Acoustic emission monitoring for assessment of prestressed concrete beams

Acoustic emission (AE) was used to monitor eight prestressed concrete (PC) T-shaped beams that were tested per the ACI 437 cyclic load test (CLT) method. Limited research has examined the validity of this test method for PC structures. The study aims to explore the use of AE for damage evaluation as a supplement to conventional measurements used to assess the condition of a structure based on the CLT acceptance criteria. The beams had different initial conditions: five specimens were pre-cracked and corroded to different corrosion levels while the remaining unconditioned beams served as control specimens. AE enabled to monitor the accumulation of damage during the load tests and damage quantification charts based on AE data are presented. These charts allowed determining load test failure with better sensitivity than the existing ACI 437 evaluation criteria. The charts enabled the assessment of damage regardless of the specimens’ initial condition. In addition, it is shown that accurate damage source location and crack mapping can be achieved by using suitably filtered AE data

Identification of Cracking Mechanisms in Scaled FRP Reinforced Concrete Beams using Acoustic Emission

Acoustic emission was used to monitor the cracking mechanisms leading to the failure of scaled concrete beams having Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) longitudinal reinforcement and no shear reinforcement. Dimensional scaling included that of the effective depth of the cross section, which is a key parameter associated with the scaling of shear strength; and maximum aggregate size, which affects the shear-resisting mechanism of aggregate interlock along shear (inclined) cracks. Five GFRP reinforced concrete (RC) beams with effective depth up to 290 mm and constant shear span-to-effective depth ratio of 3.1 were load tested under four-point bending. Two types of failures were observed: flexural, due to rupture of the GFRP reinforcement in the constant moment region; and shear, due to inclined cracking in either constant shear region through the entire section depth. Acoustic emission (AE) analyses were performed to classify crack types occurring at different points in the load history. The results of this study indicate that appropriate AE parameters can be used to discriminate between developing flexural and shear cracks irrespective of scale, and provide warning of impending failure irrespective of the failure mode (flexural and shear). In addition, AE source location enabled to accurately map crack growth and identify areas of significant damage activity. These outcomes attest to the potential of AE as a viable technique for structural health monitoring and prognosis systems and techniques