Integrated non-destructive assessment of concrete structures under flexure by acoustic emission and travel time tomography

Abstract

Elastic stress wave methods are attracting increasing attention from researchers and practitioners for real time monitoring of structures as well as quantitative evaluation of damage. The acoustic emission (AE) and travel time tomography (TTT) techniques are promising elastic waves-based diagnosis approaches for condition assessment of structures. In this research, fiber reinforced concrete beams loaded under flexure were monitored using both the AE and TTT techniques. The primary aim was to evaluate the development of fracture in beams in a non-destructive manner, with the two adopted techniques complementing each other to provide a more reliable assessment. There was satisfactory agreement between the results of AE parametric analysis and tomographic reconstruction, suggesting the feasibility of integrating the two techniques for a more comprehensive and effective condition assessment of structures.