Abstract
This study is devoted to the design of an elastic polymer thin film-based capacitive wind-pressure sensor to meet the anticipated use for real-time monitoring of structural wind pressure in civil engineering. This sensor is composed of four basic units: lateral elastic deflection unit of a wind-driven circular polymer thin film, parallel plate capacitor with a movable circular electrode plate, spring-driven return unit of the movable electrode plate, and dielectric materials between electrode plates. The capacitance of the capacitor varies with the parallel move of the movable electrode plate which is first driven by the lateral elastic deflection of the wind-driven film and then is, after the wind pressure is reduced or eliminated, returned quickly by the drive springs. The closed-form solution for the contact problem between the wind-driven thin film and the spring-driven movable electrode plate is presented, and its reliability is proved by the experiment conducted. The numerical examples conducted show that it is workable that by using the numerical calibration based on the presented closed-form solution the proposed sensor is designed into a nonlinear sensor with larger pressure-monitoring range and faster response speed than the linear sensor usually based on experimental calibration.
Highlights
Wind loads may cause cyclic stress in some slender members or structures, such as light poles or wire poles [1], wind-power towers [2], electric transmission towers [3], lifting equipment [4], long-span bridges [5] and ultrahigh-rise buildings [6]
The capacitance of the capacitor varies with the parallel move of the movable electrode plate which is first driven by the lateral elastic deflection of the wind-driven film and is, after the wind pressure is reduced or eliminated, returned quickly by the drive springs
The closed-form solution for the contact problem between the wind-driven circular polymer thin film and the spring-driven movable electrode plate is given, and is used to determine the analytical relationship between the wind pressure and the displacement of the movable electrode plate, as well as the analytical relationship between the wind pressure and the capacitance of the capacitor. With this closed-form solution the elastic polymer thin film-based capacitive wind-pressure sensor can be designed into a nonlinear sensor with larger pressure measuring range and faster response speed than the linear sensor usually based on experimental calibration
Summary
Xue Li 1 , Jun-Yi Sun 1,2, * , Bin-Bin Shi 1 , Zhi-Hang Zhao 1 and Xiao-Ting He 1,2. Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400045, China. Received: 23 August 2020; Accepted: 16 September 2020; Published: 18 September 2020
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