Abstract
When a piezoelectric film is glued on the surface of a cracked structure subjected to mechanical load, change in distribution of electric potential is observed on the surface of piezoelectric film. Based on this phenomenon, the passive electric potential CT (computed tomography) method was developed for the identification of two- and three-dimensional cracks based on the FEM inverse analysis. In this paper, this method was applied to identify through-thickness inclined crack. Electric potential distribution calculated by the FEM showed characteristic changes corresponding to angle and size of crack. Numerical simulations were carried out on estimation of location, size, and angle of the inclined crack. It was found that the passive electric potential CT method using piezoelectric film was useful for the quantitative identification of the through-thickness inclined crack.
