Shear stress identification in plate rubber bearing using surface-bonded piezoelectric transducer: A feasibility study

This paper presented a preliminary study on the feasibility of shear stress identification in plate rubber bearings using surface-bonded piezoceramic (PZT) transducers. A PZT-rubber bearing structural dynamic interaction model was developed to analyze the shear stress effect on the electromechanical admittance (EMA, inverse of impedance) by introducing a mechanical impedance system consisting of parallel mechanical elements. 3D finite element (FE) model of a full-sized plate rubber bearing was generated to detect shear stress using the EMA signatures. Proof-of-concept experiment was finally conducted on two plate rubber bearings subjected to shearing force, during which the process was monitored by three PZT sheets arranged at different loci. Theoretical, numerical and experimental results demonstrated that identification results of PZT transducers were closely related to the PZT location, shear stress in rubber bearings were generally in linear relationship with the peak values of EMA spectrum and its statistically quantifiable indicators.