Higher-order effects of amplitude-modulation vibro-acoustic technique for characterization thermal damages in cement-based material

Abstract

Abstract. This paper proposes a new amplitude-modulation vibro-acoustic (AMVA) technique to detect thermal damage in pristine graphene (PRG) mortar materials. A new third-order solution for an amplitude-modulated low-frequency pump wave and a high-frequency probe wave in infinite isotropic material is presented. The solution includes higher-order sidebands generated by intrinsic and acquired nonlinearities. A nonlinear parameter is defined according to the third-order solution to assess the different levels of thermal damage. The experimental study demonstrates the sensitivity and feasibility of the AMVA technique by comparing the nonlinear parameter with the linear measurements of the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test. The results show that the proposed AMVA technique is a potential tool to detect and monitor thermal damage in cement-based structures.