Rubberââ?¬â??steel-layered structures are used in many engineering applications. Laminated\nrubberââ?¬â??steel bearing, as a type of seismic isolation device, is one of the most important applications\nof the rubberââ?¬â??steel-layered structures. Interfacial debonding in rubberââ?¬â??steel-layered structures is a\ntypical failure mode, which can severely reduce their load-bearing capacity. In this paper, the authors\ndeveloped a simple but effective active sensing approach using embedded piezoceramic transducers\nto provide an in-situ detection of the interfacial debonding between the rubber layers and steel plates.\nA sandwiched rubberââ?¬â??steel-layered specimen, consisting of one rubber layer and two steel plates,\nwas fabricated as the test specimen. A novel installation technique, which allows the piezoceramic\ntransducers to be fully embedded into the steel plates without changing the geometry and the surface\nconditions of the plates, was also developed in this research. The active sensing approach, in which\ndesigned stress waves can propagate between a pair of the embedded piezoceramic transducers (one\nas an actuator and the other one as a sensor), was employed to detect the steelââ?¬â??rubber debonding.\nWhen the rubberââ?¬â??steel debonding occurs, the debonded interfaces will attenuate the propagating\nstress wave, so that the amplitude of the received signal will decrease. The rubberââ?¬â??steel debonding\nwas generated by pulling the two steel plates in opposite directions in a material-testing machine.\nThe changes of the received signal before and after the debonding were characterized in a time\ndomain and further quantified by using a wavelet packet-based energy index. Experiments on\nthe healthy rubberââ?¬â??steel-layered specimen reveal that the piezoceramic-induced stress wave can\npropagate through the rubber layer. The destructive test on the specimen demonstrates that the\npiezoceramic-based active sensing approach can effectively detect the rubberââ?¬â??steel debonding failure\nin real time. The active sensing approach is often used in structures with ââ?¬Å?hardââ?¬Â materials, such as\nsteel, concrete, and carbon fiber composites. This research lays a foundation for extending the active\nsensing approach to damage detection of structures involving ââ?¬Å?softââ?¬Â materials, such as rubber.
Loading....