Flexural Damage Diagnosis in Reinforced Concrete Beams Using a Wireless Admittance Monitoring System—Tests and Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

The utilization and effectiveness of a custom-made, portable and low-cost structural health monitoring (SHM) system that implements the PZT-based electro-mechanical admittance (EMA) methodology for the detection and evaluation of the damage of flexural reinforced concrete (RC) beams is presented. Tests of large-scale beams under monotonic and cyclic reversal-imposed deformations have been carried out using an integrated wireless impedance/admittance monitoring system (WiAMS) that employs the voltage measurements of PZT transducers. Small-sized PZT patches that have been epoxy-bonded on the steel bars surface and on the external concrete face of the beams are utilized to diagnose damages caused by steel yielding and concrete cracking. Excitations and simultaneous measurements of the voltage signal responses of the PZT transducers have been carried out at different levels of the applied load during the tests using the developed SHM devices, which are remotely controlled by a terminal emulator. Each PZT output voltage versus frequency response is transferred wireless and in real-time. Statistical index values are calculated based on the signals of the PZT transducers to represent the differences between their baseline response at the healthy state of the beam and their response at each loading/damage level. Finite Element Modeling (FEM) simulation of the tested beams has also been performed to acquire numerical results concerning the internal cracks, the steel strains and the energy dissipation and instability parameters. FEM analyses are used to verify the experimental results and to support the visual observations for a more precise damage evaluation. Findings of this study indicate that the proposed SHM system with the implementation of two different PZT transducer settings can be effectively utilized for the assessment of structural damage caused by concrete cracking and steel yielding in flexural beams under monotonic and cyclic loading.

An Experimental Study of Damage Detection on Typical Joints of Jackets Platform Based on Electro-Mechanical Impedance Technique

“…Chalioris et al [ 53 ] utilized PZT transducers in various settings to diagnose and demonstrate flexural damages caused by concrete cracking and steel yielding. Two large-scale flexural beams were used that were subjected to monotonically increased loading until failure.…”

Effect of Carbon Black and Hybrid Steel-Polypropylene Fiber on the Mechanical and Self-Sensing Characteristics of Concrete Considering Different Coarse Aggregates’ Sizes

“…It was deemed important to investigate the deterioration of concrete structures in time to overcome cracks and damage. Damage detection and crack sensing are typically executed using different sensors (i.e., piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and fiber optic sensors) [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Nevertheless, these sensors have limited applications due to their low durability, high cost, lack of spatial resolution, and limited sensing ability.…”

Advanced Composite Retrofit of RC Columns and Frames with Prior Damages—Pseudodynamic Finite Element Analyses and Design Approaches

“…Innovative advanced materials and intervention techniques such as fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) in the form of sheets [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], strips [13][14][15][16], composite ropes [4,17] or composite shells [18,19], among others, are widely used in deficient or damaged RC structures. Suitable retrofit of deficient members can improve their strength, delay further corrosion of the reinforcement and reduce deformations in the serviceability limit state [1,[13][14][15][20][21][22][23][24].…”