Impact and damage detection method utilizing L-shaped piezoelectric sensor array

This paper presents a method that integrates passive and active-sensing techniques for the structural health monitoring of plate-like structures. Three piezoelectric transducers are deployed in a L-shape to detect and locate an impact event by measuring and processing the acoustic emission data. The same sensor arrays are used to estimate the subsequent structural damage using guided waves. Because this method does not require a prior knowledge of the structural parameters, such as the wave velocity profile in various directions, accurate results could be achieved even on anisotropic or curved plates. A series of experiments was performed on plates, including a spar-wing structure, to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. The performance was also compared to that of traditional approaches and the superior capability of the proposed method was experimentally demonstrated.