Practical issues of activating self-repairing bolted joints

Abstract

An investigation of self-sensing and self-repairing bolted joints is presented. The goal of the self-sensing and self-repairing joint is to reduce the likelihood of failure due to self-loosening and to reduce the cost of maintenance of critical bolted joints. The concept combines piezoelectric-based health-monitoring techniques with shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators to restore tension in a loose bolt.