Concrete structures have been used widely in civil infrastructural systems especially in bridges. Due to the complex nature of its microstructure, nondestructive testing (NDT) of concrete inherently imposes many challenges, which can cause severe limitations to both the resolution and sensitivity of the observed signals. In this study, surface wave propagation in concrete is examined and simulated by using a surface bonded active piezoelectric actuators/sensors system experimentally and numerically, especially at high frequency. First, different experimental tests are conducted to evaluate effects of the loading frequency upon the resulting surface wave propagation. Secondly, the numerical results are compared with experimental data. The very good agreement shows the great feasibility and potential of surface wave signals by using piezoelectric actuators/sensors to locate and characteristics of surface damages.

Date Published: 8 April 2008
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6932, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2008, 69323B (8 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.786600

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6932:
Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2008
Masayoshi Tomizuka, Editor(s)