A Practical Structural Health Monitoring System for High-Speed Train Car-Body

A practical structural health monitoring (SHM) system based on Lamb wave for high-speed train car-body structures is presented. The system can detect the occurrence and report the location and probabilistic size of structural damage in real-time. Based on the theory of Lamb wave, a piezoelectric transducer array network is implemented to generate and acquire the detection signal by mounting on the surface of the structure to be monitored. An algorithm, that can locate, quantify and image the damage based on the damage index that indicates the differential between baseline signal and current acquired signal, is proposed to develop the system. Furthermore, a system framework of three-layer architecture and a diagnosis strategy are designed to build the SHM system. Finally, the system is implemented on China's latest high-speed train (CRH380A) operated along the Chengdu-Chongqing High-Speed Railway after well tuning then demonstrates the feasibility and reliable in practical application.