ASA 127th Meeting M.I.T. 1994 June 6-10

5aNS15. Practical considerations for designing shaped modal sensors from polyvinylidene fluoride.

Robert L. Clark

Dept. of Mech. Eng. and Mater. Sci., Duke Univ., Durham, NC 27708-0300

Shawn E. Burke

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139-3563

The purpose of this work is to explore practical methods of achieving distributed sensors on two-dimensional structures and illuminate difficulties associated with positioning sensors on structures in general. A method of designing ``modal family'' sensors is introduced whereby shaped sensors, similar to those employed on one-dimensional structures, are utilized to monitor the response of a group of modes on two-dimensional structures. Limits on sensor width with respect to the trace structural wavelength along the width of the sensor are provided. In addition, positioning of distributed strain sensing material is shown to be critical to the performance of the sensor over a specified bandwidth, specifically in the vicinity of structural resonances.