A Wireless Passive Sensing System for Displacement/Strain Measurement in Reinforced Concrete Members.

In this study, we show a wireless passive sensing system embedded in a reinforced concrete member successfully being employed for the measurement of relative displacement and strain in a simply supported beam experiment. The system utilizes electromagnetic coupling between the transceiver antenna located outside the beam, and the sensing probes placed on the reinforcing bar (rebar) surface inside the beam. The probes were designed in the form of a nested split-ring resonator, a metamaterial-based structure chosen for its compact size and high sensitivity/resolution, which is at µm/microstrains level. Experiments were performed in both the elastic and plastic deformation cases of steel rebars, and the sensing system was demonstrated to acquire telemetric data in both cases. The wireless measurement results from multiple probes are compared with the data obtained from the strain gages, and an excellent agreement is observed. A discrete time measurement where the system records data at different force levels is also shown. Practical issues regarding the placement of the sensors and accurate recording of data are discussed. The proposed sensing technology is demonstrated to be a good candidate for wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) of reinforced concrete members by its high sensitivity and wide dynamic range.

Wireless measurement of elastic and plastic deformation by a metamaterial-based sensor.

We report remote strain and displacement measurement during elastic and plastic deformation using a metamaterial-based wireless and passive sensor. The sensor is made of a comb-like nested split ring resonator (NSRR) probe operating in the near-field of an antenna, which functions as both the transmitter and the receiver. The NSRR probe is fixed on a standard steel reinforcing bar (rebar), and its frequency response is monitored telemetrically by a network analyzer connected to the antenna across the whole stress-strain curve. This wireless measurement includes both the elastic and plastic region deformation together for the first time, where wired technologies, like strain gauges, typically fail to capture. The experiments are further repeated in the presence of a concrete block between the antenna and the probe, and it is shown that the sensing system is capable of functioning through the concrete. The comparison of the wireless sensor measurement with those undertaken using strain gauges and extensometers reveals that the sensor is able to measure both the average strain and the relative displacement on the rebar as a result of the applied force in a considerably accurate way. The performance of the sensor is tested for different types of misalignments that can possibly occur due to the acting force. These results indicate that the metamaterial-based sensor holds great promise for its accurate, robust and wireless measurement of the elastic and plastic deformation of a rebar, providing beneficial information for remote structural health monitoring and post-earthquake damage assessment.

Wireless displacement sensing enabled by metamaterial probes for remote structural health monitoring.

We propose and demonstrate a wireless, passive, metamaterial-based sensor that allows for remotely monitoring submicron displacements over millimeter ranges. The sensor comprises a probe made of multiple nested split ring resonators (NSRRs) in a double-comb architecture coupled to an external antenna in its near-field. In operation, the sensor detects displacement of a structure onto which the NSRR probe is attached by telemetrically tracking the shift in its local frequency peaks. Owing to the NSRR's near-field excitation response, which is highly sensitive to the displaced comb-teeth over a wide separation, the wireless sensing system exhibits a relatively high resolution (<1 µm) and a large dynamic range (over 7 mm), along with high levels of linearity (R2 > 0.99 over 5 mm) and sensitivity (>12.7 MHz/mm in the 1-3 mm range). The sensor is also shown to be working in the linear region in a scenario where it is attached to a standard structural reinforcing bar. Because of its wireless and passive nature, together with its low cost, the proposed system enabled by the metamaterial probes holds a great promise for applications in remote structural health monitoring.