Experimental assessment of impedance-based structural health monitoring in radioactive environment

This work presents an experimental study of the influence of radiation on structural health monitoring systems based on the electromechanical impedance method using low-cost piezoelectric diaphragms. For application of the method, the baseline was obtained without radiation and then compared by damage indices after application of radiation. Considering applications in nuclear power plants, the irradiation and calculation of damage indices were performed in the range of 10 kGy-60 kGy at 10 kGy intervals. Impedance measurements were performed in seven frequency bands between 0 and 65 kHz. The results show that, due to the change in the impedance signatures, the damage indices values increase according to the total applied radiation dose, which may indicate a false indication of damage. Besides, results indicate that there are frequency bands less sensitive to radiation and a threshold can be defined to distinguish radiation from structural damage.