Pages 497-498
When a piezoelectric film is glued on the surface of a cracked structure subjected to 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 identifying two- and three-dimensional cracks. In this study, this method was applied to identify experimentally a three-dimensional crack opening on the back surface. Electric potential distribution on the piezoelectric film mounted on the front surface was measured by non-contact voltmeter. Measured electric potential distribution agreed well with that calculated by the FEM. The inverse method based on the least residual method was applied for estimating the location and size of crack from the measured electric potential distribution. It was shown that the passive electric potential CT method using piezoelectric film was useful for quantitative identification of back-surface three-dimensional crack.
