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Real-Time Monitoring of Bond Slip between GFRP Bar and Concrete Structure Using Piezoceramic Transducer-Enabled
Kai Xu1, Changchun Ren2, Qingshan Deng3
1College of Urban Construction, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430065, China. xukai@wust.edu.cn.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 15, 2018
Summary
A new piezoceramic sensing method effectively detects bond slip in glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP)-concrete structures. This approach uses lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers to monitor stress waves, identifying debonding issues in GFRP-reinforced concrete.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Civil Engineering
- Structural Health Monitoring
Background:
- Glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRPs) offer advantages like light weight and corrosion resistance, leading to increased use in concrete structures.
- GFRPs exhibit lower elastic modulus and different bonding characteristics compared to steel, necessitating reliable methods to monitor bond slip.
- Detecting debonding is crucial for ensuring the structural integrity and safety of GFRP-reinforced concrete.
Observation:
- A piezoceramic-based active sensing approach using lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers was developed.
- One PZT transducer acts as an actuator within the concrete, while the other serves as a sensor attached to the GFRP bar.
- Stress waves generated by the actuator travel across the GFRP-concrete interface, and their energy is detected by the sensor.
Findings:
- Bond slip and debonding significantly reduce the energy of stress waves propagating across the interface.
- Wavelet packet analysis of the sensing data accurately quantifies the energy transfer during debonding.
- Experimental results confirm the proposed method's ability to capture GFRP-concrete bond slip.
Implications:
- This active sensing technique provides a reliable, non-destructive method for monitoring the bond condition in GFRP-reinforced concrete.
- Early detection of bond slip can prevent structural failures and enhance the safety of infrastructure.
- The method holds potential for real-time structural health monitoring applications in civil engineering.
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