• battery
• MATLAB
• FEM analysis
• piezoelectric
• MFC
• sensing
• energy harvesting
• health monitoring

This work aims to study the sensing and energy harvesting capabilities of some structures containing MFC piezoelectric patches for their use in health monitoring applications. A cantilever model with a double patch layer and a composite substrate is created through a FEM software. The harmonic and modal analysis are performed for a base-driven problem, obtaining the amplitude and phase values of the strain, voltage and displacement for the three first bending modes. Additionally, a parametric analysis is performed. Later, a more complex specimen is designed to enhance the energy harvesting faculties. A third model is then created with a defect in the structure for observing the differences with the healthy specimen.
In a following stage, a lumped parameter model with 1DOF is employed in MATLAB to identify the results obtained from the harmonic analyses of the numerical model, predicting the value of the equivalent resistance for the three first bending modes of each design. Moreover, the transfer functions and the response in the time domain are obtained. Finally, a battery model is used for determining the accumulated charge for the analysed structures. This last analysis shows an example of how certain systems, such as patches, have the capacity to feed other devices under certain operating conditions.