SMART STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS

ABSTRACT Smart materials, which have the functions of actuator, sensor, selfhealing and so forth, are expected to be used not only as advanced functional materials but also as key materials to provide structures with smart functions. Smart systems sense changes in structure variations in vibration, noise or temperature, for example process the information and then respond appropriately to automatically correct possibly detrimental problems. They tell the structure to alter its properties to prevent damage, optimize performance, correct malfunctions or alert users to a needed repair. Smart materials technology applies to a huge range of products including buildings, bridges, computers, cameras, aircraft, even skis. Think about the way in which excessive vibration in a machine on the shop floor may result in overheating, or parts that don't meet the manufacturer's specifications. Then, imagine the problems that could occur if a similar situation happened on an aircraft and you begin to understand the scope and value of smart material applications. The best way to understand the smart material concept is to look at its uses. Smart materials may work completely on their own or as part of a larger smart system. For example, doctors may use shape memory alloy staples used to set broken bones. In this case, the material works as

both a sensor and an actuator as the patient's body heat activate the staple to close and thereby clamp the break together. This report deals with the available smart materials, their properties and some of their areas of application and future prospects. "In the next decade, the most significant impact on product manufacturing will be smart systems"

1.1 Definitions of smart structures-What are intelligent systems? Smart material systems and structures have been defined in various ways. Spillman et al6, has differentiated between intelligent, smart, adaptive and active based on dictionary meanings. Intelligent implies ability to use ones existing knowledge to meet new situations and to solve new problems, whereas smart implies mental alertness or quickness of perception. They define a smart structure as a nonbiological physical structure having, A definite purpose Means and imperative to achieve that purpose. A biological pattern of functioning. The integrated system with above mentioned attributes functions such that it imitates biological or living material i.e. it will be adaptable and use available energy as efficiently as possible. Thus, based on biological model, actuators can be seen as artificial muscles, sensors as artificial nerves and electronic controls as brain. It is important to note that the biological definition does not define the type of materials to be utilized. It does not even state definitively that there are sensors, actuators and controls, but instead describes a
HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRATION philosophy of design.

Sensors

Structure

Actuators

PZT PVDF FIBER OPTICS... Functional Overview

Control System

SMA PZT MAGNETOSTRICTIVE

Smart systems sense changes in structure variations in vibration, noise or temperature, for example process the information and then respond appropriately to automatically correct possibly detrimental problems. They tell the structure to alter its properties to prevent damage, optimize performance, correct malfunctions or alert users to a needed repair. The sensory structures possess only sensors that enable the determination or monitoring of system states. The adaptive structures possess only actuators that enable the alteration of system states in a controlled manner. The intersection of sensory and adaptive structures is controlled structures with feed back architecture. Why do we need Smart Structures? Increased performance. Increased Safety. Reduced costs.

An overview of available smart materials 2.1 Intelligent Materials

This both reflects and permits a change in engineering philosophy. From ancient Greece to Victorian England, weve built, or tried to build, our buildings to be impervious to changes in their environment: to withstand monolithically everything that goes on around them. Now there is an increasing tendency to look for way of making buildings adaptive, so that they do not fight change but accommodate it. The importance of this idea is evident in regions where the kinds of changes buildings face exceed our engineering capacity to override it such as in earthquake zones. We want buildings that can respond to earth tremors instead of trying to withstand them like trees that bend rather than snap in the breeze. 2.2 Classification of smart materials Smart materials can be divided into two groups. One group comprises the classical active materials as viewed by the academic community and is characterized by the type of response these materials generate. Upon application of a stimulus the materials respond with a change in shape and/or in length of the material.
The second group consists of materials that respond to stimuli

with a change in a key material property, for example electrical conductivity or viscosity. These are popularly known as sensors. 2.3 Actuator materials
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The ideal actuator would directly convert electrical inputs into strain or

displacement in the host structure. These materials have the ability to

change their mechanical characteristics

in response to changes in

temperature, electric field, or magnetic field. Electro-Rheological Fluids

Shape memory alloys Piezoelectric materials, Zirconite titanates. Magnetostrictive materials, Terfelon-D

. 2.4 The Sensors Sensors are the analogues of nerves in the human body. In intelligent material systems they directly convert strain or displacement (or their derivatives) into electrical inputs. Damage control, vibration damping, acoustic control, etc. all the applications require very accurate information to be provided by the sensors describing the state of the host material. Examples of the sensory elements have been considered in the following sections. 2.4.1 Fiber Optic Sensors

Optical fibers can be used either extrinsically or intrinsically in sensing. When used extrinsically, they merely transmit light. An example is a position sensor that uses the fiber to collect light from a source. Breaks in the light beam are used to accurately determine the position of a work piece in robotics applications. Security systems also use the same. Intrinsic sensing relies on changes in the light transmission characteristics of the optical fiber. NASA first investigated this in 1979. A variety of intrinsic fibers have been worked on like, interferometric, refractometric, blackbody, evanescent, etc4.

APPLICATIONS OF

SMART SYSTEMS

3.1 Smart Bridge Structure 3.1.1 Smart Pebble technology in bridge decks.

Bridges in the world are attacked normally by salinity conditions. The chloride attack results in increase in volume of steel bar. Eventually cracks will develop in concrete and life span of bridge might get decreased. Current methods for analyzing the levels of chloride in bridge decks involve extracting concrete core samples and analyzing them in a laboratory setting, which could take days, if not weeks. Many tests are required, since it typically takes several years for critical chloride concentration levels to be reached. During bridge inspection, lanes must be closed, and the bridge is usually sampled only at a few points along the deck. The costs add up. How could such tests be performed often, inexpensively, and with minimal effort? In at collaboration SRI with the an California

Department of Transportation, researchers International, independent nonprofit R&D institute in Menlo Park, California, have one potential solution. They are developing Smart Pebbles long-life wireless sensors that continually monitor the health of the bridge from deep inside the bridge deck. In less than a few seconds, the sensors check chloride ingress and can relay the information instantly and wirelessly to

Figure 3.5 Smart Pebbles

those who need it, providing an earlywarning system for assessing damage before safety issues arise. The devices can help extend a structures life by prioritizing the need for preventive maintenance.

3.1.2 Structure health monitoring using fiber optic sensors

Satellit e Users

Telephon e

IP
Radio Cellula r

Structur e `

Fiber Optic Communications

Fiber optics is used as sensors that duplicate the action of conventional strain gauges. They respond to a change in transmitted light. This change could be in intensity, phase, frequency, polarization, wavelength or mode. They are highly sensitive, can detect minuscule variations and thus work very well. The fiber optic sensors are the same kind of hairthin fiber optic cables used for telecommunications, but wrapped around or embedded in concrete structures. A short section of fiber optic cable is stripped of its protective coating and treated with high-intensity, ultraviolet beams to create a sensing region. This sensing region is, in fact,

Figure 3.6 Sensor Networking

the sensor, which can deliver measurements of concrete stresses and strains for computer analysis. It is well suited to short range communications, energy efficient, with high penetration capabilities. A UWB MAC suitable for sensor networking [figure 3.6] is being considered, with two way peer to peer communication. Each sensor must be addressable, self configurable, self healing, and power efficient.

Figure 3.7 Presents, in a schematic way, a section of a smart bridge

For example, the experimental sensors on the Leslie Street Bridge, however, are 10-ft. long one-of-a-kind, custom-made sensors with length equal to the circumference of the columns. When the steel reinforcement inside the column is contaminated by salt and moisture, the steel begins to rust, expand, and crack the surrounding concrete columns. Highway engineers are testing advanced composite materials (ACM) wraps to see if they can reduce and/or delay the corrosion inside the columns, and, consequently, bridge repair and road closures. The long gauge sensors installed on the Leslie Street bridge precisely measure the total column expansion, providing valuable data on the state of the column underneath the repair wraps, while the reference cells are used to measure corrosion potential. "What we are looking for is displacement of any kind," said UTIAS FOS laboratory research engineer Paul Mulvihill. "If the columns have widened, that could be an indication of corrosion. If there is no

displacement if the columns havent expanded thats an indication that the ACM wraps are doing their job." The sensor readings were calibrated at the time of installation in 1996. In March, 1998, the second set of readings provided the first hard evidence of the viability of these experimental long gauge sensors, and the clear potential of ACM wraps. When the readings from the bridge were analyzed shortly after they were taken, all five sensors initially installed were found to be fully operational, and the two wrapped columns instrumented with the sensors changed in circumference only a minuscule amount the first column expanded by an average of 5871 microns (about 5.9 millimeters), and the second column expanded by an average of 6259 microns (about 6.3 millimeters). While readings will continue to be taken, statistically, these measurements indicate no significant column change.

Passive smart self-healing cementitious composite The basic elements of this smart material include the sensors and actuators in the form of controlled microcracks and hollow glass fibers carrying air-curing chemicals. Controlled microcracking is offered by a strain through hardening in situ The engineered cementitious scanning effectiveness composite electron is developed microscopy by previously. The mechanisms of sensing and actuation are revealed environmental self-healing observations. confirmed

measurement of the elastic modulus of the composite. The elastic modulus is found to regain its original value in a repeat loading subsequent to damage in a first load cycle. A simple method to achieve such passivity and distribution is to build the sensors and actuators directly into the material characteristics themselves. Cementitious materials are known to fail via tensile cracking 9

when overloaded. Cementitious materials are extremely brittle, with tensile strain of about 0.01%, approximately one-tenth that of compressive strain, and with fracture toughness about 0.01 kJ/m 2 compared with 100 kJ/m 2 in mild steel. If the crack width is small and bridged by steel reinforcement, the structure may suffer from durability problems due to increased permeability of the concrete cover. The cracks provide enhanced pathways for aggressive agents to enter through the concrete cover and corrode steel reinforcement. If the crack width is large, tensile fracture and spalling may result, leading to a compromise in structural integrity. Even under overall compressive load, ultimate failure in cementitious material is preceded by local tensile cracking emanating from micro-defects. One self-healing concept is to release chemicals that seal the tensile cracks, followed by air curing of the released chemicals in the cracks, leading to regaining of mechanical properties of the uncracked composite. In the present study, a Superglue (ethyl cyanoacrylate, a thermoplastic monomer manufactured by Loctite) serves as the sealing/healing chemical contained in hollow brittle glass fibers. The brittle cementitious material senses over-loading by its innate brittleness. The resulting tensile cracking of the matrix and breaking of the glass fibers stimulate the actuating mechanisms in this totally passive smart material system. Once the glass fibers break, the chemical is released into the cracks of the cementitious matrix so that the cracks can be sealed and the composite rehealed. Hence, the cementitious matrix serves as the ubiquitous sensor, and the hollow glass fibers serve as the ubiquitous actuators. Future advancements I want to end by showing how far we have to go. Here are some truly intelligent materials. The leaf, for example, is a kind of

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solar cell capable of adaptation, replication and self-repair. It is also a structural material, and shows properties such as automatic regulation of gas uptake and release, and sometimes self-cleaning. Reflecting the above technique the technology has to improve. 4.2 Conclusion Integrated sensors and actuators to form closed-loop functional units may be a way to raise device performance and market share. Embedded distributed functional units in materials and structures to obtain ondemand material properties and programmable structure configurations will present new challenges in applications such as: noise and vibration control, programmable active surfaces for rotorcraft, smart bridges, highways and buildings, smart skins for antennae and optical devices, artificial skins and muscles, etc. concentrated efforts from Packaging technology for functional sensors and actuators to units is a bottleneck now. Breakthrough in this area will need microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), to nanofabrication, smart materials and smart structures; the future of the field is unlimited9. REFERENCES GANDHI M V AND THOMPSON B S Smart Materials and Structures. ROGERS C Intelligent materials systemsthe dawn of a new material age The Engineering, Science, and Art of Smart Material Systems. SPILLMAN W B The evolution of smart materials and structures.

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