Piezoceramic-Based Damage Monitoring of Concrete Structure for Underwater Blasting

This paper developed a piezoelectric-transducer-based damage detection of concrete materials after blasting. Two specimens (with or without an energy-relieving structure) were subjected to a 40 m deep-underwater blasting load in an underwater-explosion vessel, and their damage was detected by a multifunctional piezoelectric-signal-monitoring and -analysis system before and after the explosion. Statistical-data analysis of the piezoelectric signals revealed four zones: crushing, fracture, damage, and safe zones. The signal energy was analyzed and calculated by wavelet-packet analysis, and the blasting-damage index was obtained after the concrete specimen was subjected to the impact load of the underwater explosion. The damage of the two specimens gradually decreased from the blast hole to the bottom of the specimen. The damage index of the specimen with the energy-relieving structure differed for the fracture area and the damage area, and the damage protection of the energy-relieving structure was prominent at the bottom of the specimen. The piezoelectric-transducer-based damage monitoring of concrete materials is sensitive to underwater blasting, and with wavelet-packet-energy analysis, it can be used for postblasting damage detection and the evaluation of concrete materials.