Development of Self-Sensing Steel Braces with Piezoelectric Film Sensors

This paper introduces a self-sensing steel brace with embedded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) sensors for damage detection in concentric buckling braces. A low-yield I-section was used to design the energy dissipation and deformation-managed system up to a 2% story drift ratio (SDR), which maintained the load-carrying capacity under out-of-plane buckling. The nonparametric cross-correlation difference matrix method was developed for damage localization, enabling early-stage detection of changes in the steel brace under small deformations. It has been pointed out that sensor placement significantly affects sensitivity; symmetric configurations are stable under vibrations, whereas asymmetric configurations show much more significant changes; hence, strategic placement is essential. This study highlights the potential of using a self-sensing steel brace and its sensors for improving structural health monitoring, allowing dynamic structures to have better safety and resilience.