A Novel Design for Wireless and Flexible Damage Detection Using Guided Waves

Most of the structural damage detection approaches available in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) literatures require direct contact between targets and the sensors since the collect data have to transfer to the data processing and diagnosis hub. These methods are found predominantly feasible for offline SHM systems; however, wiring in an online SHM has been found to be arduous. In this study, with ceramic powders and graphene conductive particles introduced, a flexible piezoelectric transducer is fabricated by tape casting process. Then, a wireless transducer system based on magnetic resonance coupling is design to achieve a non-contact guided wave transmission. Two coils, one of which makes direct electrical connection to the flexible transducer and the other of which is connected to the input channel of the receiver are designed to perform the wireless transmission. The guided wave signal generated by the flexible transducer can be wirelessly transferred from the transducer coil to the receiver coil based on magnetic resonance coupling concept. The prototype of the proposed wireless guided wave system is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the guided wave signal transmission. The results indicate that the developed wireless transducer system provides a potential method for SHM using guided waves. Moreover, the developed integrated transducer with lowcost and small size can be attached to the detected structure without long wires, which will enhance the robustness and convenience of defect detection.