3D printed vorticella-kirigami inspired sensors for structural health monitoring in Internet-of-Things

Abstract

Kirigami is an ancient paper art that involves cutting slit strategies, which could provide exotic and controllable engineering properties. Especially, kirigami can be combined with bio-inspired designs to improve its mechanical behaviors. A highly sensitive 3D vibration sensor has been developed using a 3D-printed structure inspired by vorticella-kirigami (VK). VK-inspired kirigami exhibits 2D-to-3D morphing and shape-programmable properties. Specifically, the VK-inspired vibrational structure has been optimized for a frequency of 2 Hz, with high sensitivity of 0.80 pF/ms−2. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an essential application for ensuring the safety and reliability of civil infrastructure. Therefore, the tools for widely and easily accessible monitoring systems are highly demanded, considering a monitoring system with Internet-of-Things (IoT) as a promising application in this paper. The VK-inspired vibrational sensors can detect the impact delivering from the epicenter on fragile components of the structural structures through the message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol. Moreover, it allows seamless access to real-time or saved vibration data via multiple smartphones and personal computers. These SHM technologies hold the potential to significantly enhance their adoption in safety–critical domains.