A High-Sensitivity Flexible Eddy Current Array Sensor for Crack Monitoring of Welded Structures under Varying Environment

This paper develops a high-sensitivity flexible eddy current array (HS-FECA) sensor for crack monitoring of welded structures under varying environment. Firstly, effects of stress, temperature and crack on output signals of the traditional flexible eddy current array (FECA) sensor were investigated by experiments that show both stress and temperature have great influences on the crack monitoring performance of the sensor. A 3-D finite element model was established using Comsol AC/DC module to analyze the perturbation effects of crack on eddy currents and output signals of the sensor, which showed perturbation effect of cracks on eddy currents is reduced by the current loop when crack propagates. Then, the HS-FECA sensor was proposed to boost the sensitivity to cracks. Simulation results show that perturbation effect of cracks on eddy currents excited by the HS-FECA sensor gradually grows stronger when the crack propagates, resulting in much higher sensitivity to cracks. Experimental result further shows that the sensitivity of the new sensor is at least 19 times that of the original one. In addition, both stress and temperature variations have little effect on signals of the new sensor.