ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CONCRETE ABSTRACTS PORTAL

  • The International Concrete Abstracts Portal is an ACI led collaboration with leading technical organizations from within the international concrete industry and offers the most comprehensive collection of published concrete abstracts.

International Concrete Abstracts Portal

  


Title: Detection of Internal Defects in Concrete Members Using Global Vibration Characteristics

Author(s): H. Sezer Atamturktur, Christopher R. Gilligan, and Kelly A. Salyards

Publication: Materials Journal

Volume: 110

Issue: 5

Appears on pages(s): 529-538

Keywords: concrete defect detection; experimental modal analysis; nondestructive testing and evaluation; statistical inference; uncertainty quantification

DOI: 10.14359/51685904

Date: 9/1/2013

Abstract:
Rock-pocket and honeycomb defects impair overall stiffness, accelerate aging, reduce service life, and cause structural problems in hardened concrete members. Traditional methods for detecting such deficient volumes involve visual observations or localized nondestructive methods, which are labor-intensive, timeconsuming, highly sensitive to test conditions, and require knowledge of and accessibility to defect locations. The authors propose a vibration response-based nondestructive technique that combines experimental and numerical methodologies for use in identifying the location and severity of internal defects of concrete members. The experimental component entails collecting mode shape curvatures from laboratory beam specimens with size-controlled rock pocket and honeycomb defects, and the numerical component entails simulating beam vibration response through a finite element (FE) model parameterized with three defect-identifying variables indicating location (x, coordinate along the beam length) and severity of damage (a, stiffness reduction and b, mass reduction). Defects are detected by comparing the FE model predictions to experimental measurements and inferring the low number of defect- identifying variables. This method is particularly well-suited for rapid and cost-effective quality assurance for precast concrete members and for inspecting concrete members with simple geometric forms.