Acoustic emission monitoring of steel fiber reinforced beams under simultaneous corrosion and sustained loading

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on monitoring the deterioration in Reinforced Concrete (RC) and Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) beams under simultaneous corrosion exposure and sustained loading using Acoustic Emission (AE) Technique. AE method can be effectively used to detect damage initiation and progression of micro and macro-cracking during the entire period of corrosion in RC as well as SFRC beams. Addition of steel fibers in concrete leads to delay in AE parameters of AE hits and AE energy, revealing that SFRC beams can sustain the corrosion exposure for longer duration due to their crack-arresting properties. This study also reveals that beams subjected to simultaneous corrosion exposure and sustained loading are susceptible to brittle failure with reduced load carrying capacity and this is well depicted by increased AE activity.