Health Monitoring of Concrete Specimens using Smart Aggregates

S. Moses Prawin Paul*, C. Jayaguru**
* Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, K.L.N. College of Information Technology, Sivagangai, Tamilnadu, India.
** Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, P.S.N.A. College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India.
Periodicity:September - November'2016
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jste.5.3.8253

Abstract

In the present scenario, for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures, various techniques, so called Non- Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques are being used. These techniques are employed for strength estimation and damage detection. Piezo electric materials fall into the category of 'smart' materials which can be utilized for NDE and by using “piezo” transducers, Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT), the concrete strength estimation and damage detection could be performed well. This study focuses on the objective of utilizing fundamental electro-mechanical interaction between PZT and reinforced concrete specimens for impedance based health characterization of concrete. The proposed technique is based on the Electro-Mechanical Impedance (EMI) technique, which comprises a simplified empirical method to diagnose the specimen health by means of embedded self-sensing piezo-ceramic, impedancebased PZT transducers so-called Smart Aggregates (SAs). The proposed Smart Aggregate can perform damage detection as well as SHM. In this study, concrete specimens were prepared with PZT patches embedded into it as SAs. The terminals of these patches were then connected with a Function Generator (FG) to generate transmission waves and the wave propagation throughout the specimen was observed using a Digital Signal Oscilloscope (DSO). Experimental investigations over the concrete specimen have shown the effectiveness the proposed technique and verified the functionality of smart aggregates that they are very sensitive to perform damage detection as well as health monitoring. The proposed smart aggregate has the potential to be applied for multi-functional evaluation of concrete structures from their early age and throughout their lifetime.

Keywords

Structural Health Monitoring, Non-Destructive Evaluation, Damage Detection, PZT, Electro-Mechanical Impedance.

How to Cite this Article?

Paul, S.M.P., and Jayaguru, C. (2016). Health Monitoring of Concrete Specimens using Smart Aggregates. i-manager’s Journal on Structural Engineering, 5(3), 25-32. https://doi.org/10.26634/jste.5.3.8253

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