Chapter 2

Removing Temperature Effects

2.1 Temperature Effects on Piezoelectric Materials

2.1.1 Theory
The electromechanical interaction of a PZT with its host structure is described by Equation (1.3). The first term in the equation is the capacitive admittance of a free PZT which appears as a gradual increase in an electrical admittance with frequency. The second term includes the mechanical impedance of both the PZT and the host structure. When a PZT is bonded onto a structure, its own mechanical impedance, Z a , is basically fixed. Therefore, it is the structures impedance, Z s , that uniquely determines the contribution of the second term to the overall admittance. The contribution of the second term shows up in the admittance versus frequency plot as sharp peaks above the baseline electrical admittance. Since these peaks

correspond to specific structural resonances, they constitute a unique description of the dynamic behavior of the structure. Hence, changes in this impedance pattern can be attributed to damage or some other physical change in the structure.
T In the first term, the permittivity, 33 , is known to vary significantly with temperature.

As shown in Equation (2.1), the permittivity is proportional to the relative dielectric constant, K . Figure 2.1 shows the variation of the relative dielectric constant, K , of typical piezoelectric materials with temperature change, and where 0 is the permittivity of free space.

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 T = 0 K

( 0 = 8.85 10 12 farad / meter )

(2.1)

Figure 2.1: Influence of temperature on the relative dielectric constant, K [26]

Figure 2.2: Influence of temperature on the piezoelectric strain constant, d 3 x [26]

Figure 2.2 shows the variation of the piezoelectric strain constant, d 3 x , with temperature change. These graphs are supplied by a manufacturer [26]. As can be seen in the figures, an increase in temperature leads to an increase in both the relative dielectric constant and the piezoelectric strain constant. The 5H shows significant increase in both of them. Although the 5A is less sensitive to temperature changes than the 5H, it still exhibits a significant temperature

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dependency. Also, the Youngs modulus of PZT is known to being slightly dependent on the change in temperature.

Among the temperature dependent constants, the relative dielectric constant exhibits the most significant effect on the electric impedance of PZT. It modifies the first term, the capacitive admittance of free PZT, and causes a baseline shift in the electrical admittance. The piezoelectric strain constant and the Youngs modulus also result in a baseline shift, however, the effect on the overall admittance can be negligible compared with the relative dielectric constant.

2.1.2 Experimental Results

In this section, the temperature effects on a free PZT is investigated experimentally. The experiment was conducted by suspending a PZT (5A) specimen (30 mm x 30 mm x 0.254 mm) inside an oven equipped with a temperature controller (Figure 2.3). Using the controller, the temperature in the oven was varied from 80 to 160 F (26.7 to 71.1 C) in steps of 20 F. A Hewlett-Packard electrical impedance analyzer (model HP4194A), which is shown in Figure 2.4, was used to measure the PZTs electrical impedance. At each step, the impedance was measured after the temperature had reached steady state. The measured impedance data was transferred from the impedance analyzer to a PC through a GPIB bus for post processing. All the control, communication and data acquisition were accomplished by a dedicated software program coded by a former CIMSS researcher.

Figure 2.3: Oven with a temperature controller

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Figure 2.4: HP4194A electrical impedance analyzer and PC for data transfer

As can be seen in Figure 2.5, an increase in temperature leads to a decrease in the impedance magnitude. This baseline shift is due to the temperature dependency of piezoelectric constants as mentioned before. There were no structural resonances of the free PZT existed in these frequency ranges. The resonant frequencies of the PZT were avoided so we can focus only on the effect of piezoelectric properties.

100 Magnitude V/A 80F 120F 160F

80

60

40 25

30 Frequency kHz

35

40

100 Magnitude V/A 80F 120F 160F

80

60

40 85

90 Frequency kHz

95

100

Figure 2.5: Temperature effect on the electrical impedance of a free PZT

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2.2 Temperature Effects on Structure Being Monitored

2.2.1 Theory
In the previous section, it is shown that piezoelectric materials such as PZT have strong temperature dependency, which causes significant variation of the electrical impedance with temperature change. In this section, temperature effects on a structure being monitored are investigated.

The Youngs modulus varies slightly with temperature and the thermal expansion of the material changes structural dimensions in free structures and induces stresses in constrained structures. However, to a large extent precise and detailed material property data at slight temperature variations is lacking. Most of the previous work is concerned with very large magnitudes of temperature variations at extremely high temperatures, as usually encountered in the aerospace field, where this structural health monitoring technique may not yet be applicable. As well, in complex structures, the analytical modeling of the temperature effects would be a tremendous task. According to the published literature [27], [28], it is obvious that changes in temperature have a distinct effect on the dynamic properties of structures, which is dependent on boundary conditions, temperature distribution and structure materials. However, the exact nature of these relationships in the frequency ranges we test could not be established from previously developed models.

A simple steel beam with free-free boundary condition is used for the analytical study of the variations in structural response caused by temperature changes. Only the shifts in resonant frequencies are discussed here. Experimental investigations have shown that the Youngs

modulus of carbon steel varies linearly with temperature [29]. Thus, the Youngs modulus can be written as functions of temperature based on its rates of change around reference temperature,

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E (T ) = E 0 +

E (T T0 ) = E 0 + T T

(2.2)

where E is the Youngs modulus at the measuring temperature, E 0 is the Youngs modulus at the reference temperature, T is the measuring temperature, T0 is the reference temperature, and

is the linear change in Youngs modulus with respect to temperature.

It is also shown experimentally that the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of steel is approximately constant over the small temperature range. Therefore, the structural dimensions can be written as functions of temperature, w = w0 (1 + T ) l = l0 (1 + T ) t = t 0 (1 + T )

(2.3a) (2.3b) (2.3c)

where w is the width of the beam, w0 is the reference width of the beam, l is the length of the beam, l0 is the reference length of the beam, t is the thickness of the beam, t 0 is the reference thickness of the beam, and is the mean coefficient of linear thermal expansion.

Due to the thermal expansion, the beam density per unit volume also varies with temperature. Since the mass of the beam remains the same regardless of temperature and the beam is assumed isotropic, we can write

0 M M M = = = 3 3 V (1 + T ) 3 w0 l0 t 0 (1 + T ) V0 (1 + T )

(2.4)

where M is the mass of the beam, is the mass density of the beam, 0 is the mass density of the beam at the reference temperature, V is the volume of the beam, and V0 is the volume of the

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beam at the reference temperature.

The natural frequencies of the free-free beam in bending has well-known solutions for the first several modes, which is: fr =

r 2 2

EI A

(2.5)

where f r is the natural frequency in Hz of the rth bending mode, r is the weight for the rth bending mode, I is the area moment of inertia of the beam, and A is the area of the cross section of the beam. For a beam with a constant rectangular cross section, I = wt 3 12 and A = wt . Then, Equation (2.5) can be rewritten to account for the temperature dependency of the material properties by incorporating Equations (2.2) - (2.4) as follows:

fr =

(r l) 2 t0 4l0
2

( E 0 + T )(1 + T ) 3 0

(2.6)

and, since the natural frequency at the reference temperature can be expressed as,

f r0 =

(r l ) 2 t 0 4l0
2

E0 30

(2.7)

then the ratio of the natural frequency shifting with temperature can be defined as follows:

fr = f r0

( E 0 + T )(1 + T ) E0

(2.8)

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The following values are used for material properties of steel. E0 = 2.1 x 1011 N/m2, = 6.0 x 10-6, = -3.7 x 107 N/m2 Therefore, the term ( E 0 + T ) in this equation is dominant for changes in temperature. Figure 2.6 shows the ratio of the natural frequency of steel beam to the natural frequency at the reference temperature, f r f r 0 , as a function of temperature. The reference temperature is 75 F. The result indicates that an increase in temperature leads to a decrease in resonant frequencies. This is due to the Youngs modulus effect because is a negative value. On the other hand, the thermal expansion increases the resonant frequencies of beam, though the effect is very small.

1.01 Ratio of Natural Frequency (1 at 75F)

1.005

0.995

0.99

0.985

0.98

50

100

150 200 Temperature F

250

300

Figure 2.6: Predicted ratio of natural frequency of the steel beam shifting with temperature (reference temperature = 75 F)

2.2.2 Experimental Results

The experiments were performed in the following manner. First, the effect of

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temperature on the resonant frequencies and peak resonant magnitude of the beam was investigated at low frequency range. Next, the temperature effect on the interaction between a PZT and its host structure was examined. A free-free steel beam (30 mm x 250 mm x 0.85 mm) with a PZT bonded in the middle was used.

The beam was put into the oven mentioned before and the measurements were also taken in the temperature range of 80 to 160 F. Figure 2.7 is a schematic of the experimental setup. For the first experiment, the beam was excited by the PZT bonded in the middle. A Kistler miniature accelerometer (model 8728A500) and a PCB signal conditioner (model 482A16) were used to measure the response acceleration of the beam and the frequency response function (FRF) was obtained by a Tektronix FFT analyzer (model 2630). Secondly, the electrical impedance of the PZT was measured by using a Hewlett-Packard electrical impedance analyzer (model HP4194A). The measurements were taken at two frequency ranges, 3 to 5 kHz and 70 to 80 kHz. The first one is to compare with the FRF of the beam and the second one is the frequency range at which the impedance-based structural health monitoring technique is normally used.

Excitation Voltage Accelerometer

PZT

Signal Conditioner

Impedance Analyzer

Beam PZT

FFT Analyzer

Computer (PC)

Computer (PC) Oven with Temperature Controller

Figure 2.7: Schematic of the experiment on temperature effects

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The FRF of the free-free steel beam is shown in Figure 2.8. The numerator of the FRF is the output voltage from the accelerometer on the beam and the denominator is the input voltage to the PZT. It is observed that an increase in temperature leads to shifting of resonant frequencies and fluctuations in peak response magnitude. The shifting of the peak frequencies indicates a variation in the structural stiffness, caused by changes in the material and structural dimensional properties. Likewise, variations in the peak response magnitude suggest a dampingrelated phenomenon. Hence, it can be said that a combination of both structural stiffness and damping variations are involved in temperature change. Incidentally, the resonance near 3.6 kHz is the 10th bending mode and 4.4 kHz is the 11th bending mode

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80F 120F 160F

Magnitude V/V

10

-1

10

-2

3.5

4 Frequency kHz

4.5

Figure 2.8: FRF of the steel beam with temperature change

Figure 2.9 indicates the comparison of the analytical frequency shift with the experimental. The solid line represents the analytically predicted value and the asterisks

represent the averaged experimental results of the first ten bending modes. Both demonstrate the same characteristics, i.e., the natural frequencies decrease as temperature increases. The error between the predicted and measured natural frequencies is less than 1 %.

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1.02 Ratio of Natural Frequency (1 at 80F) 1.015 Analytical Experimental 1.01 1.005 1 0.995 0.99 0.985 0.98 50

100 Temperature F

150

200

Figure 2.9: Comparison of the analytical frequency shift with the experimental

Figure 2.10 shows the electrical impedance of the PZT on the beam. A real part, an imaginary part and a magnitude are demonstrated. All these plots indicate that the change in temperature leads to a horizontal shift and the peak frequencies of these plots match with those of the FRF plot. This verifies that the electrical impedance of PZT constitutes a unique signature of the dynamic behavior of the structure. In the imaginary part and the magnitude plots, a drift, which is caused by the capacitive property of PZT, can be found. Since the drift makes resonant peaks unclear sometimes, we usually focus on the real part to assess damage in the impedancebased structural health monitoring technique. The experiments conducted during the various case studies at CIMSS have also shown that the real part is more sensitive to changes in structural integrity.

Figure 2.11 is the impedance versus frequency plot with change in temperature at high frequency range. As expected, the horizontal shifts of impedance peaks are significant compared with low frequency range. Some changes in the peak level also can be found.

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600 Real V/A 400 200 0 -500 Imag V/A 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 80F 120F 160F

-1000

80F 120F 160F 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 80F 120F 160F 5

-1500 Magnitude V/A

1500

1000

500

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8 4 4.2 Frequency kHz

4.4

4.6

4.8

Figure 2.10: Electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the steel beam with temperature change

45 40 35 30 Real V/A 25 20 15 10 5 0 70 72 74 76 Frequency kHz 78 80 80F 100F 120F 140F 160F

Figure 2.11: Electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the steel beam at high frequency range with temperature change

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2.3 Compensation Technique

As seen in the previous sections, the dynamic response of both PZTs and structures is dependent on temperature. The impedance variation associated with temperature change is similar to that produced by the presence of damage, and thus could lead to a wrong conclusion regarding the integrity of the structure in question. Therefore, a temperature compensation technique is necessary to minimize the effects of ambient or structural temperature changes in the impedance-based structural health monitoring.

A couple of temperature compensation techniques were proposed at CIMSS, however, they are not practical. The method presented by Sun et al. [30], which uses cross correlation to correct the horizontal shift in the signature pattern, does not work if the signature has even a small distortion. The method presented by Krishnamurthy et al. [31] requires some preliminary impedance measurements of free PZTs and does not consider the temperature effects on the structure being monitored.

Therefore, we have developed a new compensation technique [32] to minimize the effects of ambient or structural temperature changes. The temperature compensation technique should account for the temperature effects on the structure being monitored as well as the PZT sensor-actuators. Nevertheless, in complex real world structures, a compensation technique based on an analytical modeling of the temperature effects may not be practical due to the complex constitutive thermo-electrical-mechanical model of piezoelectric materials and the requirement of the complicated modeling of structures. Thus, an empirical approach is used to minimize the temperature effects in the impedance-based structural health monitoring technique.

Fortunately, the vertical and horizontal shifts of impedance or admittance pattern can be considered as uniform in a narrow frequency range as seen in the previous section; that is, the entire signature pattern essentially translates vertically and horizontally. On the other hand, the

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impedance or admittance variation due to structural damage is somewhat local and irregular. This feature allows us to remove the temperature effect from the impedance-based technique.

The following is the procedure of the temperature compensation. At first, the vertical shift is simply corrected by the difference in overall average value of the original and the interrogated impedance patterns as shown below:

v =

Re( Z
i =1

i ,2

Re( Z
i =1

i ,1

) (2.9)

where v is the vertical shift, Z i ,1 is the original impedance at frequency interval i (baseline measurement), Z i ,2 interrogated impedance at frequency interval i (subsequent measurement), and n is the number of data points.

Next, the data are interpolated to increase the frequency resolution if necessary. The number of data points or frequency lines, n , increases to N . Finally, the horizontal shift is searched by the iteration to minimize the damage metric, which is defined as follows:

M = Re( Z i ,1 ) Re( Z i + h ,2 ) v
i =1

}]

(2.10)

where M is the damage metric (squared difference) and h is the horizontal shift (data point shift). The damage metric is constructed to give some indication of the level of damage

compared with the baseline impedance measurement. Thus, the optimal v and h which minimize the effects of temperature variation are found and the measured impedance is compensated by vertical and horizontal translations.

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The temperature compensation technique is applied to the data of the beam experiment. Figure 2.12 demonstrates the result. The solid 80 F line shows the baseline impedance

measurement. Compared with Figure 2.11, it can be said that the temperature compensation technique successfully minimizes the temperature effects.

45 40 35 30 Real V/A 25 20 15 10 5 0 70 72 74 76 Frequency kHz 78 80 80F 100F 120F 140F 160F

Figure 2.12: Compensated electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the steel beam with temperature change

2.4 Experimental Results

A proof of concept experiment on a bolted pipe joint model, which is shown in Figure 2.13, was carried out. There are two reasons why this kind of model was used: i) it is complex enough to validate the temperature compensation technique; and ii) temperature variation in pipeline systems are quite significant in the real world. The model consists of two 50 mm diameter, 150 mm long steel pipes and two flanges jointed by four 7/16 in. bolts. A PZT (Piezo Systems PSI-5A, 12.7 mm x 12.7 mm x 0.254 mm) was bonded on the flange and the same oven and impedance analyzer as the previous experiments were used. The impedance measurements

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were taken over the selected frequency range (70 - 80 kHz) at five temperature levels; 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 F. Damage was simulated by loosening a bolt (1/6 turn) located across the PZT sensor-actuator at 120 F. All the impedance measurements were compensated by the technique presented in the previous section and were compared to the baseline measurement taken at 80 F.

PZT

Figure 2.13: Bolted pipe joint model in the oven

Figure 2.14 shows the real part of the electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the flange without temperature compensation. The impedance variation due to temperature change in this case is more complicated than that in the beam case and the amount of the variation is almost as same as due to damage. It is very hard to distinguish the impedance variation due to damage from that due to temperature change. However, this result may be closely describing the real world application.

Figure 2.15 shows the compensated result. Even though the compensated curves are not perfectly matched up with the baseline measurement at 80 F, we can clearly observe the difference between the temperature change and the damage by the temperature compensation technique.

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14 80F 100F 120F 140F 160F Damage

13

12 Real V/A

11

10

71

72

73

74 75 76 Frequency kHz

77

78

79

Figure 2.14: Uncompensated electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the flange with temperature change and damage

14 80F 100F 120F 140F 160F Damage

13

12 Real V/A

11

10

71

72

73

74 75 76 Frequency kHz

77

78

79

Figure 2.15: Compensated electrical impedance of the PZT bonded on the flange with temperature change and damage

The damage metric chart (Figure 2.16) demonstrates the results more clearly. In the uncompensated case, temperature change may lead to an incorrect conclusion regarding the

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integrity of the structure because the damage metric of 160 F is larger than that of damage. The presence of damage cannot be detected accurately in this temperature range without compensation. However, in the compensated case, the damage metric of damage is much larger than others and we can easily distinguish it. The temperature compensation technique minimizes the effects of temperature change to a great extent and is able to provide a definite signal to indicate the presence of damage.

1000 Uncompensated Compensated

800

Damage Metric

600

400

200

0 100 F 120 F 140 F 160 F Damage

Different Tests

Figure 2.16: Damage metric of uncompensated and compensated impedance (reference 80 F)

2.5 Conclusions
The effects of temperature change on the impedance-based structural health monitoring was investigated theoretically and experimentally, and it was found that the temperature change significantly influenced both on the PZT sensor-actuators and the structure being monitored.

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Basically, the temperature change causes vertical and horizontal shifts of the signature pattern in the impedance or admittance versus frequency plot, while damage causes somewhat irregular changes.

An empirical temperature compensation technique was developed to remove the temperature effects from the impedance-based structural health monitoring. The advantages of the empirical approach include: i) it can be applied to complex real world structures since it does not require any model; and ii) it does not need temperature measurements. The compensation technique is a software correction based on vertical and horizontal translation of the signature pattern in the impedance or admittance plot.

The experiment on a bolted pipe joint proved that the empirical temperature compensation technique could minimize the temperature effects. By this compensation procedure, we demonstrated the impedance-based structural health monitoring technique was now able to detect incipient-type damage such as loosening a bolt by 1/6 turn, even with some temperature variation.

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