Nondestructive monitoring of ageing of Alkali resistant Glass fiber reinforced cement (GRC)

Glass fiber reinforced cement (GRC) is a composite material made of portland cement mortar and alkali resistant (AR) fibers. AR fibers are added to portland cement to give the material additional flexural strength and toughness. However, ageing deteriorates the fibers and as a result the improvement in the mechanical properties resulted from the fiber addition disappears as the structure becomes old. The aim of this paper is monitoring GRC ageing by nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques. Two different NDE techniques (1) nonlinear impact resonant acoustic spectroscopy analysis and (2) propagating ultrasonic guided waves are used for this purpose. Both techniques revealed a reduction of the nonlinear behavior in the GRC material with ageing. Specimens are then loaded to failure to obtain their strength and stiffness. Compared to the un-aged specimens, the aged specimens are found to exhibit more linear behavior, have more stiffness but less toughness. Finally, undisturbed fragments on the fracture surface from mechanical tests are inspected under the electron microscope, to understand the fundamental mechanisms that cause the change in the GRC behavior with ageing.The authors want to acknowledge the financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion MICINN, Spain, and FEDER funding (Ondacem Project: BIA 2010-19933) and BES-2011-044624. Also thanks to PAID-02-11 Program from Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Eiras Fernández, JN.; Kundu, T.; Bonilla Salvador, MM.; Paya Bernabeu, JJ. (2013). Nondestructive monitoring of ageing of Alkali resistant Glass fiber reinforced cement (GRC). Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation - NDT and E International. 32:300-314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-013-0183-yS30031432Bentur, A., Fibre, M.S.: Reinforced Cementitious Composites, 2nd edn. Taylor and Francis, New York (2007)Purnell, P., Short, N.R., Page, C.L.: A static fatigue model for the durability of glass fibre reinforced cement. J. 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A thermosensitive electromechanical model for detecting biological particles

Miniature electromechanical systems form a class of bioMEMS that can provide appropriate sensitivity. In this research, a thermo-electro-mechanical model is presented to detect biological particles in the microscale. Identification in the model is based on analyzing pull-in instability parameters and frequency shifts. Here, governing equations are derived via the extended Hamilton’s principle. The coupled effects of system parameters such as surface layer energy, electric field correction, and material properties are incorporated in this thermosensitive model. Afterward, the accuracy of the present model and obtained results are validated with experimental, analytical, and numerical data for several cases. Performing a parametric study reveals that mechanical properties of biosensors can significantly affect the detection sensitivity of actuated ultra-small detectors and should be taken into account. Furthermore, it is shown that the number or dimension of deposited particles on the sensing zone can be estimated by investigating the changes in the threshold voltage, electrode deflection, and frequency shifts. The present analysis is likely to provide pertinent guidelines to design thermal switches and miniature detectors with the desired performance. The developed biosensor is more appropriate to detect and characterize viruses in samples with different temperatures

Estimation of viscoelastic attenuation of real seismic data by use of ray tracing software: Application to the detection of gas hydrates and free gas

International audienceAnalysis of P wave velocity profiles and seismic data recorded over the 2002 Hydratech cruise conducted in the Storegga region, North of Norway, has shown the existence of anomalies (a velocity decrease) in some layers of the medium. An elastic propagation model is not sufficient to explain clearly these anomalies, since the viscoelastic attenuation, represented by the quality factor QP, is sensitive to physical phenomena of geological media. The combination of the quality factor profile with the velocity profile leads to realistic explanations of these anomalies. In this article, we explain the procedure which we developed for determining the QP profile from the P wave velocity profile and the seismic data recorded during Hydratech cruise. Both the QP and velocity profiles indicate anomalies in the same layers. Based on previous studies, we interpret that these anomalies are being due to existence of gas hydrates and free gas within these layers

Effect of carbonation on the nonlinear response of concrete

International audienc

Velocity structure and the role of fluids in the West Bohemia Seismic Zone

In this study, we apply the double-difference tomography to investigate the detailed 3-D structure within and around the Nový Kostel Seismic Zone, an area in the Czech Republic known for frequent occurrences of earthquake swarms. We use data from the 2008 swarm since it has already been analysed in terms of earthquake focal mechanisms, principal faults, tectonic stress and foci migration. We selected about 500 microearthquakes recorded at 22 local seismic stations of the West Bohemia seismic monitoring network (WEBNET). Applying double-difference tomography, combined with weighted average model (WAM) post-processing to correct for parameter dependence effects, we produce and interpret 3-D models of the Vp-to-Vs ratio (Vp/Vs) in and around the focal zone. The modelled Vp/Vs ratio shows several distinct structures, namely an area of high Vp/Vs ratio correlating with the foci of the microearthquakes, and a layer of low values directly above it. These structures may reflect changes in lithology and/or fluid concentration. The overlaying low Vp/Vs ratio layer coincides with the base of the Fichtelgebirge (Smrčiny) granitic intrusion. It is possible that the base of the layer acts as a fluid trap and an upper limit to the seismicity, resulting in observed periodic swarms

Carbonation Assessment in Concrete by Nonlinear Ultrasound

International audienceThe carbonation process results in a change in the elastic properties of concrete, resulting in a variation of standard acoustic indicators such as wave speed. However, this evolution is too low to ensure an efficient carbonation assessment. The present communication focuses on the feasibility of carbonation assessment in concrete by applying Nonlinear Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (NRUS). The results show that the nonlinear parameter is significantly affected by the presence of carbonation, which is interpreted with respect to the evolution of concrete microstructure in the presence of this pathology