Diagnostics of Damages in Reinforced Concrete by the Parameters of Electric Response to Mechanical Impact

Abstract

A method for non-destructive testing of reinforced concrete based on thephenomenon of mechano-electric transformations is proposed in this work. The procedure forassessing damage in concrete is based on the measurement of an electric response to a weakelastic impact. It was found that the moments of crack formation and growth during bendingare accompanied by a significant decrease in the correlation coefficient of the electricresponses spectra and by a stepwise change in spectrum shift (at frequency domain) at whichthe maximum correlation coefficient is observed. It was determined that the increase of energyattenuation coefficient of the electric response can serve as a forerunner of a catastrophicdestruction in concrete. The diagnostic criteria proposed in this work can be used formonitoring the damage processes in reinforced concrete under bending conditions.