal gradients, for identifying time periods of minimal thermal gradient on a structure with the ability to vary the tolerance of acceptable thermal gradients. The methods are tested and validated with data collected from the Streicker Bridge on campus at Princeton University.

Identifying Time Periods of Minimal Thermal Gradient for Temperature-Driven Structural Health Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Reilly, John; Glisic, Branko

2018-03-01

Temperature changes play a large role in the day to day structural behavior of structures, but a smaller direct role in most contemporary Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) analyses. Temperature-Driven SHM will consider temperature as the principal driving force in SHM, relating a measurable input temperature to measurable output generalized strain (strain, curvature, etc.) and generalized displacement (deflection, rotation, etc.) to create three-dimensional signatures descriptive of the structural behavior. Identifying time periods of minimal thermal gradient provides the foundation for the formulation of the temperature-deformation-displacement model. Thermal gradients in a structure can cause curvature in multiple directions, as well as non-linear strain and stress distributions within the cross-sections, which significantly complicates data analysis and interpretation, distorts the signatures, and may lead to unreliable conclusions regarding structural behavior and condition. These adverse effects can be minimized if the signatures are evaluated at times when thermal gradients in the structure are minimal. This paper proposes two classes of methods based on the following two metrics: (i) the range of raw temperatures on the structure, and (ii) the distribution of the local thermal gradients, for identifying time periods of minimal thermal gradient on a structure with the ability to vary the tolerance of acceptable thermal gradients. The methods are tested and validated with data collected from the Streicker Bridge on campus at Princeton University.

Selected methods of waste monitoring using modern analytical techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hlavacek, I.; Hlavackova, I.

1993-11-01

Issues of the inspection and control of bituminized and cemented waste are discussed, and some methods of their nondestructive testing are described. Attention is paid to the inspection techniques, non-nuclear spectral techniques in particular, as employed for quality control of the wastes, waste concentrates, spent waste leaching solutions, as well as for the examination of environmental samples (waters and soils) from the surroundings of nuclear power plants. Some leaching tests used abroad for this purpose and practical analyses by the ICP-AES technique are given by way of example. The ICP-MS technique, which is unavailable in the Czech Republic, is routinely employed abroad for alpha nuclide measurements; examples of such analyses are also given. The next topic discussed includes the monitoring of organic acids and complexants to determine the degree of their thermal decomposition during the bituminization of wastes on an industrial line. All of the methods and procedures highlighted can be used as technical support during the monitoring of radioactive waste properties in industrial conditions, in the chemical and radiochemical analyses of wastes and related matter, in the calibration of nondestructive testing instrumentation, in the monitoring of contamination of the surroundings of nuclear facilities, and in trace analysis. (author). 10 tabs., 1 fig., 14 refs

Large scale distribution monitoring of FRP-OF based on BOTDR technique for infrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhi; He, Jianping; Yan, Kai; Ou, Jinping

2007-04-01

BOTDA(R) sensing technique is considered as one of the most practical solution for large-sized structures as the instrument. However, there is still a big obstacle to apply BOTDA(R) in large-scale area due to the high cost and the reliability problem of sensing head which is associated to the sensor installation and survival. In this paper, we report a novel low-cost and high reliable BOTDA(R) sensing head using FRP(Fiber Reinforced Polymer)-bare optical fiber rebar, named BOTDA(R)-FRP-OF. We investigated the surface bonding and its mechanical strength by SEM and intensity experiments. Considering the strain difference between OF and host matrix which may result in measurement error, the strain transfer from host to OF have been theoretically studied. Furthermore, GFRP-OFs sensing properties of strain and temperature at different gauge length were tested under different spatial and readout resolution using commercial BOTDA. Dual FRP-OFs temperature compensation method has also been proposed and analyzed. And finally, BOTDA(R)-OFs have been applied in Tiyu west road civil structure at Guangzhou and Daqing Highway. This novel FRP-OF rebar shows both high strengthen and good sensing properties, which can be used in long-term SHM for civil infrastructures.

Radon monitoring technique with electret collecting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tian Zhiheng; Zuo Fuqi; Xiao Detao; Zhao Xkiuliang

1991-12-01

The integrating radon monitoring technique with electret collecting is a method which collects the 218 Po + positive ions by electrostatic field produced by electret. It has greatly improved the sensitivity of radon measurement. The response factor of this method reaches to 4.7 cm -2 Bq -1 m 3 h -1 , 1000 times larger than that of common passive sampling method. The monitoring device and its principle are introduced. The measuring results of radon concentration and radon flux rate and quality assurance system by using this method in the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, Human Environmental Monitoring Central Station and some uranium mines are also presented. The analytical results show that the radon concentration in the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant is affected by wind direction. When wind directs toward sea, the radon concentration is high. If the wind is to the contrary, it is low. The radon concentration ratio of both is about 2

DEVELOPMENT OF SIGNAL PROCESSING TOOLS AND HARDWARE FOR PIEZOELECTRIC SENSOR DIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

OVERLY, TIMOTHY G. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; PARK, GYUHAE [Los Alamos National Laboratory; FARRAR, CHARLES R. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2007-02-09

This paper presents a piezoelectric sensor diagnostic and validation procedure that performs in -situ monitoring of the operational status of piezoelectric (PZT) sensor/actuator arrays used in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The validation of the proper function of a sensor/actuator array during operation, is a critical component to a complete and robust SHM system, especially with the large number of active sensors typically involved. The method of this technique used to obtain the health of the PZT transducers is to track their capacitive value, this value manifests in the imaginary part of measured electrical admittance. Degradation of the mechanical/electric properties of a PZT sensor/actuator as well as bonding defects between a PZT patch and a host structure can be identified with the proposed procedure. However, it was found that temperature variations and changes in sensor boundary conditions manifest themselves in similar ways in the measured electrical admittances. Therefore, they examined the effects of temperature variation and sensor boundary conditions on the sensor diagnostic process. The objective of this study is to quantify and classify several key characteristics of temperature change and to develop efficient signal processing techniques to account for those variations in the sensor diagnostis process. In addition, they developed hardware capable of making the necessary measurements to perform the sensor diagnostics and to make impedance-based SHM measurements. The paper concludes with experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Passively-Coded Embedded Wideband Microwave Sensors for Material Characterization and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Materials and structures are constantly subject to fatigue and degradation, and monitoring and maintaining civil, space, and aerospace infrastructure is an ongoing...

Genetic fuzzy system for online structural health monitoring of composite helicopter rotor blades

Science.gov (United States)

Pawar, Prashant M.; Ganguli, Ranjan

2007-07-01

A structural health monitoring (SHM) methodology is developed for composite rotor blades. An aeroelastic analysis of composite rotor blades based on the finite element method in space and time and with implanted matrix cracking and debonding/delamination damage is used to obtain measurable system parameters such as blade response, loads and strains. A rotor blade with a two-cell airfoil section and [0/±45/90]s family of laminates is used for numerical simulations. The model based measurements are contaminated with noise to simulate real data. Genetic fuzzy systems (GFS) are developed for global online damage detection using displacement and force-based measurement deviations between damaged and undamaged conditions and for local online damage detection using strains. It is observed that the success rate of the GFS depends on number of measurements, type of measurements and training and testing noise level. The GFS work quite well with noisy data and is recommended for online SHM of composite helicopter rotor blades.

Acoustic monitoring techniques for corrosion degradation in cemented waste canisters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naish, C.C.; Buttle, D.; Wallace-Sims, R.; O'Brien, T.M.

1991-01-01

This report describes work to investigate acoustic emission as a non-intrusive monitor of corrosion and degradation of cemented wasteforms where the waste is a potentially reactive metal. The acoustic data collected shows good correlation with the corrosion rate as measured by hydrogen gas evolution rates and the electrochemically measured corrosion rates post cement hardening. The technique has been shown to be sensitive in detecting stress caused by expansive corrosion product within the cemented wasteform. The attenuation of the acoustic signal by the wasteform reduced the signal received by the monitoring equipment by a factor of 10 over a distance of approximately 150-400 mm, dependent on the water level in the cement. Full size packages were successfully monitored. It is concluded that the technique offers good potential for monitoring cemented containers of the more reactive metals, for example Magnox and aluminium. (author)

Measurement and instrumentation techniques for monitoring plutonium and uranium particulates released from nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nero, A.V. Jr.

1976-08-01

The purpose of this work has been an analysis and evaluation of the state-of-the-art of measurement and instrumentation techniques for monitoring plutonium and uranium particulates released from nuclear facilities. The occurrence of plutonium and uranium in the nuclear fuel cycle, the corresponding potential for releases, associated radiological protection standards and monitoring objectives are discussed. Techniques for monitoring via decay radiation from plutonium and uranium isotopes are presented in detail, emphasizing air monitoring, but also including soil sampling and survey methods. Additionally, activation and mass measurement techniques are discussed. The availability and prevalence of these various techniques are summarized. Finally, possible improvements in monitoring capabilities due to alterations in instrumentation, data analysis, or programs are presented

Comparison of various structural damage tracking techniques with unknown excitations based on experimental data

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Hongwei; Yang, Jann N.; Zhou, Li

2009-03-01

An early detection of structural damages is critical for the decision making of repair and replacement maintenance in order to guarantee a specified structural reliability. Consequently, the structural damage detection, based on vibration data measured from the structural health monitoring (SHM) system, has received considerable attention recently. The traditional time-domain analysis techniques, such as the least square estimation (LSE) method and the extended Kalman filter (EKF) approach, require that all the external excitations (inputs) be available, which may not be the case for some SHM systems. Recently, these two approaches have been extended to cover the general case where some of the external excitations (inputs) are not measured, referred to as the LSE with unknown inputs (LSE-UI) and the EKF with unknown inputs (EKF-UI). Also, new analysis methods, referred to as the sequential non-linear least-square estimation with unknown inputs and unknown outputs (SNLSE-UI-UO) and the quadratic sum-square error with unknown inputs (QSSE-UI), have been proposed for the damage tracking of structures when some of the acceleration responses are not measured and the external excitations are not available. In this paper, these newly proposed analysis methods will be compared in terms of accuracy, convergence and efficiency, for damage identification of structures based on experimental data obtained through a series of experimental tests using a small-scale 3-story building model with white noise excitation. The capability of the LSE-UI, EKF-UI, SNLSE-UI-UO and QSSE-UI approaches in tracking the structural damages will be demonstrated.

Standard evaluation techniques for containment and surveillance radiation monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fehlau, P.E.

1982-01-01

Evaluation techniques used at Los Alamos for personnel and vehicle radiation monitors that safeguard nuclear material determine the worst-case sensitivity. An evaluation tests a monitor's lowest sensitivity regions with sources that have minimum emission rates. The result of our performance tests are analyzed as a binomial experiment. The number of trials that are required to verify the monitor's probability of detection is determined by a graph derived from the confidence limits for a binomial distribution. Our testing results are reported in a way that characterizes the monitor yet does not compromise security by revealing its routine performance for detecting process materials

Wireless Smart Sensor Network System Using SmartBridge Sensor Nodes for Structural Health Monitoring of Existing Concrete Bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Gaviña, J. R.; Uy, F. A.; Carreon, J. D.

2017-06-01

There are over 8000 bridges in the Philippines today according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Currently, visual inspection is the most common practice in monitoring the structural integrity of bridges. However, visual inspections have proven to be insufficient in determining the actual health or condition of a bridge. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) aims to give, in real-time, a diagnosis of the actual condition of the bridge. In this study, SmartBridge Sensor Nodes were installed on an existing concrete bridge with American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Type IV Girders to gather vibration of the elements of the bridge. Also, standards on the effective installation of SmartBridge Sensor Nodes, such as location and orientation was determined. Acceleration readings from the sensor were then uploaded to a server, wherein they are monitored against certain thresholds, from which, the health of the bridge will be derived. Final output will be a portal or webpage wherein the information, health, and acceleration readings of the bridge will be available for viewing. With levels of access set for different types of users, the main users will have access to download data and reports. Data transmission and webpage access are available online, making the SHM system wireless.

Big data and high-performance analytics in structural health monitoring for bridge management

Science.gov (United States)

Alampalli, Sharada; Alampalli, Sandeep; Ettouney, Mohammed

2016-04-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) can be a vital tool for effective bridge management. Combining large data sets from multiple sources to create a data-driven decision-making framework is crucial for the success of SHM. This paper presents a big data analytics framework that combines multiple data sets correlated with functional relatedness to convert data into actionable information that empowers risk-based decision-making. The integrated data environment incorporates near real-time streams of semi-structured data from remote sensors, historical visual inspection data, and observations from structural analysis models to monitor, assess, and manage risks associated with the aging bridge inventories. Accelerated processing of dataset is made possible by four technologies: cloud computing, relational database processing, support from NOSQL database, and in-memory analytics. The framework is being validated on a railroad corridor that can be subjected to multiple hazards. The framework enables to compute reliability indices for critical bridge components and individual bridge spans. In addition, framework includes a risk-based decision-making process that enumerate costs and consequences of poor bridge performance at span- and network-levels when rail networks are exposed to natural hazard events such as floods and earthquakes. Big data and high-performance analytics enable insights to assist bridge owners to address problems faster.

Flaw evolution monitoring by acoustic emission technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghia, S.; Sala, A.; Lucia, A.

1986-01-01

Flaw evolution monitoring during mechanical fatigue test has been performed by acoustic emission (AE) technique. Testing on 1:5 reduced scale vessel containing fabrication defects was carried out in the frame of an European program for pressure component residual life evaluation. Characteristics of AE signals associated to flaw evolution are discussed

Structural health monitoring of a railway truss bridge using vibration-based and ultrasonic methods

Science.gov (United States)

Kołakowski, Przemysław; Szelążek, Jacek; Sekuła, Krzysztof; Świercz, Andrzej; Mizerski, Krzysztof; Gutkiewicz, Piotr

2011-03-01

This paper presents results of in situ investigation of a railway truss bridge in the context of structural health monitoring (SHM). Three experimental methods are examined. Dynamic responses of the bridge recorded by strain gauges are confronted with alternative ways of acquisition using piezoelectric patch sensors and ultrasonic probeheads. All types of sensors produce similar output. Also the corresponding responses of the numerical model of the bridge match experimental data.

Structural health monitoring of a railway truss bridge using vibration-based and ultrasonic methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kołakowski, Przemysław; Sekuła, Krzysztof; Szelążek, Jacek; Świercz, Andrzej; Mizerski, Krzysztof; Gutkiewicz, Piotr

2011-01-01

This paper presents results of in situ investigation of a railway truss bridge in the context of structural health monitoring (SHM). Three experimental methods are examined. Dynamic responses of the bridge recorded by strain gauges are confronted with alternative ways of acquisition using piezoelectric patch sensors and ultrasonic probeheads. All types of sensors produce similar output. Also the corresponding responses of the numerical model of the bridge match experimental data

Corrosion monitoring of insulated pipe using radiographic technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azali Muhammad; Abd Aziz Mohamed; Abd Razak Hamzah; Mohd Pauzi Ismail; Abd Nassir Ibrahim; Shaharudin Sayuti; Shukri Ahmad

2001-01-01

In petrochemical and power plants, detection of corrosion and evaluation of deposit in insulated pipes using radiographic technique are considered as very challenging tasks. In general this degradation problem is attributed to water condensation. It causes the formation of deposit and scale inside the pipe, as well as between the insulation and pipe in cold temperature pipes. On the other hand, for hot temperature pipes the main problem is mainly due to corrosion/erosion attack inside the pipe. In the study of corrosion in pipelines, one of the most important parameters to be monitored and measured is he wall thickness. Currently, most pipeline corrosion monitoring and evaluation for both insulated and non-insulated pipes is performed using an ultrasonic method. The most common technique is that based on the A-Scan, using either a normal flaw detector or some form of dedicated equipment. However, with recent development of ultrasonic technology, more advance method, namely B-Scan and C-scan techniques are also available. The most notable disadvantage of using this method is that the insulation covering the pipe has to be removed before the inspection can be carried out and this is considered as not so cost effective. Due to this reason, the possibility of employing other alternative NDT method, namely radiographic testing method was studied. The technique used in this studied are known as tangential technique. In this study it was found that the result found using tangential technique is consistent with the actual thickness of the pipe. Result of this study is presented and discussed in this paper. (Author)

37Ar monitoring techniques and on-site inspection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duan Rongliang; Chen Yinliang; Li Wei; Wang Hongxia; Hao Fanhua

2001-01-01

37 Ar is separated, purified and extracted from air sample with a low temperature gas-solid chromatographic purifying method, prepared into a radioactive measurement source and its radioactivity is measured with a proportional counter. Based on the monitoring result, a judgement can be made if an nuclear explosion event has happened recently in a spectabilis area. A series of element techniques that are associated the monitoring of the trace element 37 Ar have been investigated and developed. Those techniques include leaked gas sampling, 37 Ar separation and purification, 37 Ar radioactivity measurement and the on-site inspection of 37 Ar. An advanced 37 Ar monitoring method has been developed, with which 200 liters of air can be treated in 2 hours with sensitivity of 0.01 Bq/L for 37 Ar radioactivity measurement. A practical 37 Ar On-site Inspection system has been developed. This research work may provide technical and equipment support for the verification protection, verification supervision and CTBT verification

Monitoring techniques for the manufacture of tapered optical fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mullaney, Kevin; Correia, Ricardo; Staines, Stephen E; James, Stephen W; Tatam, Ralph P

2015-10-01

The use of a range of optical techniques to monitor the process of fabricating optical fiber tapers is investigated. Thermal imaging was used to optimize the alignment of the optical system; the transmission spectrum of the fiber was monitored to confirm that the tapers had the required optical properties and the strain induced in the fiber during tapering was monitored using in-line optical fiber Bragg gratings. Tapers were fabricated with diameters down to 5 μm and with waist lengths of 20 mm using single-mode SMF-28 fiber.

On micro to mesoscale homogenization of electrical properties for damaged laminated composites (and their potential applications in electrical tomography)

KAUST Repository

Selvakumaran, Lakshmi

2015-12-01

Efficient and optimal use of composites in structures requires tools to monitor and capture the complex degradation that can occur within the laminates over time. Structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques uses sensors/actuators on the structure to progressively monitor the health of the structure with minimal manual intervention. Electrical tomography (ET) is a SHM technique that uses voltage measurements from the surface of the laminate to reconstruct a conductivity map of the structure. Since damage has been shown to modify the conductivity of the laminate, the conductivity map can provide an indirect measure of the damage within the material. Studies have shown the capability of ET to identify macroscale damage due to impact. But, little has been done to quantitatively assess damage using ET. In this work, we present a theoretical framework to link degradation mechanisms occuring at the microscale to the conductivity at the mesoscale through damage indicators. The mesoscale damage indicators are then shown to be intrinsic to the ply. Next, we use the knowledge obtained through mesoscale homogenization to study the detectability of transverse cracks. Last, we show how the mesoscale homogenization participates in regularization of the inverse problem and in the quantitative assessment of the reconstructed conductivity map. This is as such the first step towards turning ET into a viable quantitative health monitoring technique.

Interim Report on Concrete Degradation Mechanisms and Online Monitoring Techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahadevan, Sankaran [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Agarwal, Vivek [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Neal, Kyle [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Kosson, David [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Adams, Douglas [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-09-01

The existing nuclear power plants in the United States have initial operating licenses of 40 years, though most of these plants have applied for and received license extensions. As plant structures, systems, and components age, their useful life—considering both structural integrity and performance—is reduced as a result of deterioration of the materials. The research on online monitoring of concrete structures conducted under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies Pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program at Idaho National Laboratory will develop and demonstrate concrete structures health monitoring capabilities. Assessment and management of aging concrete structures in nuclear plants require a more systematic approach than simple reliance on existing code margins of safety. Therefore, structural health monitoring is required to produce actionable information regarding structural integrity that supports operational and maintenance decisions. Through this research project, several national laboratories and Vanderbilt University propose to develop a framework of research activities for the health monitoring of nuclear power plant concrete structures that includes the integration of four elements—damage modeling, monitoring, data analytics, and uncertainty quantification. This report briefly discusses available techniques and ongoing challenges in each of the four elements of the proposed framework with emphasis on degradation mechanisms and online monitoring techniques.

On-line Monitoring and Calibration Techniques in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashemian, H.M.

2011-01-01

Years of research, testing and experience in the field of sensor diagnostics have yielded many technologies which offer financial as well as operational benefits to the nuclear industry. Among these technologies are On-Line Monitoring (OLM) and On-Line Calibration of critical process monitoring sensors such as resistance temperature detectors (RTD), thermocouples, and pressure transmitters to name a few. The remote access and verification of these sensors have been shown to limit the exposure of maintenance personnel to harsh environments while at the same time effectively and efficiently diagnosing the health and performance of these sensors. In addition to sensors, technologies exist in determining not only the health of instrumentation and control (I and C) cabling that carries the signals from these sensors, but also these same cable testing techniques can be used in the remote evaluation of many end devices used in safety related operations as well. Given these advances in sensor system monitoring techniques it would seem to follow that nuclear utilities from around the world would be applying these tried and true techniques to optimize up time and to provide additional confidence in the output of processing sensors. However, although several of the world's regulatory bodies have approved of the concept of these techniques, few utilities have undertaken to fully embrace on-line monitoring and on-line calibration of nuclear process sensors. In the United States efforts are now underway, with representatives of the U.S. nuclear industry and nuclear power plant vendors to obtain generic NRC licensing for the use of OLM in nuclear power plants. If approved, generic licensing will help pave the way toward greater implementation of OLM and its related calibration techniques. (author)

Investigation progress of imaging techniques monitoring stem cell therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Jun; An Rui

2006-01-01

Recently stem cell therapy has showed potential clinical application in diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumor and trauma. Efficient techniques of non-invasively monitoring stem cell transplants will accelerate the development of stem cell therapies. This paper briefly reviews the clinical practice of stem cell, in addition, makes a review of monitoring methods including magnetic resonance and radionuclide imaging which have been used in stem cell therapy. (authors)

Vibration-based monitoring and diagnostics using compressive sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Ganesan, Vaahini; Das, Tuhin; Rahnavard, Nazanin; Kauffman, Jeffrey L.

2017-04-01

Vibration data from mechanical systems carry important information that is useful for characterization and diagnosis. Standard approaches rely on continually streaming data at a fixed sampling frequency. For applications involving continuous monitoring, such as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), such approaches result in high volume data and rely on sensors being powered for prolonged durations. Furthermore, for spatial resolution, structures are instrumented with a large array of sensors. This paper shows that both volume of data and number of sensors can be reduced significantly by applying Compressive Sensing (CS) in vibration monitoring applications. The reduction is achieved by using random sampling and capitalizing on the sparsity of vibration signals in the frequency domain. Preliminary experimental results validating CS-based frequency recovery are also provided. By exploiting the sparsity of mode shapes, CS can also enable efficient spatial reconstruction using fewer spatially distributed sensors. CS can thereby reduce the cost and power requirement of sensing as well as streamline data storage and processing in monitoring applications. In well-instrumented structures, CS can enable continued monitoring in case of sensor or computational failures.

A novel calorimetry technique for monitoring electron beam curing of polymer resins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, J.H.; Johnston, A.; Petrescue, L.; Hojjati, M.

2006-01-01

This paper describes the development of a calorimetry-based technique for monitoring of the curing of electron beam (EB) curable resins, including design of the calorimeter hardware and the development of an analytical model for calculating resin cure rates and radiation dose. Factors affecting the performance of the calorimeter were investigated. Experimental trials monitoring the curing of epoxy resin were conducted under single pass and multiple passes of EB irradiation. Results show that the developed calorimeter is a simple, inexpensive and reasonably accurate technique for monitoring the EB curing of cationic epoxies

Remote sensing techniques in monitoring areas affected by forest fire

Science.gov (United States)

Karagianni, Aikaterini Ch.; Lazaridou, Maria A.

2017-09-01

Forest fire is a part of nature playing a key role in shaping ecosystems. However, fire's environmental impacts can be significant, affecting wildlife habitat and timber, human settlements, man-made technical constructions and various networks (road, power networks) and polluting the air with emissions harmful to human health. Furthermore, fire's effect on the landscape may be long-lasting. Monitoring the development of a fire occurs as an important aspect at the management of natural hazards in general. Among the used methods for monitoring, satellite data and remote sensing techniques can be proven of particular importance. Satellite remote sensing offers a useful tool for forest fire detection, monitoring, management and damage assessment. Especially for fire scars detection and monitoring, satellite data derived from Landsat 8 can be a useful research tool. This paper includes critical considerations of the above and concerns in particular an example of the Greek area (Thasos Island). This specific area was hit by fires several times in the past and recently as well (September 2016). Landsat 8 satellite data are being used (pre and post fire imagery) and digital image processing techniques are applied (enhancement techniques, calculation of various indices) for fire scars detection. Visual interpretation of the example area affected by the fires is also being done, contributing to the overall study.

Application of data fusion techniques and technologies for wearable health monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Rachel C; Villeneuve, Emma; White, Ruth J; Sherratt, R Simon; Holderbaum, William; Harwin, William S

2017-04-01

Technological advances in sensors and communications have enabled discrete integration into everyday objects, both in the home and about the person. Information gathered by monitoring physiological, behavioural, and social aspects of our lives, can be used to achieve a positive impact on quality of life, health, and well-being. Wearable sensors are at the cusp of becoming truly pervasive, and could be woven into the clothes and accessories that we wear such that they become ubiquitous and transparent. To interpret the complex multidimensional information provided by these sensors, data fusion techniques are employed to provide a meaningful representation of the sensor outputs. This paper is intended to provide a short overview of data fusion techniques and algorithms that can be used to interpret wearable sensor data in the context of health monitoring applications. The application of these techniques are then described in the context of healthcare including activity and ambulatory monitoring, gait analysis, fall detection, and biometric monitoring. A snap-shot of current commercially available sensors is also provided, focusing on their sensing capability, and a commentary on the gaps that need to be bridged to bring research to market. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An intensity-monitoring technique for measuring ellipsometric transients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Droog, J.M.M.; Bootsma, G.A.

1979-01-01

Intensity-monitoring techniques make possible the measurement of rapid changes in the ellipsometric parameters. Methods used hitherto have been suitable for measuring slight changes only and require prior knowledge of the Δ and Ψ values for the initial surface. It is shown that larger changes can

Variations in local elastic modulus along the length of the aorta as observed by use of a scanning haptic microscope (SHM).

Science.gov (United States)

Moriwaki, Takeshi; Oie, Tomonori; Takamizawa, Keiichi; Murayama, Yoshinobu; Fukuda, Toru; Omata, Sadao; Kanda, Keiichi; Nakayama, Yasuhide

2011-12-01

Variations in microscopic elastic structures along the entire length of canine aorta were evaluated by use of a scanning haptic microscope (SHM). The total aorta from the aortic arch to the abdominal aorta was divided into 6 approximately equal segments. After embedding the aorta in agar, it was cut into horizontal circumferential segments to obtain disk-like agar portions containing ring-like samples of aorta with flat surfaces (thickness, approximately 1 mm). The elastic modulus and topography of the samples under no-load conditions were simultaneously measured along the entire thickness of the wall by SHM by using a probe with a diameter of 5 μm and a spatial resolution of 2 μm at a rate of 0.3 s/point. The elastic modulus of the wall was the highest on the side of the luminal surface and decreased gradually toward the adventitial side. This tendency was similar to that of the change in the elastin fiber content. During the evaluation of the mid-portion of each tunica media segment, the highest elastic modulus (40.8 ± 3.5 kPa) was identified at the thoracic section of the aorta that had the highest density of elastic fibers. Under no-load conditions, portions of the aorta with high elastin density have a high elastic modulus.

Distributed Piezoelectric Sensor System for Damage Identification in Structures Subjected to Temperature Changes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Vitola

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM is a very important area in a wide spectrum of fields and engineering applications. With an SHM system, it is possible to reduce the number of non-necessary inspection tasks, the associated risk and the maintenance cost in a wide range of structures during their lifetime. One of the problems in the detection and classification of damage are the constant changes in the operational and environmental conditions. Small changes of these conditions can be considered by the SHM system as damage even though the structure is healthy. Several applications for monitoring of structures have been developed and reported in the literature, and some of them include temperature compensation techniques. In real applications, however, digital processing technologies have proven their value by: (i offering a very interesting way to acquire information from the structures under test; (ii applying methodologies to provide a robust analysis; and (iii performing a damage identification with a practical useful accuracy. This work shows the implementation of an SHM system based on the use of piezoelectric (PZT sensors for inspecting a structure subjected to temperature changes. The methodology includes the use of multivariate analysis, sensor data fusion and machine learning approaches. The methodology is tested and evaluated with aluminum and composite structures that are subjected to temperature variations. Results show that damage can be detected and classified in all of the cases in spite of the temperature changes.

Distributed Piezoelectric Sensor System for Damage Identification in Structures Subjected to Temperature Changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Vitola, Jaime; Pozo, Francesc; Tibaduiza, Diego A; Anaya, Maribel

2017-05-31

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a very important area in a wide spectrum of fields and engineering applications. With an SHM system, it is possible to reduce the number of non-necessary inspection tasks, the associated risk and the maintenance cost in a wide range of structures during their lifetime. One of the problems in the detection and classification of damage are the constant changes in the operational and environmental conditions. Small changes of these conditions can be considered by the SHM system as damage even though the structure is healthy. Several applications for monitoring of structures have been developed and reported in the literature, and some of them include temperature compensation techniques. In real applications, however, digital processing technologies have proven their value by: (i) offering a very interesting way to acquire information from the structures under test; (ii) applying methodologies to provide a robust analysis; and (iii) performing a damage identification with a practical useful accuracy. This work shows the implementation of an SHM system based on the use of piezoelectric (PZT) sensors for inspecting a structure subjected to temperature changes. The methodology includes the use of multivariate analysis, sensor data fusion and machine learning approaches. The methodology is tested and evaluated with aluminum and composite structures that are subjected to temperature variations. Results show that damage can be detected and classified in all of the cases in spite of the temperature changes.

Fatigue crack detection and identification by the elastic wave propagation method

Science.gov (United States)

Stawiarski, Adam; Barski, Marek; Pająk, Piotr

2017-05-01

In this paper the elastic wave propagation phenomenon was used to detect the initiation of the fatigue damage in isotropic plate with a circular hole. The safety and reliability of structures mostly depend on the effectiveness of the monitoring methods. The Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system based on the active pitch-catch measurement technique was proposed. The piezoelectric (PZT) elements was used as an actuators and sensors in the multipoint measuring system. The comparison of the intact and defected structures has been used by damage detection algorithm. One part of the SHM system has been responsible for detection of the fatigue crack initiation. The second part observed the evolution of the damage growth and assess the size of the defect. The numerical results of the wave propagation phenomenon has been used to present the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method. The preliminary experimental analysis has been carried out during the tension test of the aluminum plate with a circular hole to determine the efficiency of the measurement technique.

Dynamic characterization of satellite assembly for responsive space applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mascarenas, David; Macknelly, David; Mullins, Josh; Wiest, Heather; Park, Gyuhae

2013-01-01

The rapid deployment of satellites for responsive space surveillance applications is hindered by the need to flight-qualify their components and the resulting mechanical assembly. Conventional methods for qualification testing of satellite components are costly and time consuming. Furthermore, full-scale vehicles must be subjected to simulated launch loads during testing, and this harsh testing environment increases the risk of damage to satellite components during qualification. This work focuses on replacing this potentially destructive testing procedure with a non-destructive structural health monitoring (SHM)-based technique while maintaining the same level of confidence in the testing procedure's ability to qualify the satellite for flight. We focus on assessing the performance of SHM techniques to replace the high-cost qualification procedure and to localize faults introduced by improper assembly. The goal of this work is to create a dual-use system that can both assist in the process of qualifying the satellite for launch, as well as provide continuous structural integrity monitoring during manufacture, transport, launch and deployment. SHM techniques were applied on a small-scale structure representative of a responsive satellite. The test structure consisted of an extruded aluminum space-frame covered with aluminum shear plates assembled using bolted joints. Multiple piezoelectric transducers were bonded to the test structure and acted as combined actuators and sensors. Piezoelectric active-sensing based techniques, including measurements of low-frequency global frequency response functions and high-frequency wave propagation techniques, were employed. Using these methods in conjunction with finite element modeling, the dynamic properties of the test structure were established and areas of potential damage could be identified and localized. A procedure for guiding the effective placement of the sensors and actuators is also outlined. (paper)

Damage tolerance modeling and validation of a wireless sensory composite panel for a structural health monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Talagani, Mohamad R.; Abdi, Frank; Saravanos, Dimitris; Chrysohoidis, Nikos; Nikbin, Kamran; Ragalini, Rose; Rodov, Irena

2013-05-01

The paper proposes the diagnostic and prognostic modeling and test validation of a Wireless Integrated Strain Monitoring and Simulation System (WISMOS). The effort verifies a hardware and web based software tool that is able to evaluate and optimize sensorized aerospace composite structures for the purpose of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The tool is an extension of an existing suite of an SHM system, based on a diagnostic-prognostic system (DPS) methodology. The goal of the extended SHM-DPS is to apply multi-scale nonlinear physics-based Progressive Failure analyses to the "as-is" structural configuration to determine residual strength, remaining service life, and future inspection intervals and maintenance procedures. The DPS solution meets the JTI Green Regional Aircraft (GRA) goals towards low weight, durable and reliable commercial aircraft. It will take advantage of the currently developed methodologies within the European Clean sky JTI project WISMOS, with the capability to transmit, store and process strain data from a network of wireless sensors (e.g. strain gages, FBGA) and utilize a DPS-based methodology, based on multi scale progressive failure analysis (MS-PFA), to determine structural health and to advice with respect to condition based inspection and maintenance. As part of the validation of the Diagnostic and prognostic system, Carbon/Epoxy ASTM coupons were fabricated and tested to extract the mechanical properties. Subsequently two composite stiffened panels were manufactured, instrumented and tested under compressive loading: 1) an undamaged stiffened buckling panel; and 2) a damaged stiffened buckling panel including an initial diamond cut. Next numerical Finite element models of the two panels were developed and analyzed under test conditions using Multi-Scale Progressive Failure Analysis (an extension of FEM) to evaluate the damage/fracture evolution process, as well as the identification of contributing failure modes. The comparisons

Monitoring of civil engineering structures using Digital Image Correlation technique

Science.gov (United States)

Malesa, M.; Szczepanek, D.; Kujawińska, M.; Świercz, A.; Kołakowski, P.

2010-06-01

The Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique enables full field, noncontact measurements of displacements and strains of a wide variety of objects. An adaptation of the DIC technique for monitoring of civil-engineering structures is presented in the paper. A general concept of the complex, automatic monitoring system, in which the DIC sensor plays an important role is described. Some new software features, which aim to facilitate outdoor measurements and speed up the correlation analysis, is also introduced. As an example of application, measurements of a railway bridge in Nieporet (Poland) are presented. The experimental results are compared with displacements of a FEM model of the bridge.

Vibration based monitoring of stay cable force using wireless piezoelectric based strain sensor nodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Khac Duy; Kim, Jeong Tae

2012-01-01

This study presents a method to monitor cable force using wireless sensor nodes and piezoelectric sensors. The following approaches are carried out to achieve the objective. Firstly, the principle of piezoelectric materials (e.g., PZT) as strain sensors is reviewed. A cable force estimation method using dynamic features of cables measured by piezoelectric materials is presented. Secondly, the design of an automated cable force monitoring system using the data acquisition sensor node Imote2/SHM DAQ is described. The sensor node is originally developed by University of Illinois at Urbana champaign and is adopted in this study to monitor strain induced voltage from PZT sensors. The advantages of the system are cheap, and eligible for wireless communication and automated operation. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed monitoring system is evaluated on a lab scaled cable

Development of infrared spectroscopy techniques for environmental monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandsten, Jonas

2000-08-01

Infrared spectroscopy techniques have long been utilized in identifying and quantifying species of interest to us. Many of the elementary molecules in the atmosphere interact with infrared radiation through their ability to absorb and emit energy in vibrational and rotational transitions. A large variety of methods for monitoring of molecules and aerosol particles by collecting samples or by using remote sensing methods are available. The objective of the work presented in this thesis was to develop infrared spectroscopic techniques to further enhance the amount of useful information obtained from gathering spectral data. A new method for visualization and quantification of gas flows based on gas-correlation techniques was developed. Real-time imaging of gas leaks and incomplete or erratic flare combustion of ethene was demonstrated. The method relies on the thermal background as a radiation source and the gas can be visualized in absorption or in emission depending on the temperature difference. Diode laser spectroscopy was utilized to monitor three molecular species at the same time and over the same path. Two near-infrared diode lasers beams were combined in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal and by difference-frequency generation a third beam was created, enabling simultaneous monitoring of oxygen, water vapor and methane. Models of aerosol particle cross sections were used to simulate the diffraction pattern of light scattered by fibers, spherical particles and real particles, such as pollen, through a new aerosol particle sensing prototype. The instrument, using a coupled cavity diode laser, has been designed with a ray-tracing program and the final prototype was employed for single aerosol particle sizing and identification.

Damage Identification of Wind Turbine Blades Using Piezoelectric Transducers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seong-Won Choi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the experimental results of active-sensing structural health monitoring (SHM techniques, which utilize piezoelectric transducers as sensors and actuators, for determining the structural integrity of wind turbine blades. Specifically, Lamb wave propagations and frequency response functions at high frequency ranges are used to estimate the condition of wind turbine blades. For experiments, a 1 m section of a CX-100 blade is used. The goal of this study is to assess and compare the performance of each method in identifying incipient damage with a consideration given to field deployability. Overall, these methods yielded a sufficient damage detection capability to warrant further investigation. This paper also summarizes the SHM results of a full-scale fatigue test of a 9 m CX-100 blade using piezoelectric active sensors. This paper outlines considerations needed to design such SHM systems, experimental procedures and results, and additional issues that can be used as guidelines for future investigations.

Remote Impedance-based Loose Bolt Inspection Using a Radio-Frequency Active Sensing Node

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Seung Hee; Yun, Chung Bang [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Inman, Daniel J. [Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia (United States)

2007-06-15

This paper introduces an active sensing node using radio-frequency (RF) telemetry. This device has brought the traditional impedance-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technique to a new paradigm. The RF active sensing node consists of a miniaturized impedance measuring device (AD5933), a microcontroller (ATmega128L), and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter (XBee). A macro-fiber composite (MFC) patch interrogates a host structure by using a self-sensing technique of the miniaturized impedance measuring device. All the process including structural interrogation, data acquisition, signal processing, and damage diagnostic is being performed at the sensor location by the microcontroller. The RF transmitter is used to communicate the current status of the host structure. The feasibility of the proposed SHM strategy is verified through an experimental study inspecting loose bolts in a bolt-jointed aluminum structure

Remote Impedance-based Loose Bolt Inspection Using a Radio-Frequency Active Sensing Node

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Seung Hee; Yun, Chung Bang; Inman, Daniel J.

2007-01-01

This paper introduces an active sensing node using radio-frequency (RF) telemetry. This device has brought the traditional impedance-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technique to a new paradigm. The RF active sensing node consists of a miniaturized impedance measuring device (AD5933), a microcontroller (ATmega128L), and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter (XBee). A macro-fiber composite (MFC) patch interrogates a host structure by using a self-sensing technique of the miniaturized impedance measuring device. All the process including structural interrogation, data acquisition, signal processing, and damage diagnostic is being performed at the sensor location by the microcontroller. The RF transmitter is used to communicate the current status of the host structure. The feasibility of the proposed SHM strategy is verified through an experimental study inspecting loose bolts in a bolt-jointed aluminum structure

Compressive sensing based wireless sensor for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Yuequan; Zou, Zilong; Li, Hui

2014-03-01

Data loss is a common problem for monitoring systems based on wireless sensors. Reliable communication protocols, which enhance communication reliability by repetitively transmitting unreceived packets, is one approach to tackle the problem of data loss. An alternative approach allows data loss to some extent and seeks to recover the lost data from an algorithmic point of view. Compressive sensing (CS) provides such a data loss recovery technique. This technique can be embedded into smart wireless sensors and effectively increases wireless communication reliability without retransmitting the data. The basic idea of CS-based approach is that, instead of transmitting the raw signal acquired by the sensor, a transformed signal that is generated by projecting the raw signal onto a random matrix, is transmitted. Some data loss may occur during the transmission of this transformed signal. However, according to the theory of CS, the raw signal can be effectively reconstructed from the received incomplete transformed signal given that the raw signal is compressible in some basis and the data loss ratio is low. This CS-based technique is implemented into the Imote2 smart sensor platform using the foundation of Illinois Structural Health Monitoring Project (ISHMP) Service Tool-suite. To overcome the constraints of limited onboard resources of wireless sensor nodes, a method called random demodulator (RD) is employed to provide memory and power efficient construction of the random sampling matrix. Adaptation of RD sampling matrix is made to accommodate data loss in wireless transmission and meet the objectives of the data recovery. The embedded program is tested in a series of sensing and communication experiments. Examples and parametric study are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the embedded program as well as to show the efficacy of CS-based data loss recovery for real wireless SHM systems.

Optical fiber sensors FBG to the structural health monitoring of bridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Navarro-Henriquez, Francisco

2014-01-01

Systems with optical fiber sensors FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) are consolidated in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of bridges, static and dynamic nondestructive testing with measurements of deformation, displacement, deflection, temperature and vibrations. A brief introduction to the technology is presented and the fundamentals of optical fiber sensors, their use and comparative advantages over its traditional counterpart. The practice of the FBG sensor application is described. The characteristics of these sensors and measurement graphics are presented. Some key aspects to consider for proper use in the field are mentioned. (author) [es

Recent advances in nuclear techniques for environmental radioactivity monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Ajay; Tripathi, R.M.

2016-01-01

The environmental radioactivity monitoring was first started in the late 1950s following the global fallout from testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. Nuclear analytical techniques are generally classified into two categories: destructive and non-destructive. Destructive techniques are carried out through several analytical methods such as α-spectrometry, liquid Scintillation counting system, solid state nuclear track detector, spectrophotometry, fluorimetry, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), chromatography techniques, electro-analytical techniques etc. However, nondestructive methods include gamma spectrometry, X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, neutron activation analysis (NAA) etc. The development of radiochemical methods and measurement techniques using alpha and gamma spectrometry have been described in brief

Pairwise graphical models for structural health monitoring with dense sensor arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadi Ghazi, Reza; Chen, Justin G.; Büyüköztürk, Oral

2017-09-01

Through advances in sensor technology and development of camera-based measurement techniques, it has become affordable to obtain high spatial resolution data from structures. Although measured datasets become more informative by increasing the number of sensors, the spatial dependencies between sensor data are increased at the same time. Therefore, appropriate data analysis techniques are needed to handle the inference problem in presence of these dependencies. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that uses graphical models (GM) for considering the spatial dependencies between sensor measurements in dense sensor networks or arrays to improve damage localization accuracy in structural health monitoring (SHM) application. Because there are always unobserved damaged states in this application, the available information is insufficient for learning the GMs. To overcome this challenge, we propose an approximated model that uses the mutual information between sensor measurements to learn the GMs. The study is backed by experimental validation of the method on two test structures. The first is a three-story two-bay steel model structure that is instrumented by MEMS accelerometers. The second experimental setup consists of a plate structure and a video camera to measure the displacement field of the plate. Our results show that considering the spatial dependencies by the proposed algorithm can significantly improve damage localization accuracy.

Optoacoustic technique for noninvasive monitoring of blood oxygenation: a feasibility study

Science.gov (United States)

Esenaliev, Rinat O.; Larina, Irina V.; Larin, Kirill V.; Deyo, Donald J.; Motamedi, Massoud; Prough, Donald S.

2002-08-01

Replacement of invasive monitoring of cerebral venous oxygenation with noninvasive techniques offers great promise in the management of life-threatening neurologic illnesses including traumatic brain injury. We developed and built an optoacoustic system to noninvasively monitor cerebral venous oxygenation; the system includes a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser and a specially designed optoacoustic probe. We tested the system in vitro in sheep blood with experimentally varied oxygenation. Our results demonstrated that (1) the amplitude and temporal profile of the optoacoustic waves increase with blood oxygenation in the range from 24% to 92%, (2) optoacoustic signals can be detected despite optical and acoustic attenuation by thick bone, and (3) the system is capable of real-time and continuous measurements. These results suggest that the optoacoustic technique is technically feasible for continuous, noninvasive monitoring of cerebral venous oxygenation.

Health Monitoring of Composite Material Structures using a Vibrometry Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, Mark J.

1997-01-01

Large composite material structures such as aircraft and Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVS) operate in severe environments comprised of vehicle dynamic loads, aerodynamic loads, engine vibration, foreign object impact, lightning strikes, corrosion, and moisture absorption. These structures are susceptible to damage such as delamination, fiber breaking/pullout, matrix cracking, and hygrothermal strain. To ensure human safety and load-bearing integrity, these structures must be inspected to detect and locate often invisible damage and faults before becoming catastrophic. Moreover, nearly all future structures will need some type of in-service inspection technique to increase their useful life and reduce maintenance and overall costs. Possible techniques for monitoring the health and indicating damage on composite structures include: c-scan, thermography, acoustic emissions using piezoceramic actuators or fiber-optic wires with gratings, laser ultrasound, shearography, holography, x-ray, and others. These techniques have limitations in detecting damage that is beneath the surface of the structure, far away from a sensor location, or during operation of the vehicle. The objective of this project is to develop a more global method for damage detection that is based on structural dynamics principles, and can inspect for damage when the structure is subjected to vibratory loads to expose faults that may not be evident by static inspection. A Transmittance Function Monitoring (TFM) method is being developed in this project for ground-based inspection and operational health monitoring of large composite structures as a RLV. A comparison of the features of existing health monitoring approaches and the proposed TFM method is given.

Monitoring techniques of the western corn rootworm are the precursor to effective IPM strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemic, Darija; Mikac, Katarina M; Kozina, Antonela; Benitez, Hugo A; McLean, Christopher M; Bažok, Renata

2016-02-01

The western corn rootworm (WCR) is economically the most important pest of maize in Croatia. To predict WCR adult population abundance and variability, traditional, genetic and morphometric monitoring of populations was conducted over time through each phase of the WCR invasion process in Croatia. Through traditional monitoring it was shown that WCR established their current population and reached economic densities after 14 years persisting in the study area. Regression-tree-based modelling showed that the best predictor of WCR adult abundance was the total amount of rainfall. Genetic monitoring indicated that genetic differentiation increased over time at the intrapopulation level, and morphometric monitoring indicated that wing morphotypes varied according to edaphic landscape changes. Traditional population metric surveys are important in WCR integrated pest management (IPM), as such surveys can be effectively used to predict population abundances. Novel-use monitoring techniques such as genetics and geometric morphometrics can be used to provide valuable information on variation within and among populations. The monitoring techniques presented herein provide sound data to assist in the understanding of both WCR ecology and population genetics and may provide more information than that currently available using traditional techniques (e.g. sticky traps), and as such these additional techniques should be written into IPM for WCR. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Application of remote debugging techniques in user-centric job monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dos Santos, T; Mättig, P; Harenberg, T; Volkmer, F; Beermann, T; Kalinin, S; Ahrens, R; Wulff, N

2012-01-01

With the Job Execution Monitor, a user-centric job monitoring software developed at the University of Wuppertal and integrated into the job brokerage systems of the WLCG, job progress and grid worker node health can be supervised in real time. Imminent error conditions can thus be detected early by the submitter and countermeasures can be taken. Grid site admins can access aggregated data of all monitored jobs to infer the site status and to detect job misbehaviour. To remove the last 'blind spot' from this monitoring, a remote debugging technique based on the GNU C compiler suite was developed and integrated into the software; its design concept and architecture is described in this paper and its application discussed.

Monitoring the Damage State of Fiber Reinforced Composites Using an FBG Network for Failure Prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esat Selim Kocaman

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A structural health monitoring (SHM study of biaxial glass fibre-reinforced epoxy matrix composites under a constant, high strain uniaxial fatigue loading is performed using fibre Bragg grating (FBG optical sensors embedded in composites at various locations to monitor the evolution of local strains, thereby understanding the damage mechanisms. Concurrently, the temperature changes of the samples during the fatigue test have also been monitored at the same locations. Close to fracture, significant variations in local temperatures and strains are observed, and it is shown that the variations in temperature and strain can be used to predict imminent fracture. It is noted that the latter information cannot be obtained using external strain gages, which underlines the importance of the tracking of local strains internally.

Structural Health Monitoring of Nuclear Spent Fuel Storage Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Lingyu

2018-04-10

Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites has gained additional importance and urgency for resolving waste-management-related technical issues. To ensure that nuclear power remains clean energy, monitoring has been identified by DOE as a high priority cross-cutting need, necessary to determine and predict the degradation state of the systems, structures, and components (SSCs) important to safety (ITS). Therefore, nondestructive structural condition monitoring becomes a need to be installed on existing or to be integrated into future storage system to quantify the state of health or to guarantee the safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during their extended life span. In this project, the lead university and the collaborating national laboratory teamed to develop a nuclear structural health monitoring (n-SHM) system based on in-situ piezoelectric sensing technologies that can monitor structural degradation and aging for nuclear spent fuel DCSS and similar structures. We also aimed to identify and quantify possible influences of nuclear spent fuel environment (temperature and radiation) to the piezoelectric sensor system and come up with adequate solutions and guidelines therefore. We have therefore developed analytical model for piezoelectric based n-SHM methods, with considerations of temperature and irradiation influence on the model of sensing and algorithms in acoustic emission (AE), guided ultrasonic waves (GUW), and electromechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS). On the other side, experimentally the temperature and irradiation influence on the piezoelectric sensors and sensing capabilities were investigated. Both short-term and long-term irradiation investigation with our collaborating national laboratory were performed. Moreover, we developed multi-modal sensing, validated in laboratory setup, and conducted the testing on the We performed multi-modal sensing development, verification and validation tests on very complex structures

Continuous monitoring of back-wall stress corrosion cracking propagation by means of potential drop techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Yasumoto; Atsumi, Takeo; Shoji, Tetsuo

2006-01-01

In order to investigate the applicability of the potential drop techniques to the continuous monitoring of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) propagation, SCC tests were performed in a sodium thiosulfate solution at room temperature using plate specimens with weldments. The SCC propagation was monitored using the techniques of direct current potential drop (DCPD), alternating current potential drop (ACPD) and modified induced current potential drop (MICPD) on the reverse side that on which the SCC existed and effectiveness of each technique for the continuous monitoring from the reverse side of SCC was compared from the viewpoints of sensitivity to the crack propagation and measurement stability. The MICPD and DCPD techniques permit continuous monitoring of the back-wall SCC propagation, which initiates from a fatigue pre-crack at a depth of about 4 mm, from which it propagates through more than 80% of the specimen thickness. The MICPD technique can decrease the effect of the current flowing in the direction of the crack length by focusing the induced current into the local area of measurement using induction coils, so that the sensitivity of the continuous monitoring of the back wall SCC propagation is higher than that of the DCPD and ACPD techniques. (author)

Long term cross asset management of critical structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wenzel, H.

2013-01-01

Conclusions: Asset management requires tools for optimisation. SHM delivers the required information. SHM helps to reduce the uncertainties. Life Cycle methodologies are mature. Life Time Extension can be justified and monitored. Life Cycle Engineering is a must nowadays

Performance Monitoring Techniques Supporting Cognitive Optical Networking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Caballero Jambrina, Antonio; Borkowski, Robert; Zibar, Darko

2013-01-01

High degree of heterogeneity of future optical networks, such as services with different quality-of-transmission requirements, modulation formats and switching techniques, will pose a challenge for the control and optimization of different parameters. Incorporation of cognitive techniques can help...... to solve this issue by realizing a network that can observe, act, learn and optimize its performance, taking into account end-to-end goals. In this letter we present the approach of cognition applied to heterogeneous optical networks developed in the framework of the EU project CHRON: Cognitive...... Heterogeneous Reconfigurable Optical Network. We focus on the approaches developed in the project for optical performance monitoring, which enable the feedback from the physical layer to the cognitive decision system by providing accurate description of the performance of the established lightpaths....

Monitoring and evaluation techniques for airborne contamination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yihua, Xia [China Inst. of Atomic Energy, Beijing (China)

1997-06-01

Monitoring and evaluation of airborne contamination are of great importance for the purpose of protection of health and safety of workers in nuclear installations. Because airborne contamination is one of the key sources to cause exposure to individuals by inhalation and digestion, and to cause diffusion of contaminants in the environment. The main objectives of monitoring and evaluation of airborne contamination are: to detect promptly a loss of control of airborne material, to help identify those individuals and predict exposure levels, to assess the intake and dose commitment to the individuals, and to provide sufficient documentation of airborne radioactivity. From the viewpoint of radiation protection, the radioactive contaminants in air can be classified into the following types: airborne aerosol, gas and noble gas, and volatile gas. In this paper, the following items are described: sampling methods and techniques, measurement and evaluation, and particle size analysis. (G.K.)

Monitoring and evaluation techniques for airborne contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia Yihua

1997-01-01

Monitoring and evaluation of airborne contamination are of great importance for the purpose of protection of health and safety of workers in nuclear installations. Because airborne contamination is one of the key sources to cause exposure to individuals by inhalation and digestion, and to cause diffusion of contaminants in the environment. The main objectives of monitoring and evaluation of airborne contamination are: to detect promptly a loss of control of airborne material, to help identify those individuals and predict exposure levels, to assess the intake and dose commitment to the individuals, and to provide sufficient documentation of airborne radioactivity. From the viewpoint of radiation protection, the radioactive contaminants in air can be classified into the following types: airborne aerosol, gas and noble gas, and volatile gas. In this paper, the following items are described: sampling methods and techniques, measurement and evaluation, and particle size analysis. (G.K.)

Finite element modeling to determine thermal residual strain distribution of bonded composite repairs for structural health monitoring design

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Wayne; Jones, Rhys; Davis, Claire; Galea, Stephen C.

2002-11-01

The economic implication of fleet upgrades, particularly in Australia with military aircraft such as the F-111 and F/A-18, has led to an increasing reliance on composite repair technology to address fatigue and corrosion-affected aircraft components. The increasing use of such repairs has led to a research effort to develop various in-situ health monitoring systems that may be incorporated with a repair. This paper reports on the development of a theoretical methodology that uses finite element analysis (FEA) to model the strain profiles which optical sensors, on or within the patch, will be exposed to under various operational scenarios, including load and disbond. Numerical techniques are then used to predict the fibre Bragg grating (FBG) reflections which occur with these strain profiles. The quality of these reflection are a key consideration when designing FBG based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. This information can be used to optimise the location of both surface mounted, and embedded sensors, and determine feasibility of SHM system design. Research was conducted into the thermal residual strain (TRS) within the patch. A finite element study revealed the presence of significant thermal residual strain gradients along the surface of the tapered region of the patch. As Bragg gratings are particularly sensitive to strain gradients, (producing a result similar to a chirped grating) the strain gradient on the composite at potential sensor locations both under load, and in the event of disbond was considered. A sufficiently high gradient leads to an altered Bragg reflection. These spurious reflections need to be considered, and theoretically obtained reflections can provide information to allow for load scenarios where the Bragg shift is not a smooth, well defined peak. It can also be shown that embedded fibres offer a higher average thermal residual strain reading, while being subject to a much lower strain gradient. This particularly favors the

Validation of New Crack Monitoring Technique for Victoria Class High-Pressure Air Bottles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

Defence Research and Development Canada Recherche et développement pour la défense Canada Validation of new crack monitoring technique for Victoria ...Validation of new crack monitoring technique for Victoria class high-pressure air bottles Ian Thompson John R. MacKay Defence Research and Development...Canada Scientific Report DRDC-RDDC-2014-R81 June 2014 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada (Department of National Defence), 2014 © Sa Majesté

Big data-enabled multiscale serviceability analysis for aging bridges☆

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Liang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This work is dedicated to constructing a multi-scale structural health monitoring system to monitor and evaluate the serviceability of bridges based on the Hadoop Ecosystem (MS-SHM-Hadoop. By taking the advantages of the fault-tolerant distributed file system called the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS and high-performance parallel data processing engine called MapReduce programming paradigm, MS-SHM-Hadoop features include high scalability and robustness in data ingestion, fusion, processing, retrieval, and analytics. MS-SHM-Hadoop is a multi-scale reliability analysis framework, which ranges from nationwide bridge-surveys, global structural integrity analysis, and structural component reliability analysis. This Nationwide bridge survey uses deep-learning techniques to evaluate the bridge serviceability according to real-time sensory data or archived bridge-related data such as traffic status, weather conditions and bridge structural configuration. The global structural integrity analysis of a targeted bridge is made by processing and analyzing the measured vibration signals incurred by external loads such as wind and traffic flow. Component-wise reliability analysis is also enabled by the deep learning technique, where the input data is derived from the measured structural load effects, hyper-spectral images, and moisture measurement of the structural components. As one of its major contributions, this work employs a Bayesian network to formulate the integral serviceability of a bridge according to its components serviceability and inter-component correlations. Here the inter-component correlations are jointly specified using a statistics-oriented machine learning method (e.g., association rule learning or structural mechanics modeling and simulation.

New Sensors and Techniques for the Structural Health Monitoring of Propulsion Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark Woike

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The ability to monitor the structural health of the rotating components, especially in the hot sections of turbine engines, is of major interest to aero community in improving engine safety and reliability. The use of instrumentation for these applications remains very challenging. It requires sensors and techniques that are highly accurate, are able to operate in a high temperature environment, and can detect minute changes and hidden flaws before catastrophic events occur. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, through the Aviation Safety Program (AVSP, has taken a lead role in the development of new sensor technologies and techniques for the in situ structural health monitoring of gas turbine engines. This paper presents a summary of key results and findings obtained from three different structural health monitoring approaches that have been investigated. This includes evaluating the performance of a novel microwave blade tip clearance sensor; a vibration based crack detection technique using an externally mounted capacitive blade tip clearance sensor; and lastly the results of using data driven anomaly detection algorithms for detecting cracks in a rotating disk.

Frequency selective surface based passive wireless sensor for structural health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Sang-Dong; Kang, Byung-Woo; Kim, Jaehwan

2013-01-01

Wireless sensor networks or ubiquitous sensor networks are a promising technology giving useful information to people. In particular, the chipless passive wireless sensor is one of the most important developments in wireless sensor technology because it is compact and does not need a battery or chip for the sensor operation. So it has many possibilities for use in various types of sensor system with economical efficiency and robustness in harsh environmental conditions. This sensor uses an electromagnetic resonance frequency or phase angle shift associated with a geometrical change of the sensor tag or an impedance change of the sensor. In this paper, a chipless passive wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) sensor is made using a frequency selective surface (FSS). The cross type FSS is introduced, and its SHM principle is explained. The electromagnetic characteristics of the FSS are simulated in terms of transmission and reflection coefficients using simulation software, and an experimental verification is conducted. The electromagnetic characteristic change of the FSS in the presence of mechanical strain or a structural crack is investigated by means of simulation and experiment. Since large-area structures can be covered by deploying FSS, it is possible to detect the location of any cracks. (paper)

Review on pressure sensors for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Sikarwar, Samiksha; Satyendra; Singh, Shakti; Yadav, Bal Chandra

2017-12-01

This paper reports the state of art in a variety of pressure and the detailed study of various matrix based pressure sensors. The performances of the bridges, buildings, etc. are threatened by earthquakes, material degradations, and other environmental effects. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is crucial to protect the people and also for assets planning. This study is a contribution in developing the knowledge about self-sensing smart materials and structures for the construction industry. It deals with the study of self-sensing as well as mechanical and electrical properties of different matrices based on pressure sensors. The relationships among the compression, tensile strain, and crack length with electrical resistance change are also reviewed.

Techniques for Primary-to-Secondary Leak Monitoring in PWR Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohn, Wook; Chi, Jun Hwa; Kang, Duck Won; Tae, Jeong Woo

2006-01-01

Historically, corrosion and mechanical damage have made steam generator tubes in PWR plants see various types of degradation from both the primary and secondary sides of the tubes. Since the tube degradation can lead to through-wall failure, the plant personnel should make efforts to prevent the failure. One of such preventive efforts is to monitor primary-to-secondary leakage (PSL) that usually precedes the tube rupture. Thus the objective of PSL monitoring is to make operators to determine when to shutdown the plant in order to minimize the likelihood of propagation of leaks to tube rupture under normal and faulted conditions This paper addresses briefly the status of techniques for PSL monitoring used in PWR plants

ASSESSMENT OF CABLE AGING USING CONDITION MONITORING TECHNIQUES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

GROVE, E.; LOFARO, R.; SOO, P.; VILLARAN, M.; HSU, F.

2000-01-01

Electric cables in nuclear power plants suffer degradation during service as a result of the thermal and radiation environments in which they are installed. Instrumentation and control cables are one type of cable that provide an important role in reactor safety. Should the polymeric cable insulation material become embrittled and cracked during service, or during a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) and when steam and high radiation conditions are anticipated, failure could occur and prevent the cables from fulfilling their intended safety function(s). A research program is being conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory to evaluate condition monitoring (CM) techniques for estimating the amount of cable degradation experienced during in-plant service. The objectives of this program are to assess the ability of the cables to perform under a simulated LOCA without losing their ability to function effectively, and to identify CM techniques which may be used to determine the effective lifetime of cables. The cable insulation materials tested include ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Accelerated aging (thermal and radiation) to the equivalent of 40 years of service was performed, followed by exposure to simulated LOCA conditions. The effectiveness of chemical, electrical, and mechanical condition monitoring techniques are being evaluated. Results indicate that several of these methods can detect changes in material parameters with increasing age. However, each has its limitations, and a combination of methods may provide an effective means for trending cable degradation in order to assess the remaining life of cables

Detection of Atmospheric Explosions at IMS Monitoring Stations using Infrasound Techniques

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Christie, Douglas R; Kennett, Brian L; Tarlowski, Chris

2006-01-01

Work is continuing on the development of infrasound techniques that can be used to improve detection, location and discrimination capability for atmospheric nuclear explosions at International Monitoring System (IMS...

Low dose monitoring by double implant technique in IC fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, I.B.; Weidemann, J.

1995-01-01

The utilisation of low dose implant monitoring (using Boron) in a manufacturing line has been discussed. The utilisation of phosphorus ions as the second implant dose were also studied as comparison. The technique relies on the fact that the sheet resistant of doped layer will increase significantly when damaged by relatively low implant dose. The technique is very sensitive and applicable for adjusting the channel dose so that an accurate threshold voltage in MOS device could be achieved

Electrical Resistance and Acoustic Emission Measurements for Monitoring the Structural Behavior of CFRP Laminate

KAUST Repository

Zhou, Wei

2015-07-12

Electrical resistance and acoustic emission (AE) measurement are jointly used to monitor the degradation in CFRP laminates subjected to tensile tests. The objective of this thesis is to perform a synergertic analysis between a passive and an active methods to better access how these perform when used for Structural Health Moni- toring (SHM). Laminates with three different stacking sequences: [0]4, [02/902]s and [+45/ − 45]2s are subjected to monotonic and cyclic tensile tests. In each laminate, we carefully investigate which mechanisms of degradation can or cannot be detect- ed by each technique. It is shown that most often, that acoustic emission signals start before any electrical detection is possible. This is is explained based on the redundance of the electrical network that makes it less sensitive to localized damages. Based on in depth study of AE signals clustering, a new classification is proposed to recognize the different damage mechanims based on only two parameters: the RA (rise time/amplitude) and the duration of the signal.

Comparison and analysis of two modern methods in the structural health monitoring techniques in aerospace

Science.gov (United States)

Riahi, Mohammad; Ahmadi, Alireza

2016-04-01

Role of air transport in the development and expansion of world trade leading to economic growth of different countries is undeniable. Continuing the world's trade sustainability without expansion of aerospace is next to impossible. Based on enormous expenses for design, manufacturing and maintenance of different aerospace structures, correct and timely diagnosis of defects in those structures to provide for maximum safety has the highest importance. Amid all this, manufacturers of commercial and even military aircrafts are after production of less expensive, lighter, higher fuel economy and nonetheless, higher safety. As such, two events has prevailed in the aerospace industries: (1) Utilization of composites for the fuselage as well as other airplane parts, (2) using modern manufacturing methods. Arrival of two these points have created the need for upgrading of the present systems as well as innovating newer methods in diagnosing and detection of defects in aerospace structures. Despite applicability of nondestructive testing (NDT) methods in aerospace for decades, due to some limitations in the defect detection's certainty, particularly for composite material and complex geometries, shadow of doubt has fallen on maintaining complete confidence in using NDT. These days, two principal approach are ahead to tackle the above mentioned problems. First, approach for the short range is the creative and combinational mean to increase the reliability of NDT and for the long run, innovation of new methods on the basis of structural health monitoring (SHM) is in order. This has led to new philosophy in the maintenance area and in some instances; field of design has also been affected by it.

Pipe Wall Thickness Monitoring Using Dry-Coupled Ultrasonic Waveguide Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheong, Yong Moo; Kim, Ha Nam; Kim, Hong Pyo

2012-01-01

In order to monitor a corrosion or FAC (Flow Accelerated Corrosion) in a pipe, there is a need to measure pipe wall thickness at high temperature. Ultrasonic thickness gauging is the most commonly used non-destructive testing technique for wall thickness measurement. However, current commonly available ultrasonic transducers cannot withstand high temperatures, such as above 200 .deg. C. It is therefore necessary to carry out manual measurements during plant shutdowns. The current method thus reveals several disadvantages: inspection have to be performed during shutdowns with the possible consequences of prolonging down time and increasing production losses, insulation has to be removed and replaced for each manual measurement, and scaffolding has to be installed to inaccessible areas, resulting in considerable cost for interventions. It has been suggested that a structural health monitoring approach with permanently installed ultrasonic thickness gauges could have substantial benefits over current practices. The main reasons why conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers cannot be used at high temperatures are that the piezo-ceramic becomes depolarized at temperature above the Curie temperature and because differential thermal expansion of the substrate, couplant, and piezoelectric materials cause failure. In this paper, a shear horizontal waveguide technique for wall thickness monitoring at high temperature is investigated. Two different designs for contact to strip waveguide are shown and the quality of output signal is compared and reviewed. After a success of acquiring high quality ultrasonic signal, experiment on the wall thickness monitoring at high temperature is planned

A bio-inspired asynchronous skin system for crack detection applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharp, Nathan; Kuntz, Alan; Brubaker, Cole; Amos, Stephanie; Gao, Wei; Gupta, Gautum; Mohite, Aditya; Farrar, Charles; Mascareñas, David

2014-01-01

In many applications of structural health monitoring (SHM) it is imperative or advantageous to have large sensor arrays in order to properly sense the state of health of the structure. Typically these sensor networks are implemented by placing a large number of sensors over a structure and running individual cables from each sensor back to a central measurement station. Data is then collected from each sensor on the network at a constant sampling rate regardless of the current timescales at which events are acting on the structure. These conventional SHM sensor networks have a number of shortfalls. They tend to have a large number of cables that can represent a single point of failure for each sensor as well as add significant weight and installation costs. The constant sampling rate associated with each sensor very quickly leads to large amounts of data that must be analyzed, stored, and possibly transmitted to a remote user. This leads to increased demands on power consumption, bandwidth, and size. It also taxes our current techniques for managing large amounts of data. For the last decade the goal of the SHM community has been to endow structures with the functionality of a biological nervous system. Despite this goal the community has predominantly ignored the biological nervous system as inspiration for building structural nervous systems, choosing instead to focus on experimental mechanics and simulation techniques. In this work we explore the use of a novel, bio-inspired, SHM skin. This skin makes use of distributed computing and asynchronous communication techniques to alleviate the scale of the data management challenge as well as reduce power. The system also periodically sends a ‘heat beat’ signal to provide state-of-health updates. This conductive skin was implemented using conductive ink resistors as well as with graphene-oxide capacitors. (paper)

Monitoring of Lactic Fermentation Process by Ultrasonic Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Alouache, B.; Touat, A.; Boutkedjirt, T.; Bennamane, A.

The non-destructive control by using ultrasound techniques has become of great importance in food industry. In this work, Ultrasound has been used for quality control and monitoring the fermentation stages of yogurt, which is a highly consumed product. On the contrary to the physico-chemical methods, where the measurement instruments are directly introduced in the sample, ultrasound techniques have the advantage of being non-destructive and contactless, thus reducing the risk of contamination. Results obtained in this study by using ultrasound seem to be in good agreement with those obtained by physico-chemical methods such as acidity measurement by using a PH-meter instrument. This lets us to conclude that ultrasound method may be an alternative for a healthy control of yoghurt fermentation process.

Fuel rod puncturing and fission gas monitoring system examination techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Woong Sup

1999-02-01

Fission gas products accumulated in irradiated fuel rod is 1-2 cm 3 in CANDU and 40-50 cm 3 in PWR fuel rod. Fuel rod puncturing and fission gas monitoring system can be used for both CANDU and PWR fuel rod. This system comprises puncturing device located at in cell part and monitoring device located at out cell part. The system has computerized 9 modes and can calculate both void volume and mass volume only single puncturing. This report describes techniques and procedure for operating fuel rod puncturing and gas monitoring system which can be play an important role in successful operation of the devices. Results obtained from the analysis can give more influence over design for fuel rods. (Author). 6 refs., 9 figs

Crack Propagation Analysis Using Acoustic Emission Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Horn, Walter; Steck, James

2013-01-01

Aerospace systems are expected to remain in service well beyond their designed life. Consequently, maintenance is an important issue. A novel method of implementing artificial neural networks and acoustic emission sensors to form a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for aerospace inspection routines was the focus of this research. Simple structural elements, consisting of flat aluminum plates of AL 2024-T3, were subjected to increasing static tensile loading. As the loading increased, designed cracks extended in length, releasing strain waves in the process. Strain wave signals, measured by acoustic emission sensors, were further analyzed in post-processing by artificial neural networks (ANN). Several experiments were performed to determine the severity and location of the crack extensions in the structure. ANNs were trained on a portion of the data acquired by the sensors and the ANNs were then validated with the remaining data. The combination of a system of acoustic emission sensors, and an ANN could determine crack extension accurately. The difference between predicted and actual crack extensions was determined to be between 0.004 in. and 0.015 in. with 95% confidence. These ANNs, coupled with acoustic emission sensors, showed promise for the creation of an SHM system for aerospace systems. PMID:24023536

Monitoring volcanic thermal activity by Robust Satellite Techniques: achievements and perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Tramutoli, V.; Marchese, F.; Mazzeo, G.; Pergola, N.

2009-12-01

Satellite data have been increasingly used in last decades to study active volcanoes and to monitor thermal activity variation in space-time domain. Several satellite techniques and original methods have been developed and tested, devoted to hotspot detection and thermal monitoring. Among them, a multi-temporal approach, named RST (Robust Satellite Techniques), has shown high performances in detecting hotspots, with a low false positive rate under different observational and atmospheric conditions, providing also a potential toward low-level thermal anomalies which may announce incoming eruptions. As the RST scheme is intrinsically exportable on different geographic areas and satellite sensors, it has been applied and tested on a number of volcanoes and in different environmental conditions. This work presents major results and outcomes of studies carried out on Etna and Stromboli (Italy), Merapi (Java Indonesia), Asamayama (Japan), Jebel Al Tair (Yemen) by using different satellite systems and sensors (e.g. NOAA-AVHRR, EOS-MODIS, MSG-SEVIRI). Performances on hotspot detection, early warning and real-time monitoring, together with capabilities in possible thermal precursor identification, will be presented and discussed.

Novel Damage Detection Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring Using a Hybrid Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dengjiang Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study presents a technique for detecting fatigue cracks based on a hybrid sensor monitoring system consisting of a combination of intelligent coating monitoring (ICM and piezoelectric transducer (PZT sensors. An experimental procedure using this hybrid sensor system was designed to monitor the cracks generated by fatigue testing in plate structures. A probability of detection (POD model that quantifies the reliability of damage detection for a specific sensor or the nondestructive testing (NDT method was used to evaluate the weight factor for the ICM and PZT sensors. To estimate the uncertainty of model parameters in this study, the Bayesian method was employed. Realistic data from fatigue testing was used to validate the overall method, and the results show that the novel damage detection technique using a hybrid sensor can quantify fatigue cracks more accurately than results obtained by conventional sensor methods.

Synergistic combination of systems for structural health monitoring and earthquake early warning for structural health prognosis and diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Stephen; Beck, James L.

2012-04-01

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are currently operating nationwide in Japan and are in beta-testing in California. Such a system detects an earthquake initiation using online signals from a seismic sensor network and broadcasts a warning of the predicted location and magnitude a few seconds to a minute or so before an earthquake hits a site. Such a system can be used synergistically with installed structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to enhance pre-event prognosis and post-event diagnosis of structural health. For pre-event prognosis, the EEW system information can be used to make probabilistic predictions of the anticipated damage to a structure using seismic loss estimation methodologies from performance-based earthquake engineering. These predictions can support decision-making regarding the activation of appropriate mitigation systems, such as stopping traffic from entering a bridge that has a predicted high probability of damage. Since the time between warning and arrival of the strong shaking is very short, probabilistic predictions must be rapidly calculated and the decision making automated for the mitigation actions. For post-event diagnosis, the SHM sensor data can be used in Bayesian updating of the probabilistic damage predictions with the EEW predictions as a prior. Appropriate Bayesian methods for SHM have been published. In this paper, we use pre-trained surrogate models (or emulators) based on machine learning methods to make fast damage and loss predictions that are then used in a cost-benefit decision framework for activation of a mitigation measure. A simple illustrative example of an infrastructure application is presented.

Self-sensing of carbon nanofiber concrete columns subjected to reversed cyclic loading

Science.gov (United States)

Howser, R. N.; Dhonde, H. B.; Mo, Y. L.

2011-08-01

Civil infrastructures are generally a country's most expensive investment, and concrete is the most widely used material in the construction of civil infrastructures. During a structure's service life, concrete ages and deteriorates, leading to substantial loss of structural integrity and potentially resulting in catastrophic disasters such as highway bridge collapses. A solution for preventing such occurrences is the use of structural health monitoring (SHM) technology for concrete structures containing carbon nanofibers (CNF). CNF concrete has many structural benefits. CNF restricts the growth of nanocracks in addition to yielding higher strength and ductility. Additionally, test results indicate a relationship between electrical resistance and concrete strain, which can be well utilized for SHM. A series of reinforced concrete (RC) columns were built and tested under a reversed cyclic loading using CNF as a SHM device. The SHM device detected and assessed the level of damage in the RC columns, providing a real-time health monitoring system for the structure's overall integrity.

Spectral element modelling of wave propagation in isotropic and anisotropic shell-structures including different types of damage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schulte, R T; Fritzen, C-P; Moll, J

2010-01-01

During the last decades, guided waves have shown great potential for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) applications. These waves can be excited and sensed by piezoelectric elements that can be permanently attached onto a structure offering online monitoring capability. However, the setup of wave based SHM systems for complex structures may be very difficult and time consuming. For that reason there is a growing demand for efficient simulation tools providing the opportunity to design wave based SHM systems in a virtual environment. As usually high frequency waves are used, the associated short wavelength leads to the necessity of a very dense mesh, which makes conventional finite elements not well suited for this purpose. Therefore in this contribution a flat shell spectral element approach is presented. By including electromechanical coupling a SHM system can be simulated entirely from actuator voltage to sensor voltage. Besides a comparison to measured data for anisotropic materials including delamination, a numerical example of a more complex, stiffened shell structure with debonding is presented.

Self-sensing of carbon nanofiber concrete columns subjected to reversed cyclic loading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howser, R N; Dhonde, H B; Mo, Y L

2011-01-01

Civil infrastructures are generally a country's most expensive investment, and concrete is the most widely used material in the construction of civil infrastructures. During a structure's service life, concrete ages and deteriorates, leading to substantial loss of structural integrity and potentially resulting in catastrophic disasters such as highway bridge collapses. A solution for preventing such occurrences is the use of structural health monitoring (SHM) technology for concrete structures containing carbon nanofibers (CNF). CNF concrete has many structural benefits. CNF restricts the growth of nanocracks in addition to yielding higher strength and ductility. Additionally, test results indicate a relationship between electrical resistance and concrete strain, which can be well utilized for SHM. A series of reinforced concrete (RC) columns were built and tested under a reversed cyclic loading using CNF as a SHM device. The SHM device detected and assessed the level of damage in the RC columns, providing a real-time health monitoring system for the structure's overall integrity

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT Hydroponic Monitoring System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helmy Helmy

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Plant cultivation using hydroponic is very popular today. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT hydroponic system is commonly used by people. It can be applied indoor or outdoor. Plants in this systemneed nutrient solution to grow well. pH, TDS and temperature of the nutrient solution must be check to ensure plant gets sufficient nutrients. This research aims todevelop monitoring system of NFT hydroponic. Farmer will be able to monitor pH, TDS and temperature online. It will ease farmer to decide which plant is suitable to be cultivated and time to boost growth.Delay of the system will be measured to know system performance. Result shows that pH is directly proportional with TDS. Temperature value has no correlation with pH and TDS. System has highest delay during daylight and afternoon but it will decline in the night and morning. Average of delay in the morning is 11 s, 28.5 s in daylight, 32 s in the afternoon and 17.5 s in the night.

Novel all-optical dispersion monitoring technique for ultra-high-speed WDM networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cui Sheng; Li Li; Liu Deming, E-mail: cuisheng@mail.hust.edu.cn [Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, No.1037, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074 (China)

2011-02-01

This paper represents a novel all-optical dispersion monitoring technique based on fiber parametric amplifiers (FOPAs). The monitoring method is truly bit-rate transparent because it is enabled by the exponential power transfer function (PTF) provided by the FOPA gain. The slope of the PTF is increased from 2 to 3 by choosing appropriate phase-matching conditions. Due to the steeper PTF the monitoring sensitivity is greatly improved compared to the other PTF-based methods proposed before. The PTF obtained by numerical simulations agrees very well with the experimental results. Numerical simulations are then used to demonstrate that our method can be used to monitor signals in various modulation formats.

Acoustic impedance rhinometry (AIR): a technique for monitoring dynamic changes in nasal congestion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patuzzi, Robert; Cook, Alison

2014-01-01

We describe a simple and inexpensive method for monitoring nasal air flow resistance using measurement of the small-signal acoustic input impedance of the nasal passage, similar to the audiological measurement of ear drum compliance with acoustic tympanometry. The method requires generation of a fixed sinusoidal volume–velocity stimulus using ear-bud speakers, and an electret microphone to monitor the resultant pressure fluctuation in the nasal passage. Both are coupled to the nose via high impedance silastic tubing and a small plastic nose insert. The acoustic impedance is monitored in real-time using a laptop soundcard and custom-written software developed in LabView 7.0 (National Instruments). The compact, lightweight equipment and fast time resolution lends the technique to research into the small and rapid reflexive changes in nasal resistance caused by environmental and local neurological influences. The acoustic impedance rhinometry technique has the potential to be developed for use in a clinical setting, where the need exists for a simple and inexpensive objective nasal resistance measurement technique. (paper)

A Wireless Fatigue Monitoring System Utilizing a Bio-Inspired Tree Ring Data Tracking Technique

OpenAIRE

Bai, Shi; Li, Xuan; Xie, Zhaohui; Zhou, Zhi; Ou, Jinping

2014-01-01

Fatigue, a hot scientific research topic for centuries, can trigger sudden failure of critical structures such as aircraft and railway systems, resulting in enormous casualties as well as economic losses. The fatigue life of certain structures is intrinsically random and few monitoring techniques are capable of tracking the full life-cycle fatigue damage. In this paper, a novel in-situ wireless real-time fatigue monitoring system using a bio-inspired tree ring data tracking technique is propo...

Development of techniques for monitoring corrosion in Magnox plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haines, N.F.; Whittle, I.; Wilson, R.

1974-01-01

Steel oxidation in Magnox reactors has led to the development of techniques for measuring oxide thicknesses. An account is given of the methods used by the CEGB for making non-destructive measurements of oxide coatings both in the laboratory and remotely in the core regions of reactors. Specific techniques include β back-scattering which is compared with conventional microscope or weight gain methods for particular applications. The laser corrosion monitor and an ultrasonic method are described and compared as in-reactor techniques. An eddy current method is being developed for reactor regions where access is extremely restricted. A discussion considers the effect of oxide form upon the response of the instruments. The necessary further work is described which establishes the usefulness of each instrument over a range of oxide thicknesses and steels of different physical properties. (author)

Random demodulation for structural health monitoring excited by the five-cycle sine burst

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Xing

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has been paid more and more attention. The five-cycle sine burst is widely used as the exciting signal in SHM and the sensors’ responded signals are analyzed to research the damage. In the sensor network, there will be many sensors which mean many responded signals will be sampled, restored and sometimes transferred. In the traditional way which is known as Nyquist sampling theorem, the sampling rate must be more than twice the highest rate of the original signal. In this way, the amount of data will be huge. As the result, the costs will be very expensive and the equipment may be huge and heavy, which is especially unaccepted in the aircraft. It is necessary to do some research to compress the signal. The Compressing Sensing (CS theory provides new methods to compress the signals. The Random Demodulation (RD is a specific method which can accomplish the physical implementation of CS theory. In this paper, according to the structure of RD, we chose some chips to build a RD system. And we did some experiments to verify the method through the system. We chose the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP as the construct algorithm to recover the signal.

Critical and subcritical damage monitoring of bonded composite repairs using innovative non-destructive techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Grammatikos, S. A.; Kordatos, E. Z.; Aggelis, D. G.; Matikas, T. E.; Paipetis, A. S.

2012-04-01

Infrared Thermography (IrT) has been shown to be capable of detecting and monitoring service induced damage of repair composite structures. Full-field imaging, along with portability are the primary benefits of the thermographic technique. On-line lock-in thermography has been reported to successfully monitor damage propagation or/and stress concentration in composite coupons, as mechanical stresses in structures induce heat concentration phenomena around flaws. During mechanical fatigue, cyclic loading plays the role of the heating source and this allows for critical and subcritical damage identification and monitoring using thermography. The Electrical Potential Change Technique (EPCT) is a new method for damage identification and monitoring during loading. The measurement of electrical potential changes at specific points of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs) under load are reported to enable the monitoring of strain or/and damage accumulation. Along with the aforementioned techniques Finally, Acoustic Emission (AE) method is well known to provide information about the location and type of damage. Damage accumulation due to cyclic loading imposes differentiation of certain parameters of AE like duration and energy. Within the scope of this study, infrared thermography is employed along with AE and EPCT methods in order to assess the integrity of bonded repair patches on composite substrates and to monitor critical and subcritical damage induced by the mechanical loading. The combined methodologies were effective in identifying damage initiation and propagation of bonded composite repairs.

Volcanic Monitoring Techniques Applied to Controlled Fragmentation Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Kueppers, U.; Alatorre-Ibarguengoitia, M. A.; Hort, M. K.; Kremers, S.; Meier, K.; Scharff, L.; Scheu, B.; Taddeucci, J.; Dingwell, D. B.

2010-12-01

ejection and that the evaluated results were mostly in good agreement. We will discuss the technical difficulties encountered, e.g. the temporal synchronisation of the different techniques. Furthermore, the internal data management of the DR prevents at present a continuous recording and only a limited number of snapshots is stored. Nonetheless, in at least three experiments the onset of particle ejection was measured by all different techniques and gave coherent results of up to 100 m/s. This is a very encouraging result and of paramount importance as it proofs the applicability of these independent methods to volcano monitoring. Each method by itself may enhance our understanding of the pressurisation state of a volcano, an essential factor in ballistic hazard evaluation and eruption energy estimation. Technical adaptations of the DR will overcome the encountered problems and allow a more refined data analysis during the next campaign.

Mechanical seal monitoring technique by acoustic emission measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kataoka, Tadashi; Fujita, Yoshihiro; Kawaguchi, Kazunori; Saito, Kazuhiro; Yokota, Setsuo; Hisada, Yasuhide; Masahiro, Komatsu

1987-09-20

This report describes a technique for mechanical seal monitoring through acoustic emission (AE) measurement. The equipment consists of an AE sensor, preamplifier, multiplexer, main amplifier, effective value transducer and computer system. When the sealed liquid pressure undergoes a large change, the seal surface configuration is monitored and evaluated accurately through AE measurement. If the mechanical seal surface id damaged or worn, the AE level is kept high or continues to fluctuate largely for a rather long period. When leak occurs, the AE value shows great fluctuations either at extremely low levels or at high levels. The former trend is considered to result from a decrease in solid contact due to an excessive amount of liquid film being formed at the seal surface during leak. In the latter case, the leak is attributed to severe damage to the seal surface. (18 figs, 1 tab, 5 photos, 3 refs)

WS-010: EPR-First Responders: Personal monitoring techniques and protective clothing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

The purpose of this working session is that the participant can apply their knowledge in relation to the personal monitoring techniques and protective clothing. They have to know the use of the radiation measurement instrumentation available in each region

Wireless sensor placement for structural monitoring using information-fusing firefly algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Guang-Dong; Yi, Ting-Hua; Xie, Mei-Xi; Li, Hong-Nan

2017-10-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are promising technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications for their low cost and high efficiency. The limited wireless sensors and restricted power resources in WSNs highlight the significance of optimal wireless sensor placement (OWSP) during designing SHM systems to enable the most useful information to be captured and to achieve the longest network lifetime. This paper presents a holistic approach, including an optimization criterion and a solution algorithm, for optimally deploying self-organizing multi-hop WSNs on large-scale structures. The combination of information effectiveness represented by the modal independence and the network performance specified by the network connectivity and network lifetime is first formulated to evaluate the performance of wireless sensor configurations. Then, an information-fusing firefly algorithm (IFFA) is developed to solve the OWSP problem. The step sizes drawn from a Lévy distribution are adopted to drive fireflies toward brighter individuals. Following the movement with Lévy flights, information about the contributions of wireless sensors to the objective function as carried by the fireflies is fused and applied to move inferior wireless sensors to better locations. The reliability of the proposed approach is verified via a numerical example on a long-span suspension bridge. The results demonstrate that the evaluation criterion provides a good performance metric of wireless sensor configurations, and the IFFA outperforms the simple discrete firefly algorithm.

The integration of novel diagnostics techniques for multi-scale monitoring of large civil infrastructures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Soldovieri

2008-11-01

Full Text Available In the recent years, structural monitoring of large infrastructures (buildings, dams, bridges or more generally man-made structures has raised an increased attention due to the growing interest about safety and security issues and risk assessment through early detection. In this framework, aim of the paper is to introduce a new integrated approach which combines two sensing techniques acting on different spatial and temporal scales. The first one is a distributed optic fiber sensor based on the Brillouin scattering phenomenon, which allows a spatially and temporally continuous monitoring of the structure with a "low" spatial resolution (meter. The second technique is based on the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR, which can provide detailed images of the inner status of the structure (with a spatial resolution less then tens centimetres, but does not allow a temporal continuous monitoring. The paper describes the features of these two techniques and provides experimental results concerning preliminary test cases.

Monitoring of Corrientes facility using nuclear registers techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yesquen L, S.

1994-01-01

Knowledge of fluid movement in the reservoir is a key to enhanced production management. Direct measurement of water and oil saturation variations with time, is the most reliable method in determining the depletion profile of reservoirs with ample range of permeabilities. This paper illustrates how nuclear logging techniques aids proper management in strong water drive reservoir named Cetico Corrientes Field, in east Peru. Important production increase was obtained with work over and drilling program, based on reservoir monitoring using thermal decay tool. (author). 7 figs

Techniques of monitoring blood glucose during pregnancy for women with pre-existing diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Moy, Foong Ming; Ray, Amita; Buckley, Brian S; West, Helen M

2017-06-11

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is recommended as a key component of the management plan for diabetes therapy during pregnancy. No existing systematic reviews consider the benefits/effectiveness of various techniques of blood glucose monitoring on maternal and infant outcomes among pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes. The effectiveness of the various monitoring techniques is unclear. To compare techniques of blood glucose monitoring and their impact on maternal and infant outcomes among pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes. We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (30 November 2016), searched reference lists of retrieved studies and contacted trial authors. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs comparing techniques of blood glucose monitoring including SMBG, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) or clinic monitoring among pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes mellitus (type 1 or type 2). Trials investigating timing and frequency of monitoring were also included. RCTs using a cluster-randomised design were eligible for inclusion but none were identified. Two review authors independently assessed study eligibility, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Data were checked for accuracy. The quality of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. This review update includes at total of 10 trials (538) women (468 women with type 1 diabetes and 70 women with type 2 diabetes). The trials took place in Europe and the USA. Five of the 10 included studies were at moderate risk of bias, four studies were at low to moderate risk of bias, and one study was at high risk of bias. The trials are too small to show differences in important outcomes such as macrosomia, preterm birth, miscarriage or death of baby. Almost all the reported GRADE outcomes were assessed as being very low-quality evidence. This was due to design limitations in the studies, wide confidence intervals, small

Swept frequency acoustic interferometry technique for chemical weapons verification and monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sinha, D.N.; Anthony, B.W.; Lizon, D.C.

1995-03-01

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques are important for rapid on-site verification and monitoring of chemical munitions, such as artillery shells and bulk containers. Present NDE techniques provide only limited characterizations of such munitions. This paper describes the development of a novel noninvasive technique, swept-frequency acoustic interferometry (SFAI), that significantly enhances the capability of munitions characterizations. The SFAI technique allows very accurate and simultaneous determination of sound velocity and attenuation of chemical agents over a large frequency range inside artillery shells, in addition to determining agent density. The frequency-dependent sound velocity and attenuation can, in principle, provide molecular relaxation properties of the chemical agent. The same instrument also enables a direct fill-level measurement in bulk containers. Industrial and other applications of this general-purpose technique are also discussed.

Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure using optical fiber sensing technology: a comprehensive review.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, X W; Su, Y H; Han, J P

2014-01-01

In the last two decades, a significant number of innovative sensing systems based on optical fiber sensors have been exploited in the engineering community due to their inherent distinctive advantages such as small size, light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and corrosion, and embedding capability. A lot of optical fiber sensor-based monitoring systems have been developed for continuous measurement and real-time assessment of diversified engineering structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels, pipelines, wind turbines, railway infrastructure, and geotechnical structures. The purpose of this review article is devoted to presenting a summary of the basic principles of various optical fiber sensors, innovation in sensing and computational methodologies, development of novel optical fiber sensors, and the practical application status of the optical fiber sensing technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructure.

Comparison Of Several Metrology Techniques For In-line Process Monitoring Of Porous SiOCH

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fossati, D.; Imbert, G.; Beitia, C.; Yu, L.; Plantier, L.; Volpi, F.; Royer, J.-C.

2007-01-01

As porous SiOCH is a widely used inter-metal dielectric for 65 nm nodes and below, the control of its elaboration process by in-line monitoring is necessary to guarantee successful integration of the material. In this paper, the sensitivities of several non-destructive metrology techniques towards the film elaboration process drifts are investigated. It appears that the two steps of the process should be monitored separately and that corona charge method is the most sensitive technique of the review for this application

Development of a Wireless Unified-Maintenance System for the Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Heo, Gwanghee; Son, Byungjik; Kim, Chunggil; Jeon, Seunggon; Jeon, Joonryong

2018-05-09

A disaster preventive structural health monitoring (SHM) system needs to be equipped with the following abilities: First, it should be able to simultaneously measure diverse types of data (e.g., displacement, velocity, acceleration, strain, load, temperature, humidity, etc.) for accurate diagnosis. Second, it also requires standalone power supply to guarantee its immediate response in crisis (e.g., sudden interruption of normal AC power in disaster situations). Furthermore, it should be capable of prompt processing and realtime wireless communication of a huge amount of data. Therefore, this study is aimed at developing a wireless unified-maintenance system (WUMS) that would satisfy all the requirements for a disaster preventive SHM system of civil structures. The WUMS is designed to measure diverse types of structural responses in realtime based on wireless communication, allowing users to selectively use WiFi RF band and finally working in standalone mode by means of the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. To verify its performance, the following tests were performed: (i) A test to see how far communication is possible in open field, (ii) a test on a shaker to see how accurate responses are, (iii) a modal test on a bridge to see how exactly characteristic real-time dynamic responses are of structures. The test results proved that the WUMS was able to secure stable communication far up to nearly 800 m away by acquiring wireless responses in realtime accurately, when compared to the displacement and acceleration responses which were acquired through wired communication. The analysis of dynamic characteristics also showed that the wireless acceleration responses in real-time represented satisfactorily the dynamic properties of structures. Therefore, the WUMS is proved valid as a SHM, and its outstanding performance is also proven.

Yonjung High-Speed Railway Bridge Assessment Using Output-Only Structural Health Monitoring Measurements under Train Speed Changing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mosbeh R. Kaloop

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Yonjung Bridge is a hybrid multispan bridge that is designed to transport high-speed trains (HEMU-430X with maximum operating speed of 430 km/h. The bridge consists of simply supported prestressed concrete (PSC and composite steel girders to carry double railway tracks. The structural health monitoring system (SHM is designed and installed to investigate and assess the performance of the bridge in terms of acceleration and deformation measurements under different speeds of the passing train. The SHM measurements are investigated in both time and frequency domains; in addition, several identification models are examined to assess the performance of the bridge. The drawn conclusions show that the maximum deflection and acceleration of the bridge are within the design limits that are specified by the Korean and European codes. The parameters evaluation of the model identification depicts the quasistatic and dynamic deformations of PSC and steel girders to be different and less correlated when higher speeds of the passing trains are considered. Finally, the variation of the frequency content of the dynamic deformations of the girders is negligible when high speeds are considered.

Prediction of UV spectra and UV-radiation damage in actual plasma etching processes using on-wafer monitoring technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jinnai, Butsurin; Fukuda, Seiichi; Ohtake, Hiroto; Samukawa, Seiji

2010-01-01

UV radiation during plasma processing affects the surface of materials. Nevertheless, the interaction of UV photons with surface is not clearly understood because of the difficulty in monitoring photons during plasma processing. For this purpose, we have previously proposed an on-wafer monitoring technique for UV photons. For this study, using the combination of this on-wafer monitoring technique and a neural network, we established a relationship between the data obtained from the on-wafer monitoring technique and UV spectra. Also, we obtained absolute intensities of UV radiation by calibrating arbitrary units of UV intensity with a 126 nm excimer lamp. As a result, UV spectra and their absolute intensities could be predicted with the on-wafer monitoring. Furthermore, we developed a prediction system with the on-wafer monitoring technique to simulate UV-radiation damage in dielectric films during plasma etching. UV-induced damage in SiOC films was predicted in this study. Our prediction results of damage in SiOC films shows that UV spectra and their absolute intensities are the key cause of damage in SiOC films. In addition, UV-radiation damage in SiOC films strongly depends on the geometry of the etching structure. The on-wafer monitoring technique should be useful in understanding the interaction of UV radiation with surface and in optimizing plasma processing by controlling UV radiation.

Research on monitoring and management information integration technique in waste treatment and management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong Jinsong; Yu Ren; Mao Wei

2013-01-01

The integration of the waste treatment process and the device status monitoring information and management information is a key problem required to be solved in the information integration of the waste treatment and management. The main content of the monitoring and management information integration is discussed in the paper. The data exchange techniques, which are based on the OPC, FTP and data push technology, are applied to the different monitoring system respectively, according to their development platform, to realize the integration of the waste treatment process and device status monitoring information and management information in a waste treatment center. (authors)

A noninvasive multimodal technique to monitor brain tumor vascularization

Science.gov (United States)

Saxena, Vishal; Gonzalez-Gomez, Ignacio; Laug, Walter E.

2007-09-01

Determination of tumor oxygenation at the microvascular level will provide important insight into tumor growth, angiogenesis, necrosis and therapeutic response and will facilitate to develop protocols for studying tumor behavior. The non-ionizing near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique has the potential to differentiate lesion and hemoglobin dynamics; however, it has a limited spatial resolution. On the other hand, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has achieved high spatial resolution with excellent tissue discrimination but is more susceptible to limited ability to monitor the hemoglobin dynamics. In the present work, the vascular status and the pathophysiological changes that occur during tumor vascularization are studied in an orthotopic brain tumor model. A noninvasive multimodal approach based on the NIRS technique, namely steady state diffuse optical spectroscopy (SSDOS) along with MRI, is applied for monitoring the concentrations of oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin and water within tumor region. The concentrations of oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin and water within tumor vasculature are extracted at 15 discrete wavelengths in a spectral window of 675-780 nm. We found a direct correlation between tumor size, intratumoral microvessel density and tumor oxygenation. The relative decrease in tumor oxygenation with growth indicates that though blood vessels infiltrate and proliferate the tumor region, a hypoxic trend is clearly present.

A noninvasive multimodal technique to monitor brain tumor vascularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saxena, Vishal; Gonzalez-Gomez, Ignacio; Laug, Walter E

2007-01-01

Determination of tumor oxygenation at the microvascular level will provide important insight into tumor growth, angiogenesis, necrosis and therapeutic response and will facilitate to develop protocols for studying tumor behavior. The non-ionizing near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique has the potential to differentiate lesion and hemoglobin dynamics; however, it has a limited spatial resolution. On the other hand, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has achieved high spatial resolution with excellent tissue discrimination but is more susceptible to limited ability to monitor the hemoglobin dynamics. In the present work, the vascular status and the pathophysiological changes that occur during tumor vascularization are studied in an orthotopic brain tumor model. A noninvasive multimodal approach based on the NIRS technique, namely steady state diffuse optical spectroscopy (SSDOS) along with MRI, is applied for monitoring the concentrations of oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin and water within tumor region. The concentrations of oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin and water within tumor vasculature are extracted at 15 discrete wavelengths in a spectral window of 675-780 nm. We found a direct correlation between tumor size, intratumoral microvessel density and tumor oxygenation. The relative decrease in tumor oxygenation with growth indicates that though blood vessels infiltrate and proliferate the tumor region, a hypoxic trend is clearly present

Plants status monitor: Modelling techniques and inherent benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breeding, R.J.; Lainoff, S.M.; Rees, D.C.; Prather, W.A.; Fickiessen, K.O.E.

1987-01-01

The Plant Status Monitor (PSM) is designed to provide plant personnel with information on the operational status of the plant and compliance with the plant technical specifications. The PSM software evaluates system models using a 'distributed processing' technique in which detailed models of individual systems are processed rather than by evaluating a single, plant-level model. In addition, development of the system models for PSM provides inherent benefits to the plant by forcing detailed reviews of the technical specifications, system design and operating procedures, and plant documentation. (orig.)

In-field implementation of impedance-based structural health monitoring for insulated rail joints

Science.gov (United States)

Albakri, Mohammad I.; Malladi, V. V. N. Sriram; Woolard, Americo G.; Tarazaga, Pablo A.

2017-04-01

Track defects are a major safety concern for the railroad industry. Among different track components, insulated rail joints, which are widely used for signaling purposes, are considered a weak link in the railroad track. Several joint-related defects have been identified by the railroad community, including rail wear, torque loss, and joint bar breakage. Current track inspection techniques rely on manual and visual inspection or on specially equipped testing carts, which are costly, timeconsuming, traffic disturbing, and prone to human error. To overcome the aforementioned limitations, the feasibility of utilizing impedance-based structural health monitoring for insulated rail joints is investigated in this work. For this purpose, an insulated joint, provided by Koppers Inc., is instrumented with piezoelectric transducers and assembled with 136 AREA rail plugs. The instrumented joint is then installed and tested at the Facility for Accelerated Service Testing, Transportation Technology Center Inc. The effects of environmental and operating conditions on the measured impedance signatures are investigated through a set of experiments conducted at different temperatures and loading conditions. The capabilities of impedance-based SHM to detect several joint-related damage types are also studied by introducing reversible mechanical defects to different joint components.

Cure Monitoring Techniques for Adhesive Bonding Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

1980-11-01

l TABLE OF CONTIW Section Pase I INTRODUCTION 1. Program Overviev 1 2. Smary 2 II MONITORING SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS 3 1. Development of a...encountered in the electronics/signal/ computer interfaces, although solvable, have slowed progress and starting a bondline monitoring program to do a...AIWAL/MLBC) as Project Engineer. The program manager is Mr. C. A. May. The principal investigator is Dr. A. Wereta, Jr., assisted by Mass. W. G. Caple, J

An integrated sensing technique for smart monitoring of water pipelines

Science.gov (United States)

Bernini, Romeo; Catapano, Ilaria; Soldovieri, Francesco; Crocco, Lorenzo

2014-05-01

Lowering the rate of water leakage from the network of underground pipes is one of the requirements that "smart" cities have to comply with. In fact, losses in the water supply infrastructure have a remarkable social, environmental and economic impact, which obviously conflicts with the expected efficiency and sustainability of a smart city. As a consequence, there is a huge interest in developing prevention policies based on state-of-art sensing techniques and possibly their integration, as well as in envisaging ad hoc technical solutions designed for the application at hand. As a contribution to this framework, in this communication we present an approach aimed to pursue a thorough non-invasive monitoring of water pipelines, with both high spatial and temporal resolution. This goal is necessary to guarantee that maintenance operations are performed timely, so to reduce the extent of the leakage and its possible side effects, and precisely, so to minimize the cost and the discomfort resulting from operating on the water supply network. The proposed approach integrates two sensing techniques that work at different spatial and temporal scales. The first one is meant to provide a continuous (in both space and time) monitoring of the pipeline and exploits a distributed optic fiber sensor based on the Brillouin scattering phenomenon. This technique provides the "low" spatial resolution information (at meter scale) needed to reveal the presence of a leak and call for interventions [1]. The second technique is based on the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and is meant to provide detailed images of area where the damage has been detected. GPR systems equipped with suitable data processing strategies [2,3] are indeed capable of providing images of the shallow underground, where the pipes would be buried, characterized by a spatial resolution in the order of a few centimeters. This capability is crucial to address in the most proper way maintenance operations, by for

Water sampling techniques for continuous monitoring of pesticides in water

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šunjka Dragana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Good ecological and chemical status of water represents the most important aim of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, which implies respect of water quality standards at the level of entire river basin (2008/105/EC and 2013/39/EC. This especially refers to the control of pesticide residues in surface waters. In order to achieve the set goals, a continuous monitoring program that should provide a comprehensive and interrelated overview of water status should be implemented. However, it demands the use of appropriate analysis techniques. Until now, the procedure for sampling and quantification of residual pesticide quantities in aquatic environment was based on the use of traditional sampling techniques that imply periodical collecting of individual samples. However, this type of sampling provides only a snapshot of the situation in regard to the presence of pollutants in water. As an alternative, the technique of passive sampling of pollutants in water, including pesticides has been introduced. Different samplers are available for pesticide sampling in surface water, depending on compounds. The technique itself is based on keeping a device in water over a longer period of time which varies from several days to several weeks, depending on the kind of compound. In this manner, the average concentrations of pollutants dissolved in water during a time period (time-weighted average concentrations, TWA are obtained, which enables monitoring of trends in areal and seasonal variations. The use of these techniques also leads to an increase in sensitivity of analytical methods, considering that pre-concentration of analytes takes place within the sorption medium. However, the use of these techniques for determination of pesticide concentrations in real water environments requires calibration studies for the estimation of sampling rates (Rs. Rs is a volume of water per time, calculated as the product of overall mass transfer coefficient and area of

On switching response surface models, with applications to the structural health monitoring of bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Worden, K.; Cross, E. J.

2018-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is the engineering discipline of diagnosing damage and estimating safe remaining life for structures and systems. Often, SHM is accomplished by detecting changes in measured quantities from the structure of interest; if there are no competing explanations for the changes, one infers that they are the result of damage. If the structure of interest is subject to changes in its environmental or operational conditions, one must understand the effects of these changes in order that one does not falsely claim that damage has occurred when changes in measured quantities are observed. This problem - the problem of confounding influences - is particularly pressing for civil infrastructure where the given structure is usually openly exposed to the weather and may be subject to strongly varying operational conditions. One approach to understanding confounding influences is to construct a data-based response surface model that can represent measurement variations as a function of environmental and operational variables. The models can then be used to remove environmental and operational variations so that change detection algorithms signal the occurrence of damage alone. The current paper is concerned with such response surface models in the case of SHM of bridges. In particular, classes of response surface models that can switch discontinuously between regimes are discussed. Recently, it has been shown that Gaussian Process (GP) models are an effective means of developing response surface or surrogate models. However, the GP approach runs into difficulties if changes in the latent variables cause the structure of interest to abruptly switch between regimes. A good example here, which is well known in the SHM literature, is given by the Z24 Bridge in Switzerland which completely changed its dynamical behaviour when it cooled below zero degrees Celsius as the asphalt of the deck stiffened. The solution proposed here is to adopt the recently

Vibro-acoustic condition monitoring of Internal Combustion Engines: A critical review of existing techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Delvecchio, S.; Bonfiglio, P.; Pompoli, F.

2018-01-01

This paper deals with the state-of-the-art strategies and techniques based on vibro-acoustic signals that can monitor and diagnose malfunctions in Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) under both test bench and vehicle operating conditions. Over recent years, several authors have summarized what is known in critical reviews mainly focused on reciprocating machines in general or on specific signal processing techniques: no attempts to deal with IC engine condition monitoring have been made. This paper first gives a brief summary of the generation of sound and vibration in ICEs in order to place further discussion on fault vibro-acoustic diagnosis in context. An overview of the monitoring and diagnostic techniques described in literature using both vibration and acoustic signals is also provided. Different faulty conditions are described which affect combustion, mechanics and the aerodynamics of ICEs. The importance of measuring acoustic signals, as opposed to vibration signals, is due since the former seem to be more suitable for implementation on on-board monitoring systems in view of their non-intrusive behaviour, capability in simultaneously capturing signatures from several mechanical components and because of the possibility of detecting faults affecting airborne transmission paths. In view of the recent needs of the industry to (-) optimize component structural durability adopting long-life cycles, (-) verify the engine final status at the end of the assembly line and (-) reduce the maintenance costs monitoring the ICE life during vehicle operations, monitoring and diagnosing system requests are continuously growing up. The present review can be considered a useful guideline for test engineers in understanding which types of fault can be diagnosed by using vibro-acoustic signals in sufficient time in both test bench and operating conditions and which transducer and signal processing technique (of which the essential background theory is here reported) could be

Tritium monitoring techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeVore, J.R.; Buckner, M.A.

1996-05-01

As part of their operations, the U.S. Navy is required to store or maintain operational nuclear weapons on ships and at shore facilities. Since these weapons contain tritium, there are safety implications relevant to the exposure of personnel to tritium. This is particularly important for shipboard operations since these types of environments can make low-level tritium detection difficult. Some of these ships have closed systems, which can result in exposure to tritium at levels that are below normally acceptable levels but could still cause radiation doses that are higher than necessary or could hamper ship operations. This report describes the state of the art in commercial tritium detection and monitoring and recommends approaches for low-level tritium monitoring in these environments

Experience of molecular monitoring techniques in upstream oil and gas operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell, Anthony F.; Anfindsen, Hilde; Liengen, Turid; Molid, Solfrid [Statoil ASA (Denmark)

2011-07-01

For a numbers of years, molecular monitoring tools have been used in upstream oil and gas operations but the results have given only limited added value. This paper discusses the various techniques available for upstream molecular monitoring which provides scope for identification of microbial influenced problems. The methodology, which consists of analyzing solid samples using traditional as well as molecular techniques, is detailed. Two cases were studied with the objective of determining if microbial contamination was contributing to the problem. The first case was a study of amorphous deposits in production wells and mainly iron sulphide was found. The second study was of amorphous deposits in water injection wells and the analysis showed typical components of drilling and completion fluids with some organic material. Two more cases, corrosion of tubing in a water injection well and flow line corrosion, are discussed and the results are given. From the study, it can be concluded that failure can be due to several factors, chemical and biological.

Project GRETE: evaluation of non destructive testing techniques for monitoring of material degradation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coste, J.F.

2001-01-01

The material aging of major critical components of nuclear installations due to in-service conditions may lead to a degradation of their mechanical characteristics. The early detection of material changes and their monitoring using innovative non destructive testing techniques would allow to plan actions in order to prevent the apparition of macroscopic damage (e.g. cracks). One major difficulty in using these particular techniques is to correlate the changes in the measured NDT signals to the microstructural changes in the material due to aging. This problem may be solved through careful microstructural examinations of the material damage. The objective of the project GRETE is to illustrate the potential use of NDT techniques for the monitoring of material degradation through two examples: neutron irradiation of reactor pressure vessel steel and thermal fatigue of piping. The purpose of this paper is to present the project and its programme of work. (author)

Impedance-based damage assessment using piezoelectric sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Rim, Mi-Sun; Yoo, Seung-Jae; Lee, In; Song, Jae-Hoon; Yang, Jae-Won

2011-04-01

Recently structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are being focused because they make it possible to assess the health of structures at real-time in many application fields such as aircraft, aerospace, civil and so on. Piezoelectric materials are widely used for sensors of SHM system to monitor damage of critical parts such as bolted joints. Bolted joints could be loosened by vibration, thermal cycling, shock, corrosion, and they cause serious mechanical failures. In this paper, impedance-based method using piezoelectric sensors was applied for real-time SHM. A steel beam specimen fastened by bolts was tested, and polymer type piezoelectric materials, PVDFs were used for sensors to monitor the condition of bolted joint connections. When structure has some damage, for example loose bolts, the impedance of PVDF sensors showed different tendency with normal structure which has no loose bolts. In the case of loose bolts, impedance values are decreased and admittance values are increased.

Comparison of process estimation techniques for on-line calibration monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shumaker, B. D.; Hashemian, H. M.; Morton, G. W.

2006-01-01

The goal of on-line calibration monitoring is to reduce the number of unnecessary calibrations performed each refueling cycle on pressure, level, and flow transmitters in nuclear power plants. The effort requires a baseline for determining calibration drift and thereby the need for a calibration. There are two ways to establish the baseline: averaging and modeling. Averaging techniques have proven to be highly successful in the applications when there are a large number of redundant transmitters; but, for systems with little or no redundancy, averaging methods are not always reliable. That is, for non-redundant transmitters, more sophisticated process estimation techniques are needed to augment or replace the averaging techniques. This paper explores three well-known process estimation techniques; namely Independent Component Analysis (ICA), Auto-Associative Neural Networks (AANN), and Auto-Associative Kernel Regression (AAKR). Using experience and data from an operating nuclear plant, the paper will present an evaluation of the effectiveness of these methods in detecting transmitter drift in actual plant conditions. (authors)

Non-contact remote monitoring technique of reactor structural elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, Hideo; Mori, Kazuo; Ozawa, Norimitsu; Akedo, Jun; Seimiya, Koichi; Chikamori, Kunio; Umezawa, Akihiko

1998-01-01

This study aims at development of technique to measure and estimate, at high precision, fine machining scratch, crack and so on formed on grinding tubular elements, especially inner faces of small diameter tube at an optical mirror grade, and at establishment of estimation technique on reliability and soundness of the tubular elements. In this fiscal year, on optical type non-contact monitoring technique, investigations on optical illumination condition and holding accuracy required for the non-contact holding mechanism were conducted by using a sensor head trially produced in 1995 fiscal year. And, in order to realize a high precision non-contact holding in a tube of optical detection system to upgrade static holding properties (holding stiffness, holding attitude, and so on) of pneumatic type inner tube non-contact holding mechanism, realization of increase in supplying air pressure and experiments using a holding mechanism to increase pore numbers of air injecting nozzle were conducted. And, on materials surface technique, effect of difference in pre-machining method (cutting and bright annealing) at inner face of small diameter stainless tube on their smooth machining property was examined. (G.K.)

Improving Perioperative Outcomes Through Minimally Invasive and Non-invasive Hemodynamic Monitoring Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takashige Yamada

2018-05-01

Full Text Available An increasing number of patients require precise intraoperative hemodynamic monitoring due to aging and comorbidities. To prevent undesirable outcomes from intraoperative hypotension or hypoperfusion, appropriate threshold settings are required. These setting can vary widely from patient to patient. Goal-directed therapy techniques allow for flow monitoring as the standard for perioperative fluid management. Based on the concept of personalized medicine, individual assessment and treatment are more advantageous than conventional or uniform interventions. The recent development of minimally and noninvasive monitoring devices make it possible to apply detailed control, tracking, and observation of broad patient populations, all while reducing adverse complications. In this manuscript, we review the monitoring features of each device, together with possible advantages and disadvantages of their use in optimizing patient hemodynamic management.

Alternating current techniques for corrosion monitoring in water reactor systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isaacs, H.S.; Weeks, J.R.

1977-01-01

Corrosion in both nuclear and fossil fueled steam generators is generally a consequence of the presence of aggressive impurities introduced into the coolant system through condenser leakage. The impurities concentrate in regions of the steam generator protected from coolant flow, in crevices or under deposited corrosion products and adjacent to heat transfer surfaces. These three factors, the aggressive impurity, crevice type areas and heat transfer surfaces appear to be the requirements for the onset of rapid corrosion. Under conditions where coolant impurities do not concentrate the corrosion rates are low, easily measured and can be accounted for by allowances in the design of the steam generator. Rapid corrosion conditions cannot be designed for and must be suppressed. The condition of the surfaces when rapid corrosion develops must be markedly different from those during normal operation and these changes should be observable using electrochemical techniques. This background formed the basis of a design of a corrosion monitoring device, work on which was initiated at BNL. The basic principles of the technique are described. The object of the work is to develop a corrosion monitoring device which can be operated with PWR steam generator secondary coolant feed water

Utilisation of acoustic emission technique to monitor lubrication condition in a low speed bearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nordin Jamaludin; Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor

2003-01-01

Monitoring of lubrication condition in rolling element bearings through the use of vibration analysis is an established technique. However, this success has not mirrored at low rotational speeds. At low speeds the energy generated from the poor lubricated bearing lubrication might not show as an obvious change in signature and thus become undetectable using conventional vibration measuring equipment. This paper presents an investigation into the applicability of acoustic emission technique and analysis for detecting poorly lubricated bearing rotating at a speed of 1.12 rpm. Investigations were centered on a test-rig designed to simulate the real bearing used in the field. The variation of lubricant amount in the low-speed bearing was successfully monitored using a new developed method known as pulse injection technique (PIT). The PIT technique was based on acoustic emission method. The technique involved transmitting a Dirac pulse to the test bearing via a transmitting acoustic emission sensor while the bearing was in operation. Analysing the captured acoustic emission signatures using established statistical method could differentiate between properly and poorly lubricated bearing. (Author)

Review of techniques for on-line monitoring and inspection of laser welding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao, J; Yan, Y

2005-01-01

Laser welding has been applied to various industries, in particular, automotive, aerospace and microelectronics. However, traditional off-line testing of the welds is costly and inefficient. Therefore, on-line inspection systems with low cost have being developed to increase productivity and maintain high welding quality. This paper presents the applications of acoustic, optical, visual, thermal and ultrasonic techniques and latest development of laser welding monitoring. The advantages and limitations of these techniques are also discussed

Instrumentation techniques for monitoring shock and detonation waves

Science.gov (United States)

Dick, R. D.; Parrish, R. L.

1985-09-01

CORRTEX (Continuous Reflectometry for Radius Versus Time Experiments), SLIFER (Shorted Location Indication by Frequency of Electrical Resonance), and pin probes were used to monitor several conditions of blasting such as the detonation velocity of the explosive, the functioning of the stemming column confining the explosive, and rock mass motion. CORRTEX is a passive device that employs time-domain reflectometry to interrogate the two-way transit time of a coaxial cable. SLIFER is an active device that monitors the changing frequency resulting from a change in length of a coaxial cable forming an element of an oscillator circuit. Pin probes in this application consist of RG-174 coaxial cables, each with an open circuit, placed at several known locations within the material. Each cable is connected to a pulse-forming network and a voltage source. When the cables are shorted by the advancing wave, time-distance data are produced from which a velocity can be computed. Each technique, installation of the gauge, examples of the signals, and interpretation of the records are described.

Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) monitoring techniques in the Sacramento--San Joaquin Estuary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevens, D.E.

1977-01-01

Various methods have been used to monitor the striped bass population in the Sacramento--San Joaquin Estuary. Sampling in the spring with towed plankton nets has provided an adequate description of spawning time and area, but this sampling has not adequately measured egg standing crops and larva and post-larva mortality rates. Tow-net sampling effectively measures the abundance of young in midsummer. A midwater-trawl survey is satisfactory for measuring the abundance of young in the fall but not in the winter. Techniques have not been fully evaluated for monitoring one-year-old bass. Catch-per-unit-effort data from sportfishing party boats were useful for monitoring two-year-olds, until a change in angling regulations increased recruitment age. The Petersen method and indices developed from party-boat catches are the best methods for monitoring bass that are three years old and older. Long-term trends in catch can be monitored through postcard surveys and party-boat catches

Monitoring by Control Technique - Compliant (Low/No VOC/HAP) Inks and Coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Stationary source emissions monitoring is required to demonstrate that a source is meeting the requirements in Federal or state rules. This page is about Compliant (Low/No VOC/HAP) Inks and Coatings control techniques used to reduce pollutant emissions.

Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructure Using Optical Fiber Sensing Technology: A Comprehensive Review

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, X. W.; Su, Y. H.; Han, J. P.

2014-01-01

In the last two decades, a significant number of innovative sensing systems based on optical fiber sensors have been exploited in the engineering community due to their inherent distinctive advantages such as small size, light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and corrosion, and embedding capability. A lot of optical fiber sensor-based monitoring systems have been developed for continuous measurement and real-time assessment of diversified engineering structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels, pipelines, wind turbines, railway infrastructure, and geotechnical structures. The purpose of this review article is devoted to presenting a summary of the basic principles of various optical fiber sensors, innovation in sensing and computational methodologies, development of novel optical fiber sensors, and the practical application status of the optical fiber sensing technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructure. PMID:25133250

Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructure Using Optical Fiber Sensing Technology: A Comprehensive Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. W. Ye

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the last two decades, a significant number of innovative sensing systems based on optical fiber sensors have been exploited in the engineering community due to their inherent distinctive advantages such as small size, light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI and corrosion, and embedding capability. A lot of optical fiber sensor-based monitoring systems have been developed for continuous measurement and real-time assessment of diversified engineering structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels, pipelines, wind turbines, railway infrastructure, and geotechnical structures. The purpose of this review article is devoted to presenting a summary of the basic principles of various optical fiber sensors, innovation in sensing and computational methodologies, development of novel optical fiber sensors, and the practical application status of the optical fiber sensing technology in structural health monitoring (SHM of civil infrastructure.

Free Flap Reconstruction Monitoring Techniques and Frequency in the Era of Restricted Resident Work Hours.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Urjeet A; Hernandez, David; Shnayder, Yelizaveta; Wax, Mark K; Hanasono, Matthew M; Hornig, Joshua; Ghanem, Tamer A; Old, Matthew; Jackson, Ryan S; Ledgerwood, Levi G; Pipkorn, Patrik; Lin, Lawrence; Ong, Adrian; Greene, Joshua B; Bekeny, James; Yiu, Yin; Noureldine, Salem; Li, David X; Fontanarosa, Joel; Greenbaum, Evan; Richmon, Jeremy D

2017-08-01

Free flap reconstruction of the head and neck is routinely performed with success rates around 94% to 99% at most institutions. Despite experience and meticulous technique, there is a small but recognized risk of partial or total flap loss in the postoperative setting. Historically, most microvascular surgeons involve resident house staff in flap monitoring protocols, and programs relied heavily on in-house resident physicians to assure timely intervention for compromised flaps. In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education mandated the reduction in the hours a resident could work within a given week. At many institutions this new era of restricted resident duty hours reshaped the protocols used for flap monitoring to adapt to a system with reduced resident labor. To characterize various techniques and frequencies of free flap monitoring by nurses and resident physicians; and to determine if adapted resident monitoring frequency is associated with flap compromise and outcome. This multi-institutional retrospective review included patients undergoing free flap reconstruction to the head and/or neck between January 2005 and January 2015. Consecutive patients were included from different academic institutions or tertiary referral centers to reflect evolving practices. Technique, frequency, and personnel for flap monitoring; flap complications; and flap success. Overall, 1085 patients (343 women [32%] and 742 men [78%]) from 9 institutions were included. Most patients were placed in the intensive care unit postoperatively (n = 790 [73%]), while the remaining were placed in intermediate care (n = 201 [19%]) or in the surgical ward (n = 94 [7%]). Nurses monitored flaps every hour (q1h) for all patients. Frequency of resident monitoring varied, with 635 patients monitored every 4 hours (q4h), 146 monitored every 8 hours (q8h), and 304 monitored every 12 hours (q12h). Monitoring techniques included physical examination (n = 949 [87

Comparison of Calibration Techniques for Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Malings, C.; Ramachandran, S.; Tanzer, R.; Kumar, S. P. N.; Hauryliuk, A.; Zimmerman, N.; Presto, A. A.

2017-12-01

Assessing the intra-city spatial distribution and temporal variability of air quality can be facilitated by a dense network of monitoring stations. However, the cost of implementing such a network can be prohibitive if high-quality but high-cost monitoring systems are used. To this end, the Real-time Affordable Multi-Pollutant (RAMP) sensor package has been developed at the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies of Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with SenSevere LLC. This self-contained unit can measure up to five gases out of CO, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, VOCs, and CO2, along with temperature and relative humidity. Responses of individual gas sensors can vary greatly even when exposed to the same ambient conditions. Those of VOC sensors in particular were observed to vary by a factor-of-8, which suggests that each sensor requires its own calibration model. To this end, we apply and compare two different calibration methods to data collected by RAMP sensors collocated with a reference monitor station. The first method, random forest (RF) modeling, is a rule-based method which maps sensor responses to pollutant concentrations by implementing a trained sequence of decision rules. RF modeling has previously been used for other RAMP gas sensors by the group, and has produced precise calibrated measurements. However, RF models can only predict pollutant concentrations within the range observed in the training data collected during the collocation period. The second method, Gaussian process (GP) modeling, is a probabilistic Bayesian technique whereby broad prior estimates of pollutant concentrations are updated using sensor responses to generate more refined posterior predictions, as well as allowing predictions beyond the range of the training data. The accuracy and precision of these techniques are assessed and compared on VOC data collected during the summer of 2017 in Pittsburgh, PA. By combining pollutant data gathered by each RAMP sensor and applying

Development of sensing techniques for weaponry health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Eugene; Ruffin, Paul B.; Walker, Ebonee A.; Brantley, Christina L.

2013-04-01

Due to the costliness of destructive evaluation methods for assessing the aging and shelf-life of missile and rocket components, the identification of nondestructive evaluation methods has become increasingly important to the Army. Verifying that there is a sufficient concentration of stabilizer is a dependable indicator that the missile's double-based solid propellant is viable. The research outlined in this paper summarizes the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center's (AMRDEC's) comparative use of nanoporous membranes, carbon nanotubes, and optical spectroscopic configured sensing techniques for detecting degradation in rocket motor propellant. The first sensing technique utilizes a gas collecting chamber consisting of nanoporous structures that trap the smaller solid propellant particles for measurement by a gas analysis device. In collaboration with NASA-Ames, sensing methods are developed that utilize functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes as the key sensing element. The optical spectroscopic sensing method is based on a unique light collecting optical fiber system designed to detect the concentration of the propellant stabilizer. Experimental setups, laboratory results, and overall effectiveness of each technique are presented in this paper. Expectations are for the three sensing mechanisms to provide nondestructive evaluation methods that will offer cost-savings and improved weaponry health monitoring.

Cutaneous respirometry as novel technique to monitor mitochondrial function: A feasibility study in healthy volunteers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.A. Harms (Floor A.); R.J. Stolker (Robert); E.G. Mik (Egbert)

2016-01-01

textabstractBackground: The protoporphyrin IX-triplet state lifetime technique (PpIX-TSLT) is proposed as a potential clinical non-invasive tool to monitor mitochondrial function. This technique has been evaluated in several animal studies. Mitochondrial respirometry allows measurement in vivo of

Data verification and evaluation techniques for groundwater monitoring programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mercier, T.M.; Turner, R.R.

1990-12-01

To ensure that data resulting from groundwater monitoring programs are of the quality required to fulfill program objectives, it is suggested that a program of data verification and evaluation be implemented. These procedures are meant to supplement and support the existing laboratory quality control/quality assurance programs by identifying aberrant data resulting from a variety of unforeseen circumstances: sampling problems, data transformations in the lab, data input at the lab, data transfer, end-user data input. Using common-sense principles, pattern recognition techniques, and hydrogeological principles, a computer program was written which scans the data for suspected abnormalities and produces a text file stating sample identifiers, the suspect data, and a statement of how the data has departed from the expected. The techniques described in this paper have been developed to support the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program Management Plan

Application of rule-based data mining techniques to real time ATLAS Grid job monitoring data

CERN Document Server

Ahrens, R; The ATLAS collaboration; Kalinin, S; Maettig, P; Sandhoff, M; dos Santos, T; Volkmer, F

2012-01-01

The Job Execution Monitor (JEM) is a job-centric grid job monitoring software developed at the University of Wuppertal and integrated into the pilot-based “PanDA” job brokerage system leveraging physics analysis and Monte Carlo event production for the ATLAS experiment on the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG). With JEM, job progress and grid worker node health can be supervised in real time by users, site admins and shift personnel. Imminent error conditions can be detected early and countermeasures can be initiated by the Job’s owner immideatly. Grid site admins can access aggregated data of all monitored jobs to infer the site status and to detect job and Grid worker node misbehaviour. Shifters can use the same aggregated data to quickly react to site error conditions and broken production tasks. In this work, the application of novel data-centric rule based methods and data-mining techniques to the real time monitoring data is discussed. The usage of such automatic inference techniques on monitorin...

Development of non-intrusive monitoring techniques - ESDRED and TEM projects at Mont Terri and the Grimsel test site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breen, B.; Johnson, M.; Frieg, B.; Blechschmidt, I.; Manukyan, E.; Marelli, S.; Maurer, H.R.

2008-01-01

The EC Integrated Project, IP ESDRED (Engineering Studies and Demonstration of Repository Designs) was commissioned to establish a sound technical basis for demonstrating the safety of disposing of spent fuel and long-lived radioactive wastes in deep geological formations and to underpin the development of a common European view on the main issues related to the management and disposal of radioactive waste. The in situ development of non-intrusive monitoring techniques is included within the programme as an important component of the overall ESDRED programme. Monitoring will play an important role in providing information to the repository operator and to society in general and to support decision-making about if and when, to move from one phase to the next. The challenges, when constructing engineered barrier systems (EBS) to isolate the waste, is the ability to monitor the waste and the barriers, once isolated. Conventional monitoring systems depend upon wires or cable s to transfer information from the monitoring sensors outside the barriers. Monitoring sensors also have a limited lifetime and new sensors cannot be emplaced without disturbing the barrier. The development of non-intrusive monitoring systems which do not rely upon 'hard-wired' connection, thus providing the opportunity for continued monitoring after isolation. The ESDRED partners developed a programme utilising cross-hole seismic tomography to monitor an experimental demonstration by Nagra at Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory (URL). The work programme includes PhD studies to conduct full seismic waveform analysis and to develop algorithms to address natural anisotropy in the Opalinus clay at Mont Terri. Following on from the ESDRED developments, some of ESDRED partner organisations identified a further opportunity for developing in situ monitoring techniques utilising the construction and testing programme of a low pH shotcrete plug being constructed in granite at the Grimsel Test Site

Application of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing Technique in Monitoring the Ground Deformation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The monitoring of ground deformation is important for the prevention and control of geological disaster including land subsidence, ground fissure, surface collapse, and landslides. In this study, a distributed optical fiber sensing technique based on Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Analysis (BOTDA was used to monitor the ground deformation. The principle behind the BOTDA is first introduced, and then laboratory calibration test and physical model test were carried out. Finally, BOTDA-based monitoring of ground fissure was carried out in a test site. Experimental results show that the distributed optical fiber can measure the soil strain during ground deformation process, and the strain curve responded to the soil compression and tension region clearly. During field test in Wuxi City, China, the ground fissures deformation area was monitored accurately and the trend of deformation can also be achieved to forecast and warn against the ground fissure hazards.

A Monte Carlo technique for signal level detection in implanted intracranial pressure monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Avent, R K; Charlton, J D; Nagle, H T; Johnson, R N

1987-01-01

Statistical monitoring techniques like CUSUM, Trigg's tracking signal and EMP filtering have a major advantage over more recent techniques, such as Kalman filtering, because of their inherent simplicity. In many biomedical applications, such as electronic implantable devices, these simpler techniques have greater utility because of the reduced requirements on power, logic complexity and sampling speed. The determination of signal means using some of the earlier techniques are reviewed in this paper, and a new Monte Carlo based method with greater capability to sparsely sample a waveform and obtain an accurate mean value is presented. This technique may find widespread use as a trend detection method when reduced power consumption is a requirement.

Development of structural health monitoring techniques using dynamics testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

James, G.H. III [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Experimental Structural Dynamics Dept.

1996-03-01

Today`s society depends upon many structures (such as aircraft, bridges, wind turbines, offshore platforms, buildings, and nuclear weapons) which are nearing the end of their design lifetime. Since these structures cannot be economically replaced, techniques for structural health monitoring must be developed and implemented. Modal and structural dynamics measurements hold promise for the global non-destructive inspection of a variety of structures since surface measurements of a vibrating structure can provide information about the health of the internal members without costly (or impossible) dismantling of the structure. In order to develop structural health monitoring for application to operational structures, developments in four areas have been undertaken within this project: operational evaluation, diagnostic measurements, information condensation, and damage identification. The developments in each of these four aspects of structural health monitoring have been exercised on a broad range of experimental data. This experimental data has been extracted from structures from several application areas which include aging aircraft, wind energy, aging bridges, offshore structures, structural supports, and mechanical parts. As a result of these advances, Sandia National Laboratories is in a position to perform further advanced development, operational implementation, and technical consulting for a broad class of the nation`s aging infrastructure problems.

Application of a distributed optical fiber sensing technique in monitoring the stress of precast piles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Y; Shi, B; Wei, G Q; Zhang, D; Chen, S E

2012-01-01

Due to its ability in providing long distance, distributed sensing, the optical fiber sensing technique based on a Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) has a unique advantage in monitoring the stability and safety of linear structures. This paper describes the application of a BOTDR-based technique to measure the stress within precast piles. The principle behind the BOTDR and the embedding technique for the sensing optical fiber in precast piles is first introduced, and then the analysis method and deformation and stress calculation based on distributed strain data are given. Finally, a methodology for using a BOTDR-based monitoring workflow for in situ monitoring of precast piles, combined with a practical example, is introduced. The methodology requires implantation of optical fibers prior to pile placement. Field experimental results show that the optical fiber implantation method with slotting, embedding, pasting and jointing is feasible, and have accurately measured the axial force, side friction, end-bearing resistance and bearing feature of the precast pile according to the strain measuring data. (paper)

Analysis of ultrasonic techniques for monitoring milk coagulation during cheesemaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Budelli, E; Lema, P; Pérez, N; Negreira, C

2012-01-01

Experimental determination of time of flight and attenuation has been proposed in the literature as alternatives to monitoring the evolution of milk coagulation during cheese manufacturing. However, only laboratory scale procedures have been described. In this work, the use of ultrasonic time of flight and attenuation to determine cutting time and its feasibility to be applied at industrial scale were analyzed. Limitations to implement these techniques at industrial scale are shown experimentally. The main limitation of the use of time of flight is its strong dependence with temperature. Attenuation monitoring is affected by a thin layer of milk skin covering the transducer, which modifies the signal in a non-repetitive way. The results of this work can be used to develop alternative ultrasonic systems suitable for application in the dairy industry.

A novel noninvasive all optical technique to monitor physiology of an exercising muscle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saxena, Vishal [Department of Radiology, University of Southern California, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027 (United States); Marcu, Laura [Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Karunasiri, Gamani [Department of Physics, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California 93943 (United States)], E-mail: Vsaxena@usc.edu

2008-11-07

An all optical technique based on near-infrared spectroscopy and mid-infrared imaging (MIRI) is applied as a noninvasive, in vivo tool to monitor the vascular status of skeletal muscle and the physiological changes that occur during exercise. A near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique, namely, steady state diffuse optical spectroscopy (SSDOS) along with MIRI is applied for monitoring the changes in the values of tissue oxygenation and thermometry of an exercising muscle. The NIRS measurements are performed at five discrete wavelengths in a spectral window of 650-850 nm and MIRI is performed in a spectral window of 8-12 {mu}m. The understanding of tissue oxygenation status and the behavior of the physiological parameters derived from thermometry may provide a useful insight into muscle physiology, therapeutic response and treatment.

A novel noninvasive all optical technique to monitor physiology of an exercising muscle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saxena, Vishal; Marcu, Laura; Karunasiri, Gamani

2008-01-01

An all optical technique based on near-infrared spectroscopy and mid-infrared imaging (MIRI) is applied as a noninvasive, in vivo tool to monitor the vascular status of skeletal muscle and the physiological changes that occur during exercise. A near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique, namely, steady state diffuse optical spectroscopy (SSDOS) along with MIRI is applied for monitoring the changes in the values of tissue oxygenation and thermometry of an exercising muscle. The NIRS measurements are performed at five discrete wavelengths in a spectral window of 650-850 nm and MIRI is performed in a spectral window of 8-12 μm. The understanding of tissue oxygenation status and the behavior of the physiological parameters derived from thermometry may provide a useful insight into muscle physiology, therapeutic response and treatment.

Laser and optical techniques employed in enviromental monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sunesson, A

1988-03-01

Monitoring of trace gases in the atmosphere has been performed with differential absorption lidar and differential optical absorption spectroscopy. A new mobile differential absorption lidar system has been constructed it is described in detail and examples of SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub 2/ measurements are given. Studies of the NO/sub 2/ concentration distribution in an urban area during a temperature inversion were performed. Detection of CI/sub 2/ with DIAL was investigated. Using a narrow-bandwidth laser system range-resolved measurements of NO and Hg were investigated. Mapping of NO and Hg plumes was performed. The use of mercury as a tracer gas for geothermal energy exploration was investigated during a field test in Iceland. Contrary to expectations very low mercury concentrations were detected. A high-resolution differential optical absorption system has been constructed and applied in longh-path monitoring of SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub 2/. Detection of atmospheric atomic mercury was investigated. A multipass absorption cell (White cell) has been constructed and used for spectroscopic measurements. Weak oxygen absorption lines in the vicinity of the Hg line were studied both with laser and optical techniques. (With 176 refs.)

Low level waste management: a compilation of models and monitoring techniques. Volume 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mosier, J.E.; Fowler, J.R.; Barton, C.J. (comps.)

1980-04-01

In support of the National Low-Level Waste (LLW) Management Research and Development Program being carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science Applications, Inc., conducted a survey of models and monitoring techniques associated with the transport of radionuclides and other chemical species from LLW burial sites. As a result of this survey, approximately 350 models were identified. For each model the purpose and a brief description are presented. To the extent possible, a point of contact and reference material are identified. The models are organized into six technical categories: atmospheric transport, dosimetry, food chain, groundwater transport, soil transport, and surface water transport. About 4% of the models identified covered other aspects of LLW management and are placed in a miscellaneous category. A preliminary assessment of all these models was performed to determine their ability to analyze the transport of other chemical species. The models that appeared to be applicable are identified. A brief survey of the state-of-the-art techniques employed to monitor LLW burial sites is also presented, along with a very brief discussion of up-to-date burial techniques.

Low level waste management: a compilation of models and monitoring techniques. Volume 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosier, J.E.; Fowler, J.R.; Barton, C.J.

1980-04-01

In support of the National Low-Level Waste (LLW) Management Research and Development Program being carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science Applications, Inc., conducted a survey of models and monitoring techniques associated with the transport of radionuclides and other chemical species from LLW burial sites. As a result of this survey, approximately 350 models were identified. For each model the purpose and a brief description are presented. To the extent possible, a point of contact and reference material are identified. The models are organized into six technical categories: atmospheric transport, dosimetry, food chain, groundwater transport, soil transport, and surface water transport. About 4% of the models identified covered other aspects of LLW management and are placed in a miscellaneous category. A preliminary assessment of all these models was performed to determine their ability to analyze the transport of other chemical species. The models that appeared to be applicable are identified. A brief survey of the state-of-the-art techniques employed to monitor LLW burial sites is also presented, along with a very brief discussion of up-to-date burial techniques

Vibration energy harvesting based monitoring of an operational bridge undergoing forced vibration and train passage

Science.gov (United States)

Cahill, Paul; Hazra, Budhaditya; Karoumi, Raid; Mathewson, Alan; Pakrashi, Vikram

2018-06-01

The application of energy harvesting technology for monitoring civil infrastructure is a bourgeoning topic of interest. The ability of kinetic energy harvesters to scavenge ambient vibration energy can be useful for large civil infrastructure under operational conditions, particularly for bridge structures. The experimental integration of such harvesters with full scale structures and the subsequent use of the harvested energy directly for the purposes of structural health monitoring shows promise. This paper presents the first experimental deployment of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting devices for monitoring a full-scale bridge undergoing forced dynamic vibrations under operational conditions using energy harvesting signatures against time. The calibration of the harvesters is presented, along with details of the host bridge structure and the dynamic assessment procedures. The measured responses of the harvesters from the tests are presented and the use the harvesters for the purposes of structural health monitoring (SHM) is investigated using empirical mode decomposition analysis, following a bespoke data cleaning approach. Finally, the use of sequential Karhunen Loeve transforms to detect train passages during the dynamic assessment is presented. This study is expected to further develop interest in energy-harvesting based monitoring of large infrastructure for both research and commercial purposes.

A Shear Horizontal Waveguide Technique for Monitoring of High Temperature Pipe Thinning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheong, Yongmoo; Kim, Hongpyo; Lee, Duckhyun

2014-01-01

An ultrasonic thickness measurement method is a well-known and most commonly used non-destructive testing technique for wall thickness monitoring of a piping or plate. However, current commonly available ultrasonic transducers cannot withstand high temperatures of, above 200 .deg. C. Currently, the variation of wall thickness of the pipes is determined by a portable ultrasonic gauge during plant shutdowns. This manual ultrasonic method reveals several disadvantages: inspections have to be performed during shutdowns with the possible consequences of prolonging down time and increasing production losses, insulation has to be removed and replaced for each manual measurement, and scaffolding has to be installed to inaccessible areas, resulting in considerable cost for intervention. In addition, differences of the measurement conditions such as examiner, temperature, and couplant could result in measurement errors. It has been suggested that a structural health monitoring approach with permanently installed ultrasonic thickness gauges could have substantial benefits over current practices. In order to solve those fundamental problems occurring during the propagation of ultrasound at high temperature, a shear horizontal waveguide technique for wall thickness monitoring at high temperatures is developed. A dry clamping device without a couplant for the acoustic contact between waveguide and pipe surface was designed and fabricated. The shear horizontal waveguides and clamping device result in an excellent S/N ratio and high accuracy of measurement with long exposure in an elevated temperature condition. A computer program for on-line monitoring of the pipe thickness at high temperature for a long period of time was developed. The system can be applied to monitor the FAC in carbon steel piping in a nuclear power plant after a verification test for a long period of time

Performance Monitoring Of A Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) Lathe Using Pattern Recognition Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Daneshmend, L. K.; Pak, H. A.

1984-02-01

On-line monitoring of the cutting process in CNC lathe is desirable to ensure unattended fault-free operation in an automated environment. The state of the cutting tool is one of the most important parameters which characterises the cutting process. Direct monitoring of the cutting tool or workpiece is not feasible during machining. However several variables related to the state of the tool can be measured on-line. A novel monitoring technique is presented which uses cutting torque as the variable for on-line monitoring. A classifier is designed on the basis of the empirical relationship between cutting torque and flank wear. The empirical model required by the on-line classifier is established during an automated training cycle using machine vision for off-line direct inspection of the tool.

The development of advanced instrumentation and control technology -The development of digital monitoring technique-

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jun, Jong Sun; Lee, Byung Sun; Han, Sang Joon; Shin, Yong Chul; Kim, Yung Baek; Kim, Dong Hoon; Oh, Yang Kyoon; Suh, Yung; Choi, Chan Duk; Kang, Byung Hun; Hong, Hyung Pyo; Shin, Jee Tae; Moon, Kwon Kee; Lee, Soon Sung; Kim, Sung Hoh; Koo, In Soo; Kim, Dong Wan; Huh, Sub [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1995-07-01

A study has been performed for the advanced DSP technology for digital nuclear I and C systems and its prototype, and for the monitoring and diagnosing techniques for the highly-pressurized components in NSSS. In the DSP part, the DSP requirements for NPPs have been induced for the performance of the DSP systems and the functional analysis for Reactor Coolant System (RCS) has been performed as the embodied target system. Total quantities of the I and C signals, signal types, and signal functions were also investigated in Ulchin NPP units 3 and 4. From these basis, the prototype facility was configured for performance validation and algorithm implementation. In order to develop the methods of DSP techniques and algorithms, the current signal validation methods have been studied and analyzed. In the analysis for the communication networks in NPP, the basic technique for the configuration of communication networks and the important considerations for applying to NPPs have been reviewed. Test and experimental facilities have been set up in order to carry out the required tests during research activities on the monitoring techniques for abnormal conditions. Studies were concentrated on methods how to acquire vibration signals from the mechanical structures and equipment including rotating machinery and reactor, and analyses for the characteristics of the signals. Fuzzy logic was evaluated as a good technique to improve the reliability of the monitoring and diagnosing algorithm through the application of the theory such as the automatic pattern recognition algorithm of the vibration spectrum, the alarm detection and diagnosis for collisions of loose parts. 71 figs, 32 tabs, 64 refs. (Author).

The development of advanced instrumentation and control technology -The development of digital monitoring technique-

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jun, Jong Sun; Lee, Byung Sun; Han, Sang Joon; Shin, Yong Chul; Kim, Yung Baek; Kim, Dong Hoon; Oh, Yang Kyoon; Suh, Yung; Choi, Chan Duk; Kang, Byung Hun; Hong, Hyung Pyo; Shin, Jee Tae; Moon, Kwon Kee; Lee, Soon Sung; Kim, Sung Hoh; Koo, In Soo; Kim, Dong Wan; Huh, Sub

1995-07-01

A study has been performed for the advanced DSP technology for digital nuclear I and C systems and its prototype, and for the monitoring and diagnosing techniques for the highly-pressurized components in NSSS. In the DSP part, the DSP requirements for NPPs have been induced for the performance of the DSP systems and the functional analysis for Reactor Coolant System (RCS) has been performed as the embodied target system. Total quantities of the I and C signals, signal types, and signal functions were also investigated in Ulchin NPP units 3 and 4. From these basis, the prototype facility was configured for performance validation and algorithm implementation. In order to develop the methods of DSP techniques and algorithms, the current signal validation methods have been studied and analyzed. In the analysis for the communication networks in NPP, the basic technique for the configuration of communication networks and the important considerations for applying to NPPs have been reviewed. Test and experimental facilities have been set up in order to carry out the required tests during research activities on the monitoring techniques for abnormal conditions. Studies were concentrated on methods how to acquire vibration signals from the mechanical structures and equipment including rotating machinery and reactor, and analyses for the characteristics of the signals. Fuzzy logic was evaluated as a good technique to improve the reliability of the monitoring and diagnosing algorithm through the application of the theory such as the automatic pattern recognition algorithm of the vibration spectrum, the alarm detection and diagnosis for collisions of loose parts. 71 figs, 32 tabs, 64 refs. (Author)

Innovative Technique for High-Accuracy Remote Monitoring of Surface Water

Science.gov (United States)

Gisler, A.; Barton-Grimley, R. A.; Thayer, J. P.; Crowley, G.

2016-12-01

Lidar (light detection and ranging) provides absolute depth and topographic mapping capability compared to other remote sensing methods, which is useful for mapping rapidly changing environments such as riverine systems and agricultural waterways. Effectiveness of current lidar bathymetric systems is limited by the difficulty in unambiguously identifying backscattered lidar signals from the water surface versus the bottom, limiting their depth resolution to 0.3-0.5 m. Additionally these are large, bulky systems that are constrained to expensive aircraft-mounted platforms and use waveform-processing techniques requiring substantial computation time. These restrictions are prohibitive for many potential users. A novel lidar device has been developed that allows for non-contact measurements of water depth down to 1 cm with an accuracy and precision of shallow to deep water allowing for shoreline charting, measuring water volume, mapping bottom topology, and identifying submerged objects. The scalability of the technique opens up the ability for handheld or UAS-mounted lidar bathymetric systems, which provides for potential applications currently unavailable to the community. The high laser pulse repetition rate allows for very fine horizontal resolution while the photon-counting technique permits real-time depth measurement and object detection. The enhanced measurement capability, portability, scalability, and relatively low-cost creates the opportunity to perform frequent high-accuracy monitoring and measuring of aquatic environments which is crucial for monitoring water resources on fast timescales. Results from recent campaigns measuring water depth in flowing creeks and murky ponds will be presented which demonstrate that the method is not limited by rough water surfaces and can map underwater topology through moderately turbid water.

A Review of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors for Civil Engineering Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Barrias, António; Casas, Joan R.; Villalba, Sergi

2016-01-01

The application of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to civil engineering structures has been a developing studied and practiced topic, that has allowed for a better understanding of structures’ conditions and increasingly lead to a more cost-effective management of those infrastructures. In this field, the use of fiber optic sensors has been studied, discussed and practiced with encouraging results. The possibility of understanding and monitor the distributed behavior of extensive stretches of critical structures it’s an enormous advantage that distributed fiber optic sensing provides to SHM systems. In the past decade, several R & D studies have been performed with the goal of improving the knowledge and developing new techniques associated with the application of distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) in order to widen the range of applications of these sensors and also to obtain more correct and reliable data. This paper presents, after a brief introduction to the theoretical background of DOFS, the latest developments related with the improvement of these products by presenting a wide range of laboratory experiments as well as an extended review of their diverse applications in civil engineering structures. PMID:27223289

A Review of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors for Civil Engineering Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrias, António; Casas, Joan R; Villalba, Sergi

2016-05-23

The application of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to civil engineering structures has been a developing studied and practiced topic, that has allowed for a better understanding of structures' conditions and increasingly lead to a more cost-effective management of those infrastructures. In this field, the use of fiber optic sensors has been studied, discussed and practiced with encouraging results. The possibility of understanding and monitor the distributed behavior of extensive stretches of critical structures it's an enormous advantage that distributed fiber optic sensing provides to SHM systems. In the past decade, several R & D studies have been performed with the goal of improving the knowledge and developing new techniques associated with the application of distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) in order to widen the range of applications of these sensors and also to obtain more correct and reliable data. This paper presents, after a brief introduction to the theoretical background of DOFS, the latest developments related with the improvement of these products by presenting a wide range of laboratory experiments as well as an extended review of their diverse applications in civil engineering structures.

A Review of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors for Civil Engineering Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

António Barrias

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The application of structural health monitoring (SHM systems to civil engineering structures has been a developing studied and practiced topic, that has allowed for a better understanding of structures’ conditions and increasingly lead to a more cost-effective management of those infrastructures. In this field, the use of fiber optic sensors has been studied, discussed and practiced with encouraging results. The possibility of understanding and monitor the distributed behavior of extensive stretches of critical structures it’s an enormous advantage that distributed fiber optic sensing provides to SHM systems. In the past decade, several R & D studies have been performed with the goal of improving the knowledge and developing new techniques associated with the application of distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS in order to widen the range of applications of these sensors and also to obtain more correct and reliable data. This paper presents, after a brief introduction to the theoretical background of DOFS, the latest developments related with the improvement of these products by presenting a wide range of laboratory experiments as well as an extended review of their diverse applications in civil engineering structures.

Ignition and monitoring technique for plasma processing of multicell superconducting radio-frequency cavities

Science.gov (United States)

Doleans, Marc

2016-12-01

An in-situ plasma processing technique has been developed at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to improve the performance of the superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities in operation. The technique uses a low-density reactive neon-oxygen plasma at room-temperature to improve the surface work function, to help remove adsorbed gases on the RF surface, and to reduce its secondary emission yield. SNS SRF cavities have six accelerating cells and the plasma typically ignites in the cell where the electric field is the highest. This article details the technique to ignite and monitor the plasma in each cell of the SNS cavities.

Structural Health Monitoring of a Composite Panel Based on PZT Sensors and a Transfer Impedance Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Dziendzikowski, Michal; Niedbala, Patryk; Kurnyta, Artur; Kowalczyk, Kamil; Dragan, Krzysztof

2018-05-11

One of the ideas for development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems is based on excitation of elastic waves by a network of PZT piezoelectric transducers integrated with the structure. In the paper, a variant of the so-called Transfer Impedance (TI) approach to SHM is followed. Signal characteristics, called the Damage Indices (DIs), were proposed for data presentation and analysis. The idea underlying the definition of DIs was to maintain most of the information carried by the voltage induced on PZT sensors by elastic waves. In particular, the DIs proposed in the paper should be sensitive to all types of damage which can influence the amplitude or the phase of the voltage induced on the sensor. Properties of the proposed DIs were investigated experimentally using a GFRP composite panel equipped with PZT networks attached to its surface and embedded into its internal structure. Repeatability and stability of DI indications under controlled conditions were verified in tests. Also, some performance indicators for surface-attached and structure-embedded sensors were obtained. The DIs' behavior was dependent mostly on the presence of a simulated damage in the structure. Anisotropy of mechanical properties of the specimen, geometrical properties of PZT network as well as, to some extent, the technology of sensor integration with the structure were irrelevant for damage indication. This property enables the method to be used for damage detection and classification.

Development of Electronic Nose and Near Infrared Spectroscopy Analysis Techniques to Monitor the Critical Time in SSF Process of Feed Protein

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Jiang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In order to assure the consistency of the final product quality, a fast and effective process monitoring is a growing need in solid state fermentation (SSF industry. This work investigated the potential of non-invasive techniques combined with the chemometrics method, to monitor time-related changes that occur during SSF process of feed protein. Four fermentation trials conducted were monitored by an electronic nose device and a near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS spectrometer. Firstly, principal component analysis (PCA and independent component analysis (ICA were respectively applied to the feature extraction and information fusion. Then, the BP_AdaBoost algorithm was used to develop the fused model for monitoring of the critical time in SSF process of feed protein. Experimental results showed that the identified results of the fusion model are much better than those of the single technique model both in the training and validation sets, and the complexity of the fusion model was also less than that of the single technique model. The overall results demonstrate that it has a high potential in online monitoring of the critical moment in SSF process by use of integrating electronic nose and NIRS techniques, and data fusion from multi-technique could significantly improve the monitoring performance of SSF process.

Sources of uncertainty in individual monitoring for photographic,TL and OSL dosimetry techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreira, Max S.; Silva, Everton R.; Mauricio, Claudia L.P., E-mail: max.das.ferreira@gmail.com, E-mail: everton@ird.gov.br, E-mail: claudia@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2015-07-01

The identification of the uncertainty sources and their quantification is essential to the quality of any dosimetric results. If uncertainties are not stated for all dose measurements informed in the monthly dose report to the monitored radiation facilities, they need to be known. This study aims to analyze the influence of different sources of uncertainties associated with photographic, TL and OSL dosimetric techniques, considering the evaluation of occupational doses of whole-body exposure for photons. To identify the sources of uncertainty it was conducted a bibliographic review in specific documents that deal with operational aspects of each technique and the uncertainties associated to each of them. Withal, technical visits to individual monitoring services were conducted to assist in this identification. The sources of uncertainty were categorized and their contributions were expressed in a qualitative way. The process of calibration and traceability are the most important sources of uncertainties, regardless the technique used. For photographic dosimetry, the remaining important uncertainty sources are due to: energy and angular dependence; linearity of response; variations in the films processing. For TL and OSL, the key process for a good performance is respectively the reproducibility of the thermal and optical cycles. For the three techniques, all procedures of the measurement process must be standardized, controlled and reproducible. Further studies can be performed to quantify the contribution of the sources of uncertainty. (author)

Stress wave communication in concrete: I. Characterization of a smart aggregate based concrete channel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siu, Sam; Wu, Wenhao; Zhi Ding; Ji, Qing; Song, Gangbing

2014-01-01

In this paper, we explore the characteristics of a concrete block as a communication medium with piezoelectric transducers. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is a piezoceramic material used in smart materials intended for structural health monitoring (SHM). Additionally, a PZT based smart aggregate (SA) is capable of implementing stress wave communications which is utilized for investigating the properties of an SA based concrete channel. Our experiments characterize single-input single-output and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) concrete channels in order to determine the potential capacity limits of SAs for stress wave communication. We first provide estimates and validate the concrete channel response. Followed by a theoretical upper bound for data rate capacity of our two channels, demonstrating a near-twofold increase in channel capacity by utilizing multiple transceivers to form an MIMO system. Our channel modeling techniques and results are also helpful to researchers using SAs with regards to SHM, energy harvesting and stress wave communications. (paper)

Potential drop technique for monitoring stress corrosion cracking growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neves, Celia F.C.; Schvartzman, Monica M.A.M.; Moreira, Pedro A.L.D.P.L.P.

2002-01-01

Stress corrosion cracking is one of most severe damage mechanisms influencing the lifetime of components in the operation of nuclear power plants. To assess the initiation stages and kinetics of crack growth as the main parameters coming to residual lifetime determination, the testing facility should allow active loading of specimens in the environment which is close to the real operation conditions of assessed component. Under cooperation of CDTN/CNEN and International Atomic Energy Agency a testing system has been developed by Nuclear Research Institute, Czech Republic, that will be used for the environmentally assisted cracking testing at CDTN/CNEN. The facility allows high temperature autoclave corrosion mechanical testing in well-defined LWR water chemistry using constant load, slow strain rate and rising displacement techniques. The facility consists of autoclave and refreshing water loop enabling testing at temperatures up to 330 deg C. Active loading system allows the maximum load on a specimen as high as 60 kN. The potential drop measurement is used to determine the instant crack length and its growth rate. The paper presents the facility and describes the potential drop technique, that is one of the most used techniques to monitor crack growth in specimens under corrosive environments. (author)

Innovative Ultrasonic Techniques for Inspection and Monitoring of Large Concrete Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niederleithinger E.

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Ultrasonic echo and transmission techniques are used in civil engineering on a regular basis. New sensors and data processing techniques have lead to many new applications in the structural investigation as well as quality control. But concrete structures in the nuclear sector have special features and parameters, which pose problems for the methods and instrumentation currently available, e.g. extreme thickness, dense reinforcement, steel liners or special materials. Several innovative ultrasonic techniques have been developed to deal with these issues at least partly in lab experiments and pilot studies. Modern imaging techniques as multi-offset SAFT have been used e. g. to map delaminations. Thick concrete walls have successfully been inspected, partly through a steel liner. Embedded ultrasonic sensors have been designed which will be used in monitoring networks of large concrete structures above and below ground. In addition, sensitive mathematical methods as coda wave interferometry have been successfully evaluated to detect subtle changes in material properties. Examples of measurements and data evaluation are presented.

Using acoustic emission technique to monitor fractures on the analogous pressure pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lichen

1989-01-01

By using the acoustic emission technique to monitor the fractures on analogous pressure pipes of the primary circuit which has had cracks and loading with pressure was investigated. The dynamical process, from cracking to fracturing, was recorded by the acoustic emission technique. Comparing with the conventional method, this method gives more informations, such as pre-cracking, cracking growing, fast fracturing and the pressure values at different phases. During testing time a microcomputer was used for real-time data processing and locating the fracturing position. These data are useful for the mechanical analysis of the reactor components

Development of in vitro techniques for individual monitoring of "3"2P

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Almeida, A.P.F.; Sousa, W.O.; Dantas, A.L.A.; Dantas, B.M.

2016-01-01

The "3"2P is used in the form of liquid unsealed sources in medical facilities, research and teaching, representing a risk of internal exposure in routine activities and in case of accidental incorporation. The evaluation of "3"2P incorporation can be accomplished through in vitro bioanalysis of urine. This paper aims to provide a methodology to analyze "3"2P in biological samples, applicable to internal individual monitoring using liquid scintillation technique. The minimum detectable activity of the system was determined and the sensitivity of the technique was evaluated, based on the detected minimum effective dose. (author)

Applications of a nanocomposite-inspired in-situ broadband ultrasonic sensor to acousto-ultrasonics-based passive and active structural health monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Menglong; Zeng, Zhihui; Xu, Hao; Liao, Yaozhong; Zhou, Limin; Zhang, Zhong; Su, Zhongqing

2017-07-01

A novel nanocomposite-inspired in-situ broadband ultrasonic sensor previously developed, with carbon black as the nanofiller and polyvinylidene fluoride as the matrix, was networked for acousto-ultrasonic wave-based passive and active structural health monitoring (SHM). Being lightweight and small, this kind of sensor was proven to be capable of perceiving strain perturbation in virtue of the tunneling effect in the formed nanofiller conductive network when acousto-ultrasonic waves traverse the sensor. Proof-of-concept validation was implemented, to examine the sensor performance in responding to acousto-ultrasonic waves in a broad frequency regime: from acoustic emission (AE) of lower frequencies to guided ultrasonic waves (GUWs) of higher frequencies. Results have demonstrated the high fidelity, ultrafast response and high sensitivity of the sensor to acousto-ultrasonic waves up to 400kHz yet with an ultra-low magnitude (of the order of micro-strain). The sensor is proven to possess sensitivity and accuracy comparable with commercial piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers, whereas with greater flexibility in accommodating curved structural surfaces. Application paradigms of using the sensor for damage evaluation have spotlighted the capability of the sensor in compromising "sensing cost" with "sensing effectiveness" for passive AE- or active GUW-based SHM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and evaluation of a technique for in vivo monitoring of 60Co in human liver

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes, GH; Silva, MC; Mello, JQ; Dantas, ALA; Dantas, BM

2018-03-01

60Co is an artificial radioactive metal produced by activation of iron with neutrons. It decays by beta particles and gamma radiation and represents a risk of internal exposure of workers involved in the maintenance of nuclear power reactors. Intakes can be quantified through in vivo monitoring. This work describes the development of a technique for the quantification of 60Co in human liver. The sensitivity of the method is evaluated based on the minimum detectable effective doses. The results allow to state that the technique is suitable either for monitoring of occupational exposures or evaluation of accidental intakes.

Tools and techniques for ageing predictions in nuclear reactors through condition monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verma, R.M.P.

1994-01-01

To operate the nuclear reactors beyond their design predicted life is gaining importance because of huge replacement and decommissioning costs. But experience shows that nuclear plant safety and reliability may decline in the later years of plant life due to ageing degradation. Ageing of nuclear plant components, structures and systems, if unmitigated reduces their safety margins provided in the design and thus increases risks to public health and safety. These safety margins must be monitored throughout plant service life including any extended life. Condition monitoring of nuclear reactor components/equipment and systems can be done to study the effect of ageing, status of safety margins and effect of corrective and mitigating actions taken. The tools and techniques of condition monitoring are also important in failure trending, predictive maintenance, evaluation of scheduled maintenance, in mitigation of ageing, life extension and reliability studies. (author). 1 fig., 1 annexure

Combining non-invasive techniques for delimitation and monitoring of chlorinated solvents in groundwater

Science.gov (United States)

Sparrenbom, Charlotte; Åkesson, Sofia; Hagerberg, David; Dahlin, Torleif; Holmstrand, Henry; Johansson, Sara

2016-04-01

Large numbers of polluted areas cause leakage of hazardous pollutants into our groundwater. Remediated actions are needed in a vast number of areas to prevent degradation of the quality of our water resources. As excavation of polluted masses is problematic as it often moves the pollutants from one site to another (in best case off site treatment is carried out), in-situ remediation and monitoring thereof needs further development. In general, we need to further develop and improve how we retrieve information on the status of the underground system. This is needed to avoid costly and hazardous shipments associated with excavations and to avoid unnecessary exposure when handling polluted masses. Easier, cheaper, more comprehensive and nondestructive monitoring techniques are needed for evaluation of remediation degree, degradation status of the contaminants and the remaining groundwater contaminant plume. We investigate the possibility to combine two investigation techniques, which are invasive to a very low degree and can give a very good visualization and evaluation of pollutant status underground and changes therein in time. The two methods we have combined are Direct Current resistivity and time-domain Induced Polarization tomography (DCIP) and Compound Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA) and their use within the context of DNAPL contaminated sites. DCIP is a non-invasive and non-destructive geoelectrical measurement method with emerging new techniques for 4D mapping for promising visualization of underground hydrogeochemical structures and spatial distribution of contaminants. The strength of CSIA is that inherent degradation-relatable isotopic information of contaminant molecules remains unaffected as opposed to the commonly used concentration-based studies. Our aim is to evaluate the possibilities of gas sampling on the ground surface for this technique to become non-invasive and usable without interfering ground conditions.Drillings together with soil and

Contrast monitoring techniques in CT pulmonary angiography: An important and underappreciated contributor to breast dose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell, D.P., E-mail: dpmmitchell@gmail.com; Rowan, M., E-mail: mrowan@mater.ie; Loughman, E., E-mail: eloughman@mater.ie; Ridge, C.A., E-mail: cridge@mater.ie; MacMahon, P.J., E-mail: pmacmahon@mater.ie

2017-01-15

Objective: The aims of our study were to evaluate the contribution of contrast-monitoring techniques to breast dose in pregnant and non-pregnant women, and to investigate the effect of a reduced peak kilovoltage (kV) monitoring scan protocol on breast dose and Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography (CTPA) diagnostic quality. Materials and methods: Single center retrospective study of 221 female patients undergoing a reduced kV 80 kV contrast-monitoring CTPA protocol compared to 281 patients using the conventional 120 kV contrast-monitoring protocol (Siemens Somatom Definition AS + ). 99 pregnant patients analyzed separately. ImPACT dosimetry software was used to calculate dose. Group subsets were evaluated to assess CTPA diagnostic quality. Results: The contrast-monitoring component of a CTPA study constituted 27% of the overall breast dose when using a standard 120 kV protocol compared to only 7% of the overall breast dose in the 80 kV study group. The dose to the breast from the contrast-monitoring component alone was reduced by 79% in the non-pregnant patients (0.36mGy ± 0.37 versus 1.7mGy ± 1.02; p < 0.001), and by 88% in the pregnant population (0.25 mGy ± 0.67 versus 2.24mGy ± 1.61; p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in CTPA diagnostic quality or timing. Conclusion: Despite a short scan length and relatively small DLP, contrast-monitoring techniques (test-bolus or bolus-tracked) set at 120 kV can account for 27% of the overall breast dose accrued from a CTPA study. By decreasing the kilovoltage of the contrast-monitoring component, a significant reduction in breast dose for pregnant and non-pregnant female patients can be achieved without affecting CTPA quality or timing.

Full-scale experimental validation of decentralized damage identification using wireless smart sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Shinae; Sim, Sung-Han; Jo, Hongki; Spencer Jr, Billie F

2012-01-01

Wireless smart sensor networks (WSSN) facilitate a new paradigm for structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructure. Conventionally, SHM systems employing wired sensors and centralized data acquisition have been used to characterize the state of a structure; however, widespread implementation has been limited due to high costs and difficulties in installation. WSSN offer a unique opportunity to overcome such difficulties. Recent developments have realized low-cost, smart sensors with on-board computation and wireless communication capabilities, making deployment of a dense array of sensors on large civil structures both economical and feasible. Wireless smart sensors (WSS) have shown their tremendous potential for SHM in recent full-scale bridge monitoring examples. However, structural damage identification using on-board computation capability in a WSSN, a primary objective of SHM, has yet to reach its full potential. This paper presents full-scale validation of a damage identification strategy using a decentralized network of Imote2 nodes on a historic steel truss bridge. A total of 24 WSS nodes with 144 sensor channels are deployed on the bridge to validate the developed damage identification software. The performance of this decentralized damage identification strategy is demonstrated on the WSSN by comparing its results with those from the traditional centralized approach, as well as visual inspection. (paper)

Impedance-Based Cable Force Monitoring in Tendon-Anchorage Using Portable PZT-Interface Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thanh-Canh Huynh

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a portable PZT interface for tension force monitoring in the cable-anchorage subsystem is developed. Firstly, the theoretical background of the impedance-based method is presented. A few damage evaluation approaches are outlined to quantify the variation of impedance signatures. Secondly, a portable PZT interface is designed to monitor impedance signatures from the cable-anchorage subsystem. One degree-of-freedom analytical model of the PZT interface is established to explain how to represent the loss of cable force from the change in the electromechanical impedance of the PZT interface as well as reducing the sensitive frequency band by implementing the interface device. Finally, the applicability of the proposed PZT-interface technique is experimentally evaluated for cable force-loss monitoring in a lab-scaled test structure.

Lamb-Wave-Based Tomographic Imaging Techniques for Hole-Edge Corrosion Monitoring in Plate Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dengjiang Wang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This study presents a novel monitoring method for hole-edge corrosion damage in plate structures based on Lamb wave tomographic imaging techniques. An experimental procedure with a cross-hole layout using 16 piezoelectric transducers (PZTs was designed. The A0 mode of the Lamb wave was selected, which is sensitive to thickness-loss damage. The iterative algebraic reconstruction technique (ART method was used to locate and quantify the corrosion damage at the edge of the hole. Hydrofluoric acid with a concentration of 20% was used to corrode the specimen artificially. To estimate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the real corrosion damage was compared with the predicted corrosion damage based on the tomographic method. The results show that the Lamb-wave-based tomographic method can be used to monitor the hole-edge corrosion damage accurately.

An overview of environmental pollution and monitoring techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qureshi, I.H.

1997-01-01

Environmental pollution has become a world-wide concern as it is likely to affect the ecological system and human health. The indiscriminate release of harmful chemicals and toxic heavy metals in the environment by industrial, agricultural and other activities of man may adversely affect the quality of our air, water and food resources. These toxic chemicals may find their way to living organisms and human body through food chain and may induce various metabolic disorders. It is, therefore, necessary to assess the quality of environment by measuring the concentration of pollutants in air, water, soil and food materials and to establish base-line level. Since the pollutants are present in extremely small amounts, sensitive and accurate analytical techniques have to be employed to obtain reliable data. Studies on the measurement of essential and toxic inorganic elements in various food items and other materials have been carried out at PINSTECH with a view to assess the safety of diet and to establish baseline values. These values will he helpful, in future, to monitor the degree of pollution and to suggest possible remedial and control measures. The estimation of some of the inorganic pollutants and the techniques used in our laboratories and briefly discussed. (author)

Principles of the NATM and other uses of the geologic monitoring techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, J.D.; Sander, H.J.

1991-01-01

The NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) differs in several respects from other construction methods. Also referred to as the open-quotes sequential method,close quotes or the open-quotes observational tunneling method,close quotes NATM offers outstanding flexibility by extending the design into the construction phase. Geologic monitoring of the underground opening (tunnel, shaft or cavern) on an on-going basis provides the means by which the precise support measures and tunnel advance sequence may be matched to varying rock conditions. The pragmatic principles, developed and perfected by NATM Engineers, depend upon sophisticated in situ monitoring of rock conditions on an ongoing basis. These same monitoring techniques, born of the need to determine safe, efficient ground support, are also utilized in the long term checking of existing tunnels. In addition, the instrumentation and program systems of NATM can provide accurate measurements to meet many of the site characterization requirements of underground nuclear repositories even when employed in combination with mechanical excavation

Development and evaluation of a technique for in vivo monitoring of 60Co in the lungs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mello, J.Q. de; Lucena, E.A.; Dantas, A.L.A.; Dantas, B.M.

2015-01-01

60 Co is a fission product of 235 U and represents a risk of internal exposure of workers in nuclear power plants, especially those involved in the maintenance of potentially contaminated parts and equipment. The control of 60 Co intake by inhalation can be performed through in vivo monitoring. This work describes the evaluation of a technique through the minimum detectable activity and the corresponding minimum detectable effective doses, based on biokinetic and dosimetric models of 60 Co in the human body. The results allow to state that the technique is suitable either for monitoring of occupational exposures or evaluation of accidental intakes. (author)

Structural identification and damage diagnosis using self-sensing piezo-impedance transducers

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Yee Yan; Bhalla, Suresh; Kiong Soh, Chee

2006-08-01

The use of smart materials, such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), has accelerated developments in the fields of structural identification and automated structural health monitoring (SHM). One such technique that has made much progress is the electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) technique, which employs self-sensing piezo-impedance transducers. In this technique, a PZT patch is surface bonded to the structure to be monitored and its corresponding electro-mechanical admittance signature is used for damage detection. This paper introduces a new method for identifying structures from the measured admittance signatures in terms of equivalent structural parameters, whereby the identified parameters are used for damage characterization. The new method has been applied to a truss, a beam and a concrete cube, and found to be able to successfully perform structural identification and damage diagnosis. In addition, several advantages have been ascertained in comparison with the conventional, non-parametric statistical methods.

An autonomous strain-based Structural Monitoring Framework for Life-Cycle Analysis of a Novel Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunus Emre Harmanci

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In recent years, developed societies have largely adopted smart systems operating on the basis of information extracted from data. For infrastructure systems as well, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has long advocated a data-driven scheme for facilitating the operation and maintenance of infrastructure. In materializing such a goal, this paper demonstrates the procedures and outcomes of a SHM framework employed on an unconventional structure, namely the recently built Kaeng Krachan Elephant Shelter at the Zurich Zoo, relying on a deployed set of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG strain sensors. The structure comprises an 80 meter span free-form timber-composite cupola, carried by a post-tensioned reinforced concrete (RC ring. FBG strain sensors are embedded into the ring in close vicinity to critical regions, selected in collaboration with the design engineers. The continuously acquired strain data is then exploited for extraction of performance indicators, relying on implementation of output-only identification methodologies. To this end, a non-parametric and a parametric output-only method, namely a Principal Component Analysis (PCA scheme versus a Vector AutoRegressive (VAR model, are employed and compared. Pre-conditioning of the predictive model is performed on the healthy, or undamaged, state of the structure, and the misfit between model predictions and subsequent measurements is exploited as a damage precursor. The VAR scheme proves in this case a more robust representation of the measured strains, when compared against PCA, as a result of its inherent feature of memory.

Remote and terrestrial ground monitoring techniques integration for hazard assessment in mountain areas

Science.gov (United States)

Chinellato, Giulia; Kenner, Robert; Iasio, Christian; Mair, Volkmar; Mosna, David; Mulas, Marco; Phillips, Marcia; Strada, Claudia; Zischg, Andreas

2014-05-01

In high mountain regions the choice of appropriate sites for infrastructure such as roads, railways, cable cars or hydropower dams is often very limited. In parallel, the increasing demand for supply infrastructure in the Alps induces a continuous transformation of the territory. The new role played by the precautionary monitoring in the risk governance becomes fundamental and may overcome the modeling of future events, which represented so far the predominant approach to these sort of issues. Furthermore the consequence of considering methodologies alternative to those more exclusive allow to reduce costs and increasing the frequency of measurements, updating continuously the cognitive framework of existing hazard condition in most susceptible territories. The scale factor of the observed area and the multiple purpose of such regional ordinary surveys make it convenient to adopt Radar Satellite-based systems, but they need to be integrated with terrestrial systems for validation and eventual early warning purposes. Significant progress over the past decade in Remote Sensing (RS), Proximal Sensing and integration-based sensor networks systems now provide technologies, that allow to implement monitoring systems for ordinary surveys of extensive areas or regions, which are affected by active natural processes and slope instability. The Interreg project SloMove aims to provide solutions for such challenges and focuses on using remote sensing monitoring techniques for the monitoring of mass movements in two test sites, in South Tyrol (Italy) and in Grisons Canton (Switzerland). The topics faced in this project concern mass movements and slope deformation monitoring techniques, focusing mainly on the integration of multi-temporal interferometry, new generation of terrestrial technologies for differential digital terrain model elaboration provided by laser scanner (TLS), and GNSS-based topographic surveys, which are used not only for validation purpose, but also for

Development and evaluation of a technique for in vivo monitoring of {sup 60}Co in human liver

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dantas, B.M.; Dantas, A.L.A.; Gomes, G.H.; Silva, M.C.; Mello, J.Q., E-mail: bmdantas@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioproteção e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2017-07-01

{sup 60}Co is an artificial radioactive metal produced by activation of iron with neutrons. It decays by beta particles and gamma radiation and represents a risk of internal exposure of workers involved in the maintenance of nuclear power reactors. Intakes can be quantified through in vivo monitoring. This work describes the development of a technique for the quantification of {sup 60}Co in human liver. The sensitivity of the method is evaluated based on the minimum detectable effective doses. The results allow to state that the technique is suitable either for monitoring of occupational exposures or evaluation of accidental intakes. (author)

Lab-Based Measurement of Remediation Techniques for Radiation Portal Monitors (Initial Report)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livesay, Jake

2012-01-01

Radiation Portal Monitors (RPM) deployed by the Second Line of Defense (SLD) are known to be sensitive to the natural environmental radioactive background. There are several techniques used to mitigate the effects of background on the monitors, but since the installation environments can vary significantly from one another the need for a standardized, systematic, study of remediation techniques was proposed and carried out. This study is not meant to serve as the absolute last word on the subject. The data collected are, however, intelligible and useful. Some compromises were made, each of which will be described in detail. The hope of this initial report is to familiarize the SLD science teams with ORNL's effort to model the effect of various remediation techniques on simple, static backgrounds. This study provides a good start toward benchmarking the model, and each additional increment of data will serve to make the model more robust. The scope of this initial study is limited to a few basic cases. Its purpose is to prove the utility of lab-based study of remediation techniques and serve as a standard data set for future use. This importance of this first step of standardization will become obvious when science teams are working in parallel on issues of remediation; having a common starting point will do away with one category of difference, thereby making easier the task of determining the sources of disagreement. Further measurements will augment this data set, allowing for further constraint of the universe of possible situations. As will be discussed in the 'Going Forward' section, more data will be included in the final report of this work. Of particular interest will be the data taken with the official TSA lead collimators, which will provide more direct results for comparison with installation data.

Monitoring cure of composite resins using frequency dependent electromagnetic sensing techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Kranbuehl, D. E.; Hoff, M. S.; Loos, A. C.; Freeman, W. T., Jr.; Eichinger, D. A.

1988-01-01

A nondestructive in situ measurement technique has been developed for monitoring and measuring the cure processing properties of composite resins. Frequency dependent electromagnetic sensors (FDEMS) were used to directly measure resin viscosity during cure. The effects of the cure cycle and resin aging on the viscosity during cure were investigated using the sensor. Viscosity measurements obtained using the sensor are compared with the viscosities calculated by the Loos-Springer cure process model. Good overall agreement was obtained except for the aged resin samples.

A novel technique to monitor thermal discharges using thermal infrared imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Muthulakshmi, A L; Natesan, Usha; Ferrer, Vincent A; Deepthi, K; Venugopalan, V P; Narasimhan, S V

2013-09-01

Coastal temperature is an important indicator of water quality, particularly in regions where delicate ecosystems sensitive to water temperature are present. Remote sensing methods are highly reliable for assessing the thermal dispersion. The plume dispersion from the thermal outfall of the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam, on the southeast coast of India, was investigated from March to December 2011 using thermal infrared images along with field measurements. The absolute temperature as provided by the thermal infrared (TIR) images is used in the Arc GIS environment for generating a spatial pattern of the plume movement. Good correlation of the temperature measured by the TIR camera with the field data (r(2) = 0.89) make it a reliable method for the thermal monitoring of the power plant effluents. The study portrays that the remote sensing technique provides an effective means of monitoring the thermal distribution pattern in coastal waters.

General principles governing sampling and measurement techniques for monitoring radioactive effluents from nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitoussi, L.

1978-01-01

An explanation is given of the need to monitor the release of radioactive gases and liquid effluents from nuclear facilities, with particular emphasis on the ICRP recommendations and on the interest in this problem shown by the larger international organizations. This is followed by a description of the classes of radionuclides that are normally monitored in this way. The characteristics of monitoring 'in line' and 'by sample taking' are described; the disadvantages of in line monitoring and the problem of sample representativity are discussed. There follows an account of the general principles for measuring gaseous and liquid effluents that are applied in the techniques normally employed at nuclear facilities. Standards relating to the specifications for monitoring instruments are at present being devised by the International Electrotechnical Commission, and there are still major differences in national practices, at least as far as measurement thresholds are concerned. In conclusion, it is shown that harmonization of practices and standardization of equipment would probably help to make international relations in the field more productive. (author)

Intelligent Hardware-Enabled Sensor and Software Safety and Health Management for Autonomous UAS

Science.gov (United States)

Rozier, Kristin Y.; Schumann, Johann; Ippolito, Corey

2015-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can only be deployed if they can effectively complete their mission and respond to failures and uncertain environmental conditions while maintaining safety with respect to other aircraft as well as humans and property on the ground. We propose to design a real-time, onboard system health management (SHM) capability to continuously monitor essential system components such as sensors, software, and hardware systems for detection and diagnosis of failures and violations of safety or performance rules during the ight of a UAS. Our approach to SHM is three-pronged, providing: (1) real-time monitoring of sensor and software signals; (2) signal analysis, preprocessing, and advanced on-the- y temporal and Bayesian probabilistic fault diagnosis; (3) an unobtrusive, lightweight, read-only, low-power hardware realization using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in order to avoid overburdening limited computing resources or costly re-certi cation of ight software due to instrumentation. No currently available SHM capabilities (or combinations of currently existing SHM capabilities) come anywhere close to satisfying these three criteria yet NASA will require such intelligent, hardwareenabled sensor and software safety and health management for introducing autonomous UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS). We propose a novel approach of creating modular building blocks for combining responsive runtime monitoring of temporal logic system safety requirements with model-based diagnosis and Bayesian network-based probabilistic analysis. Our proposed research program includes both developing this novel approach and demonstrating its capabilities using the NASA Swift UAS as a demonstration platform.

Stochastic change detection in uncertain nonlinear systems using reduced-order models: classification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yun, Hae-Bum; Masri, Sami F

2009-01-01

A reliable structural health monitoring methodology (SHM) is proposed to detect relatively small changes in uncertain nonlinear systems. A total of 4000 physical tests were performed using a complex nonlinear magneto-rheological (MR) damper. With the effective (or 'genuine') changes and uncertainties in the system characteristics of the semi-active MR damper, which were precisely controlled with known means and standard deviation of the input current, the tested MR damper was identified with the restoring force method (RFM), a non-parametric system identification method involving two-dimensional orthogonal polynomials. Using the identified RFM coefficients, both supervised and unsupervised pattern recognition techniques (including support vector classification and k-means clustering) were employed to detect system changes in the MR damper. The classification results showed that the identified coefficients with orthogonal basis function can be used as reliable indicators for detecting (small) changes, interpreting the physical meaning of the detected changes without a priori knowledge of the monitored system and quantifying the uncertainty bounds of the detected changes. The classification errors were analyzed using the standard detection theory to evaluate the performance of the developed SHM methodology. An optimal classifier design procedure was also proposed and evaluated to minimize type II (or 'missed') errors

77 FR 24228 - Condition Monitoring Techniques for Electric Cables Used in Nuclear Power Plants