A boundary element model for structural health monitoring using piezoelectric transducers

In this paper, for the first time, the boundary element method (BEM) is used for modelling smart structures instrumented with piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The host structure and its cracks are formulated with the 3D dual boundary element method (DBEM), and the modelling of the piezoelectric transducers implements a 3D semi-analytical finite element approach. The elastodynamic analysis of the structure is performed in the Laplace domain and the time history is obtained by inverse Laplace transform. The sensor signals obtained from BEM simulations show excellent agreement with those from finite element modelling simulations and experiments. This work provides an alternative methodology for modelling smart structures in structural health monitoring applications. (paper)