Fatigue

Fatigue
& Fracture
& Fracture
of of
Engineering
Engineering
Materials
Materials
& Structures
& Structures
doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2695.2008.01248.x

Structural health monitoring using electro-mechanical impedance

sensors
S . P A R K 1, C . - B . Y U N 1 a n d D . J . I N M A N 2
1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea, 2 Center for
Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

Received in final form 4 June 2008

A B S T R A C T This paper reports recent achievements of novel structural health monitoring (SHM)
techniques for damage diagnosis for critical members of civil, mechanical and aerospace
structures using electro-mechanical impedance sensors. The basic concept of this tech-
nique is to use simultaneously both high-frequency structural excitations and responses
employing piezoelectric sensors to monitor the local area of a structure for changes in
structural impedance that would indicate imminent damage. In this paper, several princi-
pal software and hardware issues on these topics are described. A new impedance model
is proposed that incorporates the effects of sensor and bonding defects for sensor self-
diagnosis. Temperature effects-free impedance-based damage detection algorithm using
effective frequency shifts based on cross-correlation coefficients is presented. In a sense
of tailoring wireless sensing technology to the impedance methods, an active sensor node
incorporating a miniaturized impedance sensing device, an on-board microcontroller,
and a radio frequency (RF) telemetry is introduced. A data compression algorithm is
embedded into the on-board chip of the active sensor node to enhance its local data
processing-capability. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of further studies
and future applications.

Keywords electro-mechanical impedance; piezoelectric sensors; sensor diagnosis; sen-

sor nodes; structural health monitoring; temperature effects.

INTRODUCTION by utilizing the electro-mechanical coupling property of

piezoelectric materials and utilized as a powerful and in-
Damage in civil, mechanical and aerospace structures may
novative tool for local damage detection for a variety of
come from fatigues or excessive external loads such as
structures.1–9 The basic concept of these techniques is
strong winds, earthquakes, explosions and vehicle im-
to use simultaneously both high-frequency structural ex-
pacts. Early detection of the damage or structural degra-
citations and responses employing piezoelectric sensors
dation prior to local failure can prevent catastrophic col-
to monitor the local area of a structure for changes in
lapse of those structures. In particular, the large physi-
structural impedance that would indicate imminent dam-
cal size of host structures may require innovative sens-
age. In this paper, several principal software and hard-
ing technologies utilizing appropriate software and hard-
ware issues on this topic are reviewed. A new impedance
ware systems for data acquisition/reduction for rational
model is described that incorporates the effects of sen-
structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. At its
sor and bonding defects for sensor self-diagnosis. Tem-
simplest application, a risk alarm can be provided when
perature effects-free impedance-based damage detection
the continuously measured responses from some sensors
algorithm using effective frequency shifts based on cross-
at the specific locations of those structures exceed the
correlation coefficients is presented. In a sense of tailor-
pre-set threshold level. In this sense, electro-mechanical
ing wireless sensing technology to the impedance meth-
impedance-based SHM techniques have been developed
ods, an active sensor node incorporating a miniaturized
impedance sensing device, an on-board microcontroller,
and a radio frequency (RF) telemetry is introduced. A data
compression algorithm is embedded into the on-board
Correspondence: S. Park. E-mail: shparkpc@kaist.ac.kr chip of the active sensor node to enhance its local data

714 
c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724

Fig. 1 One-dimensional electro-mechanical model between a PZT
and a host structure (Liang et al., 1994).
processing-capability. Finally, this paper concludes with
a discussion of further studies and future applications.
i=n
i=n × 100, (2)
ELECTRO-MECHANICAL IMPEDANCE-BASED
SHM
The electro-mechanical impedance-based SHM tech-
niques utilize small piezoelectric sensors (typically, PZT
sensors) attached to a structure as self-sensing actuators to
simultaneously excite the structure with high-frequency
excitations, and monitor changes in the sensor electrical
impedance signature. Additionally, the self-sensing prop-
erties of the piezoelectricity allow one piece of material
to sense the input voltage and measure the output cur-
rent. Because the PZT is bonded directly to the struc-
ture of interest, it has been shown that the mechanical
impedance of the structure is directly correlated with the
electrical impedance of the PZT. Figure 1 presents a one-
dimensional model between a PZT and a host structure.
When the PZT sensor is surface-bonded to a host struc-
ture, Liang et al. 10 showed that the electrical admittance
(inverse of the electrical impedance),Y(ω),of the PZT sen-
sor is a combined function of the mechanical impedance
of the host structure, Zs (ω) and the electrical impedance
of the PZT sensor, Za (ω), which is given by
 tween two adjacent PZT sensors was taken as 12 mm.
wl T
Y(ω) = j ω 2
ε̄33 − d 31 Ȳ E
h sequentially (not simultaneously) throughout the multi-
   
Za tan κl
+ 2
d 31 Ȳ E , (1)
Zs + Za κl
where w, l and h are the width, length and thickness of a
PZT sensor, ε̄33 T
= ε33
T
(1 − δ j ) is the complex electric per-
mittivity of a PZT sensor at constant stress, δdenotes the
dielectric loss factor of a PZT sensor, Ȳ E = Y E (1 + η j ) is
the Young’s modulus of a PZT sensor at constant electric
field, η denotes the mechanical loss factor of the PZT
sensor, d 31 is the piezoelectric constant of a PZT sensor,
Z a and Z s are the electrical and mechanical impedances
of a PZT
 sensor and a host structure, respectively, and
ρ
κ=ω Ȳ E
is the wave number and ρ denotes the mass
density of the PZT sensor.

c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 715
The host structure can be locally excited by the PZT sen-
sor scanned with a specific frequency range and simultane-
ously, the electrical impedances are measured frequency-
by-frequency at the same PZT. The frequency range can
be selected in a region where the highest density of the
resonant peaks is observed.1 By observing some changes
in the impedance data measured at the PZT, assessments
about the mechanical integrity of the host structure can
be made. While the impedance changes provide a qual-
itative assessment for damage detection, the quantitative
evaluation of damage has been traditionally made by the
use of a scalar damage metric, referred to as ‘root mean
square deviation (RMSD)’ given by


 [Re(Zi,1 ) − Re(Zi,0 )]2
RMSD (%) = i=1
2
i=1 [Re(Zi,0 )]
where Z i,0 is the impedance of the PZT measured at
healthy conditions (baseline), Z i,1 is the impedance for
the comparison with the baseline measurement at fre-
quency interval i, and n is the number of data point. In
a RMSD chart, the greater numerical value of the met-
ric and the larger difference between the baseline reading
and the subsequent reading indicates the presence of the
larger or the more damage in a structure.
Figure 2 shows an example study for the electro-
mechanical impedance-based SHM technique. A built-in
PZT sensor array was used to detect artificial cracks on
a 1/8 scale model (150 × 150 × 530 mm) of a vertical
truss member of Seongsu Bridge, Seoul, Korea, which
collapsed in 1994. The member consists of two segments
with wide flange sections of different flange thickness
welded together. Fatigue cracks developed at the welded
zone of two flanges, and caused eventual severance of the
member. The PZT sensor array composed of five PZT
sensors of 25 × 15 × 0.5 mm was placed to the outside
surface of a flange as shown in Fig. 2a. The distance be-
In the PZT sensor array, impedance data were recorded
plexer. Damage was inflicted by cutting the flange at two
locations (left and right sides) sequentially in the welded
zone. The distance between the sensor array and the cuts
was 40 mm. Three damage cases were constructed: Case
A with a cut of 2 cm on the left side, Case B with a cut
of 4 cm on the left side and Case C with a cut of 4 cm
on the left side and a cut of 2 cm on the right side. The
impedance signatures obtained at the PZT sensors 2 and
5 for an intact case and each damage case are shown in
Fig. 2b. The RMSD metric was obtained for each dam-
age case, and a threshold value for crack detection was
taken as 10 (%) that covers over PZTs 2–5s RMSD val-
ues in the Case A’s result. As shown in Fig. 2c, it could
be observed that the RMSD metric of the impedance
716 S . P A R K et al .

Fig. 2 Crack detection on a steel truss member using a PZT sensor array (Park et al., 2006).

signatures gives good information for damage localization The main limitation of the use of the aforementioned
and severity by implying the sensing area of the impedance damage metric in impedance methods is how to set appro-
method is much localized (around 50 mm for this priate decision limits or thresholds values. The decision
example). is typically made based on arbitrary values, that is, ‘small


c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724

variations’ for undamaged cases and ‘large variations’ for
damage cases. In order to diagnose damage with levels of
statistical confidence, the impedance-based monitoring is
cast in the context of an outlier detection framework.11,12
They showed that the optimal decision limits with levels
of statistical confidence for more systematic damage di-
agnosis can be established. However, it is noted that the
decision limits shall be continuously updated according
to undesirable ambient changes including sensor/bonding
layer’s deteriorations and temperature changes.
A NEW ELECTRO-MECHANICAL IMPEDANCE
MODEL FOR SENSOR SELF-DIAGNOSTICS
Various models to carry out the dynamic analysis for
the electro-mechanical impedance method have been
developed so far. Typical examples include a static
model,13 a dynamic finite element model,14 a single de-
gree of freedom (SDOF)’s impedance-based model using
spring-mass-damper (SMD) system15 and a two DOFs’
impedance-based model including a bonding layer be-
tween a PZT sensor and a host structure.16 However,
Liang et al.15 did not take into account the effect of
bonding layers between a PZT sensor and a host struc-
ture on the dynamic interaction in the coupled electro-
mechanical system. Xu and Liu16 did not consider degra-
dation of sensor quality due to ageing effects and/or that of
coupling effects due to bonding defect. Bhalla and Soh17
investigated the effects of the shear-lag on the electro-
mechanical admittance measurements. They found that
the bonding layer can significantly modify the measured
admittance signatures, and suggested the use of an ad-
hesive with high shear modulus, the smallest practicable
bond-thickness and small-sized PZT sensor in order to
minimize the influence of the bonding layer. Recently,
Annamdas and Soh18 proposed a three-dimensional (3D)
impedance model for damage analysis and PZT character-
ization and Madhav and Soh19 reported that the bonding
layer can be treated as a part of the host structure by ana-
lyzing 3D influence of the bonding layer between the PZT
sensor and the host structure. However, the metrics that
can be used for the bonding quality assessment was not
clearly identified, and the ability to discriminate bond-
ing failures from structural damage was not thoroughly
investigated.
One critical aspect of the electro-mechanical impedance-
based SHM technologies is that usually large numbers of
distributed sensors are needed to perform the required
monitoring process. In addition, the structures in ques-
tion are usually subjected to various external loading and
environmental condition changes that may adversely af-
fect the functionality of SHM sensors. The PZT sensor
self-diagnostic and validation procedure, where the sen-

c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 717
sors/actuators are confirmed to be operational, is there-
fore critically important issue to successfully implement
the SHM process. Because PZT materials are brittle,
sensor fracture and subsequent degradation of mechan-
ical/electrical properties are the common types of sen-
sor/actuator failures. In addition, the integrity of bonding
layer between a PZT sensor and a host structure should
be maintained and monitored throughout their service
lives. Saint-Pierre et al.20 and Giurgiutiu et al. 21 pro-
posed a de-bonding identification algorithm by monitor-
ing the resonance of a PZT sensor measured by elec-
trical impedances. As the de-bonding area between the
PZT sensor and the host increases, the shape of the
PZT sensor’s resonance becomes sharper and more dis-
tinctive, and the magnitudes of the host resonances are
reduced. Blackshire et al.22 studied the performance of
surface-bonded PZT sensors on operational aircraft envi-
ronment. Park et al.23,24 introduced a piezoelectric sensor-
diagnostic procedure based on tracking the imaginary
parts of the measured electrical admittance. Also, it was
confirmed that the bonding layer between a PZT sen-
sor and a host structure significantly influences the mea-
sured electrical admittance. However, it has not provided
a fully integrated electro-mechanical impedance model
that can present explicitly the influences due to sensor
quality and/or bonding effects. In this context, a new
electro-mechanical impedance model that can be utilized
for both functions of SHM and sensor diagnostics was
proposed by Park et al.25 The authors established a rig-
orous impedance model incorporating the sensor quality
index of a PZT and coupling degradation effects between
a PZT and bonding layer/host structure for better estima-
tion of the electro-mechanical impedance signatures and
sensor self-diagnostics considering sensor and/or bonding
defects on the subsequent admittance measurements.
In Eq. (1) of the previous section, because tan κl ≈ κl in
the frequency range of interest in most applications of the
impedance-based SHM, Eq. (1) can be simplified as
 
Zs
Y = j ωC 1 − κ31 2
, (3)
Zs + Za
wl T
where C(= ε̄ )
h 33
is the capacitance of the PZT sensor,
2
d 31 Ȳ E
and κ31
2
(= ε̄33
T ) is the electro-mechanical coupling factor
of the PZT sensor.10
However, Eq. (3) does not consider influences caused by
changes in sensor qualities and bonding layer’s shear lag
effects or coupling degradation effects. To overcome this
limitation, Park et al.25 proposed a rigorously integrated
impedance model including the control parameters for
sensor quality assessment and the coupling degradation
effects between a PZT and bonding layer/host structure
for better estimation of the electro-mechanical impedance
signatures and sensor diagnostics on the subsequent
718 S . P A R K et al .

admittance measurements, as displayed in Eq. (4). In the

modified impedance model, a resultant admittance,Ỹ is
given by
 
2 ξ · Zs
Ỹ = j ωC̃ 1 − κ̃31 , (4)
ξ · Zs + Za

where C̃ = a · C; a is a sensor quality index(0 ≤ a ≤ 1);

a = 0 means a complete sensor failure-condition and
a = 1 means a perfectly good condition, κ̃312
= b · κ31
2
; b is
a coupling degradation index (0 ≤ b ≤ 1); b = 0 means a
free–free condition of the PZT sensor and b = 1 means a
perfect surface-bonded condition, and ξ (= 1+K1s /K b ) is the
shear-lag coefficient of the bonding layer:26 K s is a dy-
namic stiffness (or mechanical impedance, Zs = K s /j ω) of
the host structure generalized by the PZT driving point
and K b is a dynamic stiffness (or mechanical impedance,
Zb = K b /j ω) of the bonding layer.
Note that Park et al.23 demonstrated that the degra-
dation of sensor quality can be regarded as a decrease
of the capacitive value of the PZT sensor. Therefore,
the modified electro-mechanical impedance formulation,
Eq. (4) might be effectively utilized for both functions of
structural damage detection and sensor diagnostics on the
subsequent admittance measurements. The feasibility of
the modified model has been demonstrated by a series of
parametric studies using a simple example of PZT-driven
SDOF spring-mass-damper system. The material prop-
erties for the PZT in the parametric studies were decided
as ones of the PZT5A manufactured by Piezo-Systems,
INC.27 The results are illustrated in Fig. 3. It was con-
firmed that the degradation of the sensor quality and/or
bonding layer can be identified by monitoring the slope
of the imaginary part of the electrical admittance. The
degradation of sensor quality would cause a downward
shift in the slope of the imaginary part of the electri-
cal admittance. Contrary to the sensor degradation, the
bonding defects would cause an upward shift in the slope Fig. 3 PZT sensor self-diagnostics using a modified impedance
of the imaginary part of the admittance. model (Park et al., 2007).

Recently, Koo et al.30 proposed a new damage detec-

TEMPERATURE EFFECTS-FREE DAMAGE
DETECTION TECHNIQUES
It has been reported that temperature variation results
in a significant impedance variation, particularly a fre-
quency shift in the impedance, which may lead to erro-
neous diagnostic results of real structures by several re-
searchers.28,29 Park et al.28 used a modified RMSD metric,
which compensates for horizontal and vertical shifts of the
impedance in order to minimize the impedance signature
tion strategy, referred to as ‘effective frequency shift’
based on the maximum cross-correlation (CC) coefficient
between the reference impedance data and concurrent
impedance data. The effective frequency shift (ω̃) is de-
fined as the shift corresponding to the maximum cor-
relation between the reference impedance data and the
concurrent impedance data as
max CC
ω̃
drifts caused by the temperature or normal variations. 1 
N
They29 also investigated the influence of the structure- = max (x(ωi ) − x̄(ωi ))(yi (ωi − ω̃) − ȳ(ωi − ω̃)) /
ω̃ N
actuator interactions and temperature on the impedance i=1
signatures. σX σY , (5)


c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
 STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 719

Fig. 4 Temperature effects-free impedance-based crack detection (Koo et al., 2007).

where x̄(ωi ) and ȳ(ωi ) are the mean values of the
impedance signatures of the intact cases at ωi ; and σX
and σY are the standard deviations for each.
The proposed strategy was applied to health monitor-
ing of a lab-sized steel truss bridge member of Fig. 2a
under the temperature varying environment. As shown in
Fig. 4a, a mass flow controller (MFC) sensor was used
to detect the presence of an artificial cut inflicted on the
specimen. An MFC sensor of 28 × 14 × 0.02 mm3 was
placed with a distance of 40 mm away from the middle


c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
720 S . P A R K et al .
of the welded zone on the outside surface of a flange. A
thermo-coupler was also placed near the MFC sensor for
temperature measurement. The impedance and tempera-
ture measurements were carried out continuously during a
long period for the healthy (intact) and damage states. An
artificial cut of 4 mm long and 0.5 mm wide was inflicted
at Test 199 on the welded zone of the specimen. As shown
in Fig. 4b, it was observed that traditional RMSD met-
rics without any temperature compensation algorithms
show erroneous diagnostic results including false alarms
and damage missing cases. To compensate the adverse
temperature variation effects, maximum CCs of Eq. (5)
were calculated. Figure 4c shows a typical example of the
temperature compensation. In two impedance signatures
for intact cases (Tests 1 and 58) measured at the differ-
ent temperature (15.3 ◦ C and 25.3 ◦ C), it is observed that
after the effective frequency shift, the impedance signa-
ture of Test 58 is well matched with the reference sig-
nature of Test 1. After applying this temperature com-
pensation algorithm to all measured impedance signals, it
was demonstrated that the maximum CC values with the
effective frequency shift provided good damage diagnos-
tic results, introducing an abrupt drop after the 4 mm cut
damage inflicted at Test 199, as shown in Fig. 4d. How-
ever, the CC values among the signatures for the intact
cases are still suffering from significant fluctuation due to
the temperature variations, which may cause significant
false alarming as well as damage missing cases. In order
to determine a proper decision limit (or threshold level)
for damage detection, statistical decision methods such as
the outlier analysis are required. In this study, the opti-
mal threshold value for damage detection considering the
fluctuation in the CC values was decided as 0.742 (with a
confidence level [CL] of 99.5%) through an outlier analy-
sis. As expected, it has been found that after the 4 mm cut
damage infliction the CC values dropped abruptly under
the threshold value with a significant difference, so that
reliable SHM and damage detection may be carried out
under temperature variations by the present impedance-
based method. However, it is noted that the decision limit
(or threshold level) shall be properly selected consider-
ing the daily temperature range and the minimum target
damage level for detection, and continuous updating of
the decision limit (or threshold level) is needed, as more
data would be available, so that more reliable SHM may
be achieved on real structures under temperature varying
condition.
Thus, it can be concluded that the temperature effects
on the impedance data would cause only parallel shifts
with both vertical and horizontal directions keeping their
original patterns without any changes on themselves while
structural damage effects would cause considerable sig-
nal changes such as the resonant peak values’ shifts and
new peak’s appearances or original peak’s disappearances.
More detailed descriptions of the temperature compen-
sation techniques on the impedance measurements are
presented from Park et al.28 and Koo et al.30
HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
FOR IMPEDANCE-BASED SHM
Tailoring wireless sensing technology
to the impedance-based SHM
By the way, the use of wireless sensors and net-
works are becoming increasingly popular as a research
topic for SHM system. In particular, development of
a self-contained wireless sensor incorporating all the
functions including on-board actuating/sensing, power
generation, on-board data processing/damage diagnos-
tic and RF module is strongly required. With the
current trend of SHM heading towards unobtru-
sive self-contained sensors, the approaches integrating
micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and RF
telemetry-based active sensing systems on the electro-
mechanical impedance-based damage detection tech-
nique are being investigated untiringly by several re-
searchers.31,32,33
The on-board active sensor system interrogates a struc-
ture utilizing a PZT sensor and the low-cost impedance
method, and all the structural interrogation and data anal-
ysis is pursued in near real-time at the sensor location.
Moreover, a wireless telemetry that alerts the end-user
to any harmful changes in the structure can be read-
ily installed. Conventional impedance analyzers, such as
HP4294A for the electro-mechanical impedance method
are too expensive and too bulky, which is not attractive
for real-world application. So, a new impedance measur-
ing chip device of low cost, portable and readily combined
with a wireless telemetry was developed by Analog Device,
AD5933, which costs only 150$. Fig. 5 shows AD5933 and
its block diagram. Park et al.34 reported a successful cor-
rosion detection result on an aluminium beam structure
by utilizing the miniaturized impedance measuring chip,
AD5933. Mascarenas et al.32 devised an active sensor node,
as displayed in Fig. 6, which consists of AD5933, a micro-
controller (ATmega128L) and an RF transmitter (XBee).
A PZT sensor interrogates a host structure by using a self-
sensing technique of the AD5933. All the process includ-
ing structural interrogation, data acquisition, signal pro-
cessing and damage diagnostic is being performed at the
sensor location by the microcontroller. And only damage
diagnostic result implying ‘damage’ or ‘no damage’ will
be transmitted to the end-user through the RF data trans-
mission. Finally, the light-emitting diodes (LED) shows
‘green’ or ‘red’ colour according to ‘intact’ or ‘damage’
state, respectively.

c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
 STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 721

Fig. 5 A miniaturized impedance measuring chip (AD5933).

Fig. 6 An active sensor node for wireless impedance-based SHM system (Mascarenas et al., 2006).

Embedding PCA-data compression algorithm into dimensions 61.5 × 5 × 0.4 cm3 jointed together with
the active sensor node four pairs of bolts and nuts of diameter 8 mm. The MFC
sensor was placed at 16 cm apart from the middle of the
On the use of the aforementioned active sensor node,
joint section of the specimen. Note that the boundary
wirelessly transmitting the health-diagnostic information
condition of the specimen was kept with a simply sup-
to end-user is very crucial. Because the size of the raw
ported condition during all the experiment. The electro-
impedance data is prohibitive for a direct use and the raw
mechanical impedance for an intact case (baseline) was
impedance data are usually very sensitive to some am-
measured at a frequency range of 60–70 kHz from the
bient noise effects, the PCA-data compression technique
MFC sensor. Then, the several damage cases with one,
could be applied as a pre-processing module to reduce the
two and three loose bolts on the specimen were inflicted
data dimensionality and eliminate the unwanted noises. In
in sequence, and the electro-mechanical impedances were
this technique, the most significant principal components
recorded for each damage case. From the comparison be-
(PCs) obtained from the raw impedances contain those
tween the traditional RMSD method without any data
features that are dominant in most of the frequency re-
pre-processing (Fig. 7b) and the new RMSD method with
sponses.
PCA-data compression (Fig. 7c), it was observed that the
The effectiveness of the proposed PCA-data compres-
results using the impedances reconstructed with only two
sion approach for the impedance-based wireless SHM
PCs showed more significant damage detection capabil-
was verified through an experimental study inspecting
ity than the result using the original raw impedance data.
loose bolts in a bolt-jointed aluminium structure by Park
Therefore, it can be addressed that the PCA-data com-
et al.35 As shown in Fig. 7a, a MFC sensor of 4 × 2.54 ×
pression provides some noise elimination effects so as to
0.0267 cm3 associated with AD5933 was surface-mounted
enhance the damage detection capability of the traditional
to the specimen that consists of two aluminium beam of
impedance-based SHM technique. This result presents


c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724
722 S . P A R K et al .

Fig. 7 Impedance-based damage detection using PCA-data compression (Park et al., 2008).

that the RMSD method using only a few PCs, which CONCLUSIONS
might be the most sensitive due to damage, extracted from
This paper presents recent achievements in terms of sev-
the original impedance data will be able to reduce a false-
eral principal software and hardware issues on damage di-
positive damage call in real-world SHM applications. In
agnosis using electro-mechanical impedance sensors for
addition, this study contributes to both improvement of
online health monitoring of critical members in civil, me-
local data analysis capability and saving of power con-
chanical and aerospace structures. First, a new impedance
sumption of the on-board chip of the aforementioned
model for both functions of structural damage detection
active sensor node.


c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724

and sensor self-diagnostics was formulated that incorpo-
rates the effects of sensor and bonding defects. Then, the
temperature effects-compensation technique referred to
as ‘effective frequency shifts’ was introduced. In a latter
part of this paper, an active sensor node incorporating
a miniaturized impedance sensing device, an on-board
microcontroller, and a RF/wireless telemetry was inves-
tigated, and a PCA-data compression algorithm was em-
bedded to the microprocessor for better local data anal-
ysis capability of the active sensor node. This result con-
tributes to both eliminating of ambient noise effects and
saving of power consumption in the active sensor node.
The final goal of this ongoing research is to develop a self-
contained on-board sensor system that can be utilized for
online continuous health monitoring of real civil, me-
chanical and aerospace structures. Another important hot
issue for this system is energy harvesting or power man-
agement problem. The solutions of these challenges are
being pursued by the authors at the moment
The present approaches yield an improved methodol-
ogy for real-time damage diagnosis for critical members
of civil, mechanical and aerospace structures. One can
envision the current systems placed on the critical mem-
bers of in situ real structures including bridges, buildings,
power plants, airplanes and rockets to detect the promis-
ing some damage. A significant safety enhancement and
broad cost savings are predicted through the wide applica-
tion of this novel method for damage detection and failure
prevention.
Acknowledgements
This work was jointly supported by the Korea Research
Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government
(MOEHRD) (KRF-2005–213-D00092), the Smart Infra-
Structure Technology Center (SISTeC) at KAIST spon-
sored by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation
(KOSEF) and the Infra-Structure Assessment Research
Center (ISARC) sponsored by Ministry of Construction
and Transportation (MOCT), Korea. This material is
also based upon work supported by the National Sci-
ence Foundation under Grant No. CMS 0120827. Any
opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science
Foundation. This financial support is greatly appreciated.
Finally, the authors thank Prof. Yongrae Roh of Kyung-
pook National University, Korea and Dr. Gyuhae Park
of Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA for giving their
kind guidance during the experiments.
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c 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 31, 714–724