Ultrasonic monitoring of compressive damage evolution in concrete

Abstract

This paper presents the outcomes of an experimental study conducted on a short concrete column loaded to failure under uniaxial compression. Piezoceramic transducers bonded to the free surfaces of the specimen were used for ultrasonic inspection during the progressive loading. The evolution of damage was monitored by means of change in ultrasonic wave velocity and scaling subtraction method, with the aim to highlight the capabilities and limitations of these approaches. The results show that the change in the nonlinear parameter derived by the scaling subtraction method is over two orders of magnitude greater than the relative change in the Rayleigh wave speed, thereby indicating the much greater sensitivity of the nonlinear ultrasonics approach for damage detection.