Application of PZT Technology and Clustering Algorithm for Debonding Detection of Steel-UHPC Composite Slabs

Abstract

A lightweight composite bridge deck system composed of steel orthotropic deck stiffened with thin Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) layer has been proposed to eliminate fatigue cracks in orthotropic steel decks. The debonding between steel deck and UHPC layer may be introduced during construction and operation phases, which could cause adverse consequences, such as crack-induced water invasion and distinct reduction of the shear resistance. The piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based technologies are used to detect interfacial debonding defects between the steel deck and the UHPC layer. Both impedance analysis and wave propagation method are employed to extract debonding features of the steel-UHPC composite slab with debonding defect in different sizes and thicknesses. Experimental tests are performed on two steel-UHPC composite slabs and a conventional steel-concrete composite deck. Additionally, an improved Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-k-means clustering algorithm is adopted to obtain debonding patterns based on the feature data set. The laboratory tests demonstrate that the proposed approach provides an effective way to detect interfacial debonding of steel-UHPC composite deck.

Investigation of Bonding Behavior of FRP and Steel Bars in Self-Compacting Concrete Structures Using Acoustic Emission Method

“…Piezoceramic transducers have the advantages of both sensing and actuation capacities [36,37], high bandwidth [38,39], and low cost, and have been actively studied to monitor debonding problems in various structures [40,41,42,43], including rebar and concrete debonding [44,45,46]. In addition, in the form of a smart aggregate, a piezoceramic transducer can be easily and reliably embedded in a concrete structure [47,48], or in the form of a patch, a piezoceramic transducer can be surface-bonded on a structure of interest [49,50], including a steel rebar or a composite rebar.…”

Dressing Tool Condition Monitoring through Impedance-Based Sensors: Part 2—Neural Networks and K-Nearest Neighbor Classifier Approach

“…[17,18,19]. Monitoring of dressing operations conducted so far follows the same framework reported in the literature [20,21]. However, few studies were focused on the monitoring of dressing tool health in terms of wear, damage and breakage of dressing tools made of diamond [28,29].…”

“…In addition, recent studies showed that the implementation of a network of PZTs in the EMI technique instead of a single PZT transducer provides more accurate results concerning the detection and the evaluation of damage in structural members constructed by concrete slabs and reinforced concrete [15,16,17,18,19], and composite slabs [20,21], by using smart interface and numerical modelling to achieve the most sensitive features. On the other hand, in [22] an innovative EMI incorporating an artificial neural network (ANN)-based pattern analysis tool was proposed to identify damage-sensitive frequency ranges autonomously and to provide detailed information, such as the damage type and severity in a simply supported aluminum beam.…”

Debonding Size Estimation in Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Guided Wave-Based Method

“…It was shown that the complexity of the propagation phenomenon strongly depends on the debonding location, while the average wave velocity depends only on its length. Yan et al [21] employed an impedance analysis and wave propagation to identify the debondings of various thicknesses and sizes in steel ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) composite slabs. Zhao et al [22] applied the TR method to detect and localize the defects along the steel-concrete interface.…”