A Novel Postbuckling-based Mechanical Energy Transducer and Its Applications for Structural Health Monitoring

In recent years, significant research efforts have been dedicated to developing self-powered wireless sensors without the limit of battery lifetime, such that those sensors can be deployed to continuously monitor structural conditions and detect potential failures for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). In order to overcome the energy bound, a mechanism has recently been developed to harvest electrical power at very low frequency (< 1 Hz) using mechanical energy concentrators and triggers. This technique is based on the snap-through between different buckling mode transitions of bilaterally constrained beams subjected to quasi-static loads. Attaching piezoelectric transducers to the buckled beams, electrical power can be generated by converting the static excitations into localized dynamic motions. However, the efficiency of the energy solution, i.e., generating maximum electrical power at every buckling mode transition, significantly depends on tuning the post-buckling behavior of the beam systems. Inadequate controlling over the mechanical response critically impedes the application of the device. Therefore, it is of research and practice interests to effectively predict and tune the postbuckling performance of the bilaterally confined beam systems. This study presents a well-tuned mechanism for energy harvesting and damage sensing under quasi-static excitations. To optimize the harvesting efficiency and sensing accuracy of the proposed technique, the post-buckling behavior of the structural instability-induced systems are