A sensor for the direct measurement of curvature based on flexoelectricity

A direct curvature sensing measurement based on the flexoelectricity of Ba0.64Sr0.36TiO3 (BST) material through electromechanical coupling is proposed and developed in this paper. The curvature sensing was demonstrated in four point bending tests of a beam with bonded BST curvature sensors under different applied loads with low time-harmonic frequencies from 0.5 to 3 Hz. A shear lag concept which describes the efficiency of the loading transfer from the epoxy bonding layer was taken into account in extracting the actual curvature from the sensor measurement. A finite element analysis has been performed to estimate the curvature transfer efficiency and the bonding layer thickness is found to be a critical parameter in determining the curvature transfer. Experimental results showed a good linearity of charge output dependence on curvature inputs in a limited frequency range and showed a curvature sensitivity of 30.78 pC m, in comparison with 32.48 pC m from theoretical predictions. Using the measured curvature, the bending stiffness of the beam was then obtained from the experimentally obtained moment-curvature curve. This work demonstrated that the flexoelectric BST sensor provides a direct curvature measurement instead of using a traditional strain gage sensor through interpolation, and thus offers an important avenue for on-line and in situ structural health monitoring.