Contactless and Vibration-Based Damage Detection in Rectangular Cement Beams Using Magnetoelastic Ribbon Sensors.

This study investigated the innovative use of magnetoelastic sensors to detect the formation of single cracks in cement beams under bending vibrations. The detection method involved monitoring changes in the bending mode spectrum when a crack was introduced. The sensors, functioning as strain sensors, were placed on the beams, and their signals were detected non-invasively using a nearby detection coil. The beams were simply supported, and mechanical impulse excitation was applied. The recorded spectra displayed three distinct peaks representing different bending modes. The sensitivity for crack detection was determined to be a 24% change in the sensing signal for every 1% decrease in beam volume due to the crack. Factors influencing the spectra were investigated, including pre-annealing of the sensors, which improved the detection signal. The choice of beam support material was also explored, revealing that steel yielded better results than wood. Overall, the experiments demonstrated that magnetoelastic sensors enabled the detection of small cracks and provided qualitative information about their location.

Magnetoelastic Ribbons as Vibration Sensors for Real-Time Health Monitoring of Rotating Metal Beams.

In the current work, magnetoelastic material ribbons are used as vibration sensors to monitor, in real time and non-destructively, the mechanical health state of rotating beam blades. The magnetoelastic material has the form of a thin ribbon and is composed of Metglas alloy 2826 MB. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, an experiment was performed to test the ability of the ribbon to detect and transmit the vibration behavior of four rotating blades, while the second stage was the same as the first but with minor damages introduced to the blades. As far as the first stage is concerned, the results show that the sensor can detect and transmit with great accuracy the vibratory behavior of the rotating blades, through which important information about the mechanical health state of the blade can be extracted. Specifically, the fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum of the recorded signal revealed five dominant peaks in the frequency range 0-3 kHz, corresponding to the first five bending modes of the blades. The identification process was accomplished using ANSYS modal analysis, and the comparison results showed deviation values of less than 1% between ANSYS and the experimental values. In the second stage, two types of damages were introduced to the rotating blades, an edge cut and a hole. The damages were scaled in number from one blade to another, with the first blade having only one side cut while the last blade had two side cuts and two holes. The results, as was expected, show a measurable shifting on the frequency values of the bending modes, thus proving the ability of the proposed magnetoelastic sensors to detect and transmit changes of the mechanical state of rotating blades in real time.

A New Method for the Measurement of the Diffusion Coefficient of Adsorbed Vapors in Thin Zeolite Films, Based on Magnetoelastic Sensors.

In the current work an experimental method is used in order to calculate the diffusivity D (diffusion coefficient) of various vapors in thin zeolite films. The method is based on adsorption data from magnetoelastic sensors on top of which a zeolite layer was synthesized, and the diffusivity is extracted by fitting the data to Fick's laws of diffusion. In particular, the method is demonstrated for two volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors on two different zeolites, the p-Xylene adsorption in Faujasite type zeolite with D=1.89×10-13 m2/s at 120 °C and the propene adsorption in Linde Type A type zeolite with D=5.9×10-14 m2/s at 80 °C, two diffusion coefficients which are extracted experimentally for first time. Our results are within the order of magnitude of other VOC/zeolite values reported in literature.