Structural health monitoring using shaped sensors

This paper is concerned with distributed sensors to measure the response of beam and plate structures. The design of modal sensors for beam structures is well established. The design for plate structures with constant thickness sensors may be achieved by optimizing the shape of the sensor boundary, or by optimizing the effectiveness of the electrode. Most applications consider vibration control, but this paper is concerned with structural health monitoring, where the sensor output is made sensitive to changes in key stiffness parameters, for example in joints. The procedure is based on finite element models of the structures, and thus distributed transducers may be designed for arbitrary beam and plate structures. Simulated examples of a beam and a plate excited by a rotating machine are used to demonstrate the approach.