Repair of cracked column under axially compressive load via piezoelectric patch

This paper discusses the buckling capacity and piezoelectric material enhancement of cracked column structures with standard boundary conditions. A model of the rotational discontinuity at the crack location is used to develop analytical buckling solutions and the effect of the crack on the buckling capacity of the damaged column is derived analytically. Small piezoelectric patches are employed to induce local moments to compensate for the decreased buckling capacity of column structures, using a mechanical model coupled with piezoelectric strain-voltage relations. Numerical simulations are conducted to study the variation of the voltage supplied to the piezoelectric layer with the variation of the boundary constraints of the column. The issue of sensor placement is also discussed to avoid impractical design of the voltage applied to the piezoelectric patch.