Electromagnetic Sensing Techniques for Non-Destructive Diagnosis of Civil Engineering Structures

Environmental policy & protocol

Chapter Electromagnetic Sensing Techniques for Non-Destructive Diagnosis of Civil Engineering Structures

Environmental policy & protocol

Review: optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications

Optical fiber sensor (OFS) technologies have developed rapidly over the last few decades, and various types of OFS have found practical applications in the field of civil engineering. In this paper, which is resulting from the work of the RILEM technical committee “Optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications”, different kinds of sensing techniques, including change of light intensity, interferometry, fiber Bragg grating, adsorption measurement and distributed sensing, are briefly reviewed to introduce the basic sensing principles. Then, the applications of OFS in highway structures, building structures, geotechnical structures, pipelines as well as cables monitoring are described, with focus on sensor design, installation technique and sensor performance. It is believed that the State-of-the-Art review is helpful to engineers considering the use of OFS in their projects, and can facilitate the wider application of OFS technologies in construction industry

Recent Advancements in Non-Destructive Testing Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an important aspect of the assessment of various structures and infrastructure, which involves inspection, monitoring, and maintenance to support economics, quality of life and sustainability in civil engineering. Currently, research has been conducted in order to develop non-destructive techniques for SHM to extend the lifespan of monitored structures. This paper will review and summarize the recent advancements in non-destructive testing techniques, namely, sweep frequency approach, ground penetrating radar, infrared technique, fiber optics sensors, camera-based methods, laser scanner techniques, acoustic emission and ultrasonic techniques. Although some of the techniques are widely and successfully utilized in civil engineering, there are still challenges that researchers are addressing. One of the common challenges within the techniques is interpretation, analysis and automation of obtained data, which requires highly skilled and specialized experts. Therefore, researchers are investigating and applying artificial intelligence, namely machine learning algorithms to address the challenges. In addition, researchers have combined multiple techniques in order to improve accuracy and acquire additional parameters to enhance the measurement processes. This study mainly focuses on the scope and recent advancements of the Non-destructive Testing (NDT) application for SHM of concrete, masonry, timber and steel structures

A review on acoustic emission monitoring for damage detection in masonry structures

Acoustic emission monitoring is widely used for damage detection in materials research and for site monitoring. Its use for masonry structures is however challenging due to the highly heterogenic nature of masonry and rapid signal attenuation. However, the non-invasive nature and high sensitivity of the technique also provide interesting opportunities, especially for historical masonry structures, to locate damage, identify severity of damage and rate of deterioration. Aim of this paper is to provide an extensive literature review on the application of the acoustic emission technique for masonry structures, addressing specific challenges and recent findings. AE-based methods for damage assessment in masonry are discussed in view of monitoring approaches, wave propagation, source location and crack development under static, fatigue and creep loading. Site applications are discussed for identifying crack location and crack propagation in historical masonry towers, buildings and masonry arch bridges. The paper concludes with future challenges identified in this research field

A new sensorized ceramic plug for the remote monitoring of moisture in historic masonry walls: First results from laboratory and onsite testing

The presence of moisture in historic buildings, especially from rising damp, is extremely widespread and severe, causing materials' deterioration, internal discomfort and bad thermal insulation of external walls. Although this phenomenon is widely studied in the literature, the available solutions are frequently only partially effective, also due to the lack of reliable and compatible techniques to monitor the amount of moisture inside porous building materials, especially in heritage buildings where multiple restrictions exist. In this paper, a new sensorized ceramic plug was developed, to be inserted in historic masonry walls for the remote monitoring of moisture. The plug includes a moisture sensor that is currently used for soil irrigation purpose in agriculture and a ceramic envelope of tailored properties. The plug was developed in laboratory following a step-by-step testing program, which took into account both the specific features of the sensor (requiring a strong research effort to be transferred to building materials) and those of historic walls. After a first set of laboratory tests, the sensorized ceramic plug was validated in small-scale laboratory walls and in a real historic masonry in the monumental Certosa cemetery in Bologna, Italy. The results are extremely encouraging, as they show how the new plug can provide valuable information about the rising damp evolution, and in fact, the data were correlated with the changes in the concurrent environmental parameters in the area of the cemetery. The results also suggest some possible measures to improve the sensorized ceramic plug in the near future

Roadmap on measurement technologies for next generation structural health monitoring systems

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the automation of the condition assessment process of an engineered system. When applied to geometrically large components or structures, such as those found in civil and aerospace infrastructure and systems, a critical challenge is in designing the sensing solution that could yield actionable information. This is a difficult task to conduct cost-effectively, because of the large surfaces under consideration and the localized nature of typical defects and damages. There have been significant research efforts in empowering conventional measurement technologies for applications to SHM in order to improve performance of the condition assessment process. Yet, the field implementation of these SHM solutions is still in its infancy, attributable to various economic and technical challenges. The objective of this Roadmap publication is to discuss modern measurement technologies that were developed for SHM purposes, along with their associated challenges and opportunities, and to provide a path to research and development efforts that could yield impactful field applications. The Roadmap is organized into four sections: distributed embedded sensing systems, distributed surface sensing systems, multifunctional materials, and remote sensing. Recognizing that many measurement technologies may overlap between sections, we define distributed sensing solutions as those that involve or imply the utilization of numbers of sensors geometrically organized within (embedded) or over (surface) the monitored component or system. Multi-functional materials are sensing solutions that combine multiple capabilities, for example those also serving structural functions. Remote sensing are solutions that are contactless, for example cell phones, drones, and satellites. It also includes the notion of remotely controlled robots

Bridges Structural Health Monitoring and Deterioration Detection Synthesis of Knowledge and Technology

INE/AUTC 10.0

Testing of Materials and Elements in Civil Engineering

This book was proposed and organized as a means to present recent developments in the field of testing of materials and elements in civil engineering. For this reason, the articles highlighted in this editorial relate to different aspects of testing of different materials and elements in civil engineering, from building materials to building structures. The current trend in the development of testing of materials and elements in civil engineering is mainly concerned with the detection of flaws and defects in concrete elements and structures, and acoustic methods predominate in this field. As in medicine, the trend is towards designing test equipment that allows one to obtain a picture of the inside of the tested element and materials. Interesting results with significance for building practices were obtained