PCA-based Method for Damage Detection Exploring Electromechanical Impedance in a Composite Beam

This work proposes to identify structural damage in a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system using the Electromechanical Impedance based-method. All analysis is carried out considering the time-domain structural response obtained from PZT transducers. Principal Component Analysis is applied to those response signals and PCA loadings are used as input to compute the statistical metrics Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) and Welch's t-test. At first, experimental tests were carried out on a carbon fiber beam. This analysis also incorporates variation in the voltage level for the excitation procedure. Furthermore, tests also were carried out in a composite plate. Damage was simulated by drilling holes in the beam and adding mass to the plate. At the conclusion results for both experimental tests are presented and discussed.