Wireless health monitoring of stay cable using piezoelectric strain response and smart skin technique

In this paper, wireless health monitoring of stay cables using piezoelectric strain sensors and a smart skin technique is presented. For the cables, tension forces are estimated to examine their health status from vibration features with consideration of temperature effects. The following approaches are implemented to achieve the objective. Firstly, the tension force estimation utilizing the piezoelectric sensor-embedded smart skin is presented. A temperature correlation model to recalculate the tension force at a temperature of interest is designed by correlating the change in cable's dynamic features and temperature variation. Secondly, the wireless health monitoring system for stay cables is described. A piezoelectric strain sensor node and a tension force monitoring software which is embedded in the sensor are designed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed monitoring technique is evaluated on stay cables of the Hwamyung Grand Bridge in Busan, Korea.