Real-Time Precise Damage Characterization in Self-Sensing Materials via Neural Network-Aided Electrical Impedance Tomography: A Computational Study

Abstract

Many cases have evinced the importance of having structural health monitoring (SHM) strategies that can allow the detection of the structural health of infrastructures or buildings, in order to prevent the potential economic or human losses. Nanocomposite material like the Carbon nanofiller-modified composites have great potential for SHM because these materials are piezoresistive. So, it is possible to determine the damage status of the material by studying the conductivity change distribution, and this is essential for detecting the damage on the position that can-not be observed by eye, for example, the inner layer in the aerofoil. By now, many researchers have studied how damage influences the conductivity of nanocomposite material and the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) method has been applied widely to detect the damage-induced conductivity changes. However, only knowing how to calculate the conductivity change from damage is not enough to SHM, it is more valuable to SHM to know how to determine the mechanical damage that results in the observed conductivity changes. In this article, we apply the machine learning methods to determine the damage status, more specifically, the number, radius and the center position of broken holes on the material specimens by studying the conductivity change data generated by the EIT method. Our results demonstrate that the machine learning methods can accurately and efficiently detect the damage on material specimens by analysing the conductivity change data, this conclusion is important to the field of the SHM and will speed up the damage detection process for industries like the aviation industry and mechanical engineering.