Fragility Curves and Probabilistic Seismic Demand Models on the Seismic Assessment of RC Frames Subjected to Structural Pounding

This study aims to evaluate five different methodologies reported in the literature for developing fragility curves to assess the seismic performance of RC structures subjected to structural pounding. In this context, displacement-based and curvature-based fragility curves are developed. The use of probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs) on the fragility assessment of the pounding risk is further estimated. Linear and bilinear PSDMs are developed, while the validity of the assumptions commonly used to produce a PSDM is examined. Finally, the influence of the PSDMs’ assumptions on the derivation of fragilities for the structural pounding effect is identified. The examined pounding cases involve the interaction between adjacent RC structures that have equal story heights (floor-to-floor interaction). Results indicate that the fragility assessment of the RC structure that suffers the pounding effect is not affected by the examined methodologies when the performance level that controls the seismic behavior is exceeded at low levels of IM. Thus, the more vulnerable the structure is due to the pounding effect, the more likely that disparities among the fragility curves of the examined methods are eliminated. The use of a linear PSDM fails to properly describe the local inelastic demands of the structural RC member that suffers the impact effect. The PSDM’s assumptions are not always satisfied for the examined engineering demand parameters of this study, and thus may induce errors when fragility curves are developed. Nevertheless, errors induced due to the power law model and the homoscedasticity assumptions of the PSDM can be reduced by using the bilinear regression model

Applications of smart piezoelectric materials in a wireless admittance monitoring system (WiAMS) to Structures—Tests in RC elements

The application of an innovative real-time structural health monitoring system is studied through tests performed on flexural and shear-critical reinforced concrete elements subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. The test set-up involves a Wireless impedance/Admittance Monitoring System (WiAMS) that comprises specially manufactured small-sized portable devices to collect the voltage frequency responses of an array of smart piezoelectric transducers mounted on structural members of reinforced concrete constructions. Damage detection and evaluation is achieved using the in-situ measurements of the integrated piezoelectric sensors/actuators signals at the healthy state of the member and at various levels of damage during testing. Three different installations of Piezoelectric lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers are examined: (a) epoxy bonded PZTs on the surface of the steel reinforcing bars of the flexural elements, (b) PZTs embedded inside the concrete mass of the shear-critical beams and (c) externally epoxy bonded PZTs attached to the concrete surface of the tested elements. The smart piezoelectric materials have been pre-installed before testing based on the potential flexural and shear cracking of the elements. Quantitative assessment of the examined damage levels using values for the statistical damage index is also presented and discussed. Voltage signals and index values acquired from the PZTs’ measurements using the proposed wireless monitoring technique demonstrated obvious discrepancies between the frequency response of the healthy and the examined damage levels for every tested element. These differences clearly indicate the presence of damage, whereas their gradation reveals the magnitude of the occurred damage. Promising results concerning the prediction of the forthcoming fatal failures at early damage stages have also been derived

Experimental damage evaluation of reinforced concrete steel bars using piezoelectric sensors

Summarization: This study presents an experimental effort for the damage assessment of concrete reinforcing bars using bonded piezoelectric transducers and the implementation of an integration analytical approach based on the electromechanical admittance method. Tests are performed in (i) single steel reinforcing bars with predefined and artificially induced damages corresponding to two different damage states and (ii) steel reinforcing bars embedded in typical large scale reinforced concrete beams subjected to flexural load at two different loading levels (before and after yielding) that inevitably cause two different damage levels. The damage of the embedded steel bars in the concrete beams after yielding is the result of excessive elongation of the bars due to yielding caused by flexural deformation of the beams. Test measurements of healthy and damaged steel bars and reinforced concrete beams have been conducted using the developed monitoring system. The experimental program comprises data acquisition of current intensity curves for healthy and damaged bars as detected by the test instrumentation and implementation of the adopted admittance-based procedure to evaluate damages at different levels. It can be concluded that the sensitivity of the piezoelectric transducers greatly depends on the selection of the excitation frequencies. Admittance signatures showed a clear gradation of the examined damage levels. The experimental results provide cogent evidence that piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate transducers are sensitive to damage detection in concrete and in steel reinforcing bars from an early stage of the performed tests. Thus, the use of these sensors for monitoring and detecting concrete cracking and steel yielding by employing the electromechanical admittance approach can be considered as a highly promising non-destructive structural health monitoring method.Presented on: Construction and Building Material

Applications of smart piezoelectric materials in a wireless admittance monitoring system (WiAMS) to structures-tests in RC elements

Summarization: The application of an innovative real-time structural health monitoring system is studied through tests performed on flexural and shear-critical reinforced concrete elements subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. The test set-up involves a Wireless impedance/Admittance Monitoring System (WiAMS) that comprises specially manufactured small-sized portable devices to collect the voltage frequency responses of an array of smart piezoelectric transducers mounted on structural members of reinforced concrete constructions. Damage detection and evaluation is achieved using the in-situ measurements of the integrated piezoelectric sensors/actuators signals at the healthy state of the member and at various levels of damage during testing. Three different installations of Piezoelectric lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers are examined: (a) epoxy bonded PZTs on the surface of the steel reinforcing bars of the flexural elements, (b) PZTs embedded inside the concrete mass of the shear-critical beams and (c) externally epoxy bonded PZTs attached to the concrete surface of the tested elements. The smart piezoelectric materials have been pre-installed before testing based on the potential flexural and shear cracking of the elements. Quantitative assessment of the examined damage levels using values for the statistical damage index is also presented and discussed. Voltage signals and index values acquired from the PZTs' measurements using the proposed wireless monitoring technique demonstrated obvious discrepancies between the frequency response of the healthy and the examined damage levels for every tested element. These differences clearly indicate the presence of damage, whereas their gradation reveals the magnitude of the occurred damage. Promising results concerning the prediction of the forthcoming fatal failures at early damage stages have also been derived.Presented on: Case Studies in Construction Material