Determining the location and severity of a beam crack based on piezoelectric guided wave

In recent years, structural health monitoring has received extensive attention in civil and mechanical engineering communities. Due to direct and converse piezoelectric effect, piezoelectric materials, such as, PZT has provided a efficient sensing technique- piezoelectric guided wave for structural health monitoring. In this paper, a numerical study on crack identification of a cantilever steel beam based on piezoelectric guided wave has been addressed, where two PZT patches were attached to the top and bottom surfaces at the free end of beam and used as the actuator and the sensor, respectively. The interaction of the guided waves with crack, simulated by notches of varying depths or locations, is also modeled, from which the location and severity of a beam crack can be determined by the location and amplitude of additional reflected wave induced by the presence of crack.