Development of a strain measurement method utilizing a rectangular microstrip patch antenna

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wang, Wen-Juan | Ren, Xiang | Sun, Yang | Li, Hao | Liu, Ma-Bao^*

Affiliations: State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Ma-Bao Liu, No. 28, West Xianning Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, China. Tel.: +86 29 82665720; Fax: +86 29 83295498; E-mail:[email protected]

Abstract: Detecting structural strain has become a momentous part of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), however, conventional strain sensing technologies cannot meet the requirements of long-time, low-cost, real-time, etc. In order to surmount these shortcomings, rectangular microstrip patch antennas were designed, manufactured and utilized as strain sensors to detect the structural strains, and the detailed experimental setup was presented as well. A linear relationship with the coefficient of -1 between the percentage of resonant frequency shift of the microstrip patch antenna and the structural strain was theoretically derived and validated by the HFSSTM simulation as well as the experimental results.

Keywords: Microstrip patch antenna, structural health monitoring, resonant frequency, strain measurement

DOI: 10.3233/JAE-150014

Journal: International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 263-273, 2016