Nonlinear acoustics for structural health monitoring using mobile, wireless and smartphone-based transducer platform

This article demonstrates a mobile, wireless and smartphone-based platform that can be used for damage detection. This platform consists of sensors, electronics, Android-based software and a smartphone that is used for control, communication, data storage, damage detection analysis and the presentation of damage detection results. The method applied for crack detection is based on nonlinear acoustics. Nonlinear vibro-acoustic wave modulations are used to detect damage. The performance of the proposed damage detection system is demonstrated using a simple example of fatigue crack detection in aluminium plates. The results show that cracks in aluminium plates can be detected wirelessly by a smartphone. This proof-of-concept not only demonstrates the capability of the entire transducer platform but also shows that nonlinear acoustic methods can be applied wirelessly on systems that are operated by a smartphone. This is particularly important when monitored structures are difficult to access and/or operate in harsh conditions.