Study of the Effects of Thermal Stress on Piezoelectric Sensors for the Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract

During the in-service lifetime of an aircraft, the surface bond of any SHM transductor is submitted to thermal stresses, induced by aviation environmental conditions. In this paper, the influence of a disbond, whether willingly introduced or caused by thermal aging, on the ability of a PZT ultrasonic transducer to generate and receive Lamb waves is numerically and experimentally studied.