CPS/Synergy/Collaborative Research: Cybernizing mechanical structures through integrated sensor-structure fabrication

In this NSF project, the team proposes to innovate a novel printing scheme that can embed piezoelectric transducers (namely, sensor/actuator coupled elements) into layered composites. As the transducers are densely distributed throughout the entire structure, they function like a nerve system embedded into the structure. Such a sensor nerve system, when combined with new control and command systems and advanced data and signal processing capability, can fully unleash the latest computing power to pinpoint the fault location. The project entails effort in the following three aspects: 1) development of a new sensing modality with mechanical-electrical dual-field adaptivity, that yields rich and high-quality data throughout the structure; 2) design of an additive manufacturing scheme that inserts piezoelectric micro transducer arrays throughout the structure to enable active interrogation; and 3) formulation of new data analytics and inverse analysis that can accurately identify the fault location/severity and guide the fine-tuning of the sensor system. This poster focuses on the data science aspect, namely Task 3.