Characterization of damage on precast pre-stressed concrete composite slabs under static loading based on acoustic emission parameters

Abstract

Precast pre-stressed concrete composite slabs have been widely used in recent years owing to excellent mechanical properties and cost savings. The low accuracy of visual observation and the complexity of actual measurement make the determination of the precise information of structural safety difficult. This article presents an acoustic emission study on the precast pre-stressed concrete composite slab under static loading. First, the correlation between acoustic emission hits (or energy) and crack width (or deflection) was obtained and compared in detail. Second, the stiffness of this composite slab was predicted using the acoustic emission amplitude. Third, a novel analysis method for damage fracture classification is proposed, which is based on the traditional parameter and fuzzy C-means clustering. This method can be used to determine visual crack emerging, rebar yielding, and eventual failure mode by an acoustic emission parametric analysis without involving visual inspection or mechanical measurement. It can be effectively used for fracture characterization and health monitoring of composite slabs.

Damage evaluation and failure mechanism analysis of axially compressed circular concrete-filled steel tubular column via AE monitoring

“…Therefore, an Ib value method was used to analyze the cracking process of concrete as shown in Equation (10). 17…”

“…During crack formation, tensile cracks emit longitudinal waves, while shear cracks emit transverse waves. 17 As longitudinal waves propagate faster in solid materials, the tensile cracks take less time to reach maximum amplitude than the shear cracks. According to Equations ( 11) and ( 12), the tensile cracks exhibit smaller RA values and larger AF, while the opposite is true for the shear cracks.…”

“…The corresponding acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of crack modes. 17 still originated from tensile cracks. A greater number of cracks tending to shear mode occurred in Stage III, but the HI for such cracks in this stage was still less than 1.00.…”

“…The research results indicate that AE signals are sensitive and effective for the generation, progression, and fracture of cracks in materials. It is also excellent in the research of the mechanical properties of various engineering components such as beams, 16 slabs, 17 columns, 18 and joints. 19 Due to its ability to detect the structures with large areas and many features, AE techniques are frequently used for damage assessment of bridge structures such as steel bridge, 20 concrete bridge, 21 and masonry bridge.…”

The Behaviour of Half-Slabs and Hollow-Core Slab in Four-Edge Supported Conditions

“…A series of slant-shear and direct-shear tests were conducted [14][15][16] on test specimens. Digital image correlation (DIC) and ultrasonic techniques were used to evaluate the behaviour of the interface area [17][18][19][20]. The relationships between surface roughness and interface resistance [21,22] were also defined in the fibre-reinforced concrete used in the concrete topping slab [23].…”