Forthcoming Issues

Abstract

Shear deficiency in reinforced concrete (RC) structures brings the vulnerability of brittle and abrupt failure to those structures, and thus, provides very little time for taking any precautionary actions. The present study focuses on the investigations on damage progression in shear deficient RC components using acoustic wave propagation technique. Three levels of shear deficiency with respect to the control beam are considered. Various acoustic parameters are considered to determine their efficacy in identifying the initiation and propagation of crack in concrete structures. Few of the acoustic parameters are identified to be very effective and able to clearly differentiate the tensile and shear cracking in concrete. Intensity characteristics, as identified in the present study, can be used to classify the type of damage (progression of shear and tensile cracks) under different stages of loading. Further, the acoustic emission monitoring technique is employed for detecting the crack initiation in strengthened beams where the critical shear deficient beam was strengthened using two layers of GFRP fabric in the shear zone. It is found that, unlike the original deficient beams, AE signals obtained from the strengthened beam clearly indicate the clear shift from shear failure to flexural failure. The present study underlines that the acoustic wave propagation technique can be effectively used to monitor the health of the reinforced concrete structures and to uniquely assess the appropriateness of any scheme(s) for strengthening of the deficient concrete structures.