Abstract

The ageing, operational and ambient loadings have a great impact in the operational and maintenance cost of concrete structures. Their service life prolongation is of utmost importance and this can be efficiently achieved by using reliable and low-cost monitoring and self-healing techniques. In the present study, the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method using embedded small-size and low-cost piezoelectric PZT (lead zirconate titanate) ceramic transducers in concrete with self-healing properties is implemented for monitoring not only the setting and hardening phases of concrete since casting time, but also for the detection of damage initiation, propagation and recovery of integrity after healing. A couple of small-scale notched unreinforced concrete beams are subjected to mode-I fracture through three-point bending tests. After a 24-hour healing agent curing period, the beams are reloaded using the same loading scenario. The results demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed monitoring technique during the hydration, damage generation and recovery periods.

Highlights

  • Concrete is still the dominating structural material mainly due to its low production cost and the great structural design flexibility

  • The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method has a major role among the various non-destructive testing (NDT) methods in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM)

  • Load is the force applied by the crosshead of the testing machine used and strain is the normalized data received by the crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) gauge which was placed on the notch limits of the beam

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Summary

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IOP Publishing
Introduction
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
Receiver Transmitter
Transmitter Receiver
Phase I
Conclusions and perspectives

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