Temperature effects on electro-mechanical admittance monitoring of 2-2 cement-based piezoelectric transducers

The application of 2-2 cement-based piezoelectric transducers (2-2) in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) encounters obstacles due to temperature effects. To address this issue, this study investigates the effect of temperature on the electro-mechanical admittance (EMA) spectrum of the 2-2 and piezoelectric smart aggregates (SA), employing both theoretical and experimental approaches. Initially, the admittance temperature effect was scrutinized based on the 2-2 theory. Subsequently, experiments were conducted to assess the admittance temperature effects of the 2-2 and SA. Finally, both the 2-2 and SA were embedded in cement mortar specimens, and the admittance temperature effect was analyzed. Experimental results reveal that temperature variation induced distinct behaviors in the EMA characteristics of 2-2 and SA in low and high frequency bands. Theoretical investigations and experimental results demonstrate a certain degree of consistency. When the sensors were embedded within the cement specimens, its EMA spectrum and the temperature sensitivity of the EMA change, particularly evident in the conductance peaks. This should be taken into consideration in future work involving SHM using the 2-2 sensors.