Title:
Electromagnetic Non-destructive Testing of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC)
Author(s):
Christopher Ferraro
Publication:
Web Session
Volume:
ws_S22_ChristopherFerraro.pdf
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
DOI:
Date:
3/28/2022
Abstract:
Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is a versatile and highly durable form of concrete that has a high tensile and flexural strength. These increased tensile and flexural strengths are in part the result of small diameter steel fibers within the mixture. When fabricating UHPC, the concentration and orientation of the steel fiber can affect the tensile properties and structural performance. These steel fibers are ferromagnetic, which means they are highly attracted in the presence of a magnetic field. UHPC on the other hand, is paramagnetic, meaning that it is not strongly attracted in the presence of a magnetic field. To exploit this property, we designed a sensor system to detect the volume and orientation of steel fibers in UHPC. Our experimental setup consisted of various UHPC samples consisting of fiber percentages ranging from 1 to 3 %. We further tested our work using several full-scale UHPC members, including H-piles, I-beams, octagonal piles, and square piles. Results were compared against fiber orientation and content calculated from X-ray computed tomography conducted on cores taken from these members. This presentation will discuss the non-destructive testing method used as well as the comparison with CT results.