Study of Impact Damage in PVA-ECC Beam under Low-Velocity Impact Loading Using Piezoceramic Transducers and PVDF Thin-Film Transducers

Baoxin Qi; Qingzhao Kong; Hui Qian; Devendra Patil; Ing Lim; Mo Li; Dong Liu; Gangbing Song

doi:10.3390/s18020671

Study of Impact Damage in PVA-ECC Beam under Low-Velocity Impact Loading Using Piezoceramic Transducers and PVDF Thin-Film Transducers

Sensors (Basel). 2018 Feb 24;18(2):671. doi: 10.3390/s18020671.

Authors

Baoxin Qi^{1

2}, Qingzhao Kong³, Hui Qian⁴, Devendra Patil⁵, Ing Lim⁶, Mo Li⁷, Dong Liu⁸, Gangbing Song^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ College of Civil Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, China. qibaoxin2005@163.com.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. qibaoxin2005@163.com.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. qkong@uh.edu.
⁴ College of Civil Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China. chansteed@126.com.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. deven1p@gmail.com.
⁶ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. ilim@uh.edu.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, E4145 Engineering Gateway, Irvine, CA 92617, USA. mo.li@uci.edu.
⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. dongliu@uh.edu.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. gsong@central.uh.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. gsong@central.uh.edu.

Abstract

Compared to conventional concrete, polyvinyl alcohol fiber reinforced engineering cementitious composite (PVA-ECC) offers high-strength, ductility, formability, and excellent fatigue resistance. However, impact-induced structural damage is a major concern and has not been previously characterized in PVA-ECC structures. We investigate the damage of PVA-ECC beams under low-velocity impact loading. A series of ball-drop impact tests were performed at different drop weights and heights to simulate various impact energies. The impact results of PVA-ECC beams were compared with mortar beams. A combination of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) thin-film sensors and piezoceramic-based smart aggregate were used for impact monitoring, which included impact initiation and crack evolution. Short-time Fourier transform (STFT) of the signal received by PVDF thin-film sensors was performed to identify impact events, while active-sensing approach was utilized to detect impact-induced crack evolution by the attenuation of a propagated guided wave. Wavelet packet-based energy analysis was performed to quantify failure development under repeated impact tests.

Keywords: PVA-ECC beam; PVDF transducers; active sensing approach; impact damage detection; piezoceramic transducers; short-time Fourier transform; smart aggregate.