Testing and Analyzing the Electrical Performances of Piezoelectric SMART Layer

The electrical performances of piezoelectric SMART Layer (Stanford Multi-Actuator-Receiver Transduction Layer) were studied by active monitoring technique based on Lamb wave. The signal uniformity and consistency were examined and compared with the performances of piezoelectric wafers. It is pointed that sensor responses overlapped on the same plot in four group experiments. These maximal amplitude biases relative to average amplitude were as follows: 3.54% in signal consistency over time; 6.2% in signal consistency on loading; 5.9% in signal consistency after loading; 11.7% in signal uniformity. The results indicate that the piezoelectric SMART Layer could not only keep consistency of piezoelectric wafer's electrical performances, but also improve its signal uniformity, and therefore could permit them to be used for active, on-line structural health monitoring in real applications