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The State of the Art in Non-destructive Evaluation of Concrete

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Acoustics and Vibrations".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 6409

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zoubir Mehdi Sbartaï

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Guest Editor

I2M, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Bordeaux, 33405 Talence, France
Interests: NDT evaluation of concrete; electromagnetic method; electrical method; acoustic method (ultrasonic, impact echo, acoustic emission); concrete variability evaluation, NDT combination

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Civil engineering structures as buildings, bridges, tunnels, power plant, water retaining/supply structures, etc.) are important components of built heritage. Keeping them in service requires significant maintenance and repair costs. Therefore, the development of scientific approaches becomes necessary through setting up concrete evaluation tools aimed at making diagnosis more reliable for optimizing the maintenance strategy. The use of non-destructive testing and evaluation methods (acoustic, electromagnetic, electrical, etc.) are one of the suitable approaches. The more important requirements are quantification of the mechanical properties of materials or indicators of durability such as compressive strength, porosity, moisture content, and the detection of defect/damage and their monitoring. Taking into account uncertainties and the development of in situ assessment methodologies are also of great interest for optimizing the predictive maintenance of structures and infrastructures.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of recent developments in non-destructive testing and evaluation methods as well as in situ concrete assessment methodologies using NDT. Submissions discussing the state-of-the-art in experimentation and modeling as well as applications on structures in real conditions are encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Zoubir Mehdi Sbartaï
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

NDE
concrete evaluation
combining NDT
inversion
detection
characterization
imaging

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2056 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Temperature Effect on Electrical Resistivity Measurement Using an Embedded Sensor to Estimate Concrete Water Content

by Joanna Badr, Elie Mahfoud, Géraldine Villain, Jean-Paul Balayssac, Sérgio Palma Lopes, Yannick Fargier and Béatrice Yven

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(19), 9420; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12199420 - 20 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2097

Abstract

Concrete resistivity measurements strongly depend on the temperature and the water content of the structure. In this paper, a study of the effect of the temperature and saturation degree on electrical resistivity measurement is carried out using an embedded printed circuit board sensor to estimate water content profiles in concrete structures. Resistivity measurements are performed at temperatures between 20 and 60 °C. Experimental results are presented and analyzed in light of well-established empirical models. Calibration curves that link the electrical resistivity to the degree of saturation at a given temperature are discussed. Arrhenius laws that depend on the degree of saturation can be used to fit our data. In the perspective of the instrumentation and monitoring of concrete structure in real conditions, it is important to master the temperature correction laws of resistivity measurement to evaluate the gradients of water saturation degree. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The State of the Art in Non-destructive Evaluation of Concrete)

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18 pages, 7707 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reservoir-Vascular Tubes Network for Self-Healing Concrete: Performance Analysis by Acoustic Emission, Digital Image Correlation and Ultrasound Velocity

by Eleni Tsangouri, Corentin Van Loo, Yasmina Shields, Nele De Belie, Kim Van Tittelboom and Dimitrios G. Aggelis

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 4821; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12104821 - 10 May 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2097

Abstract

A novel linear reservoir-vascular tubes network is presented in this work and the design efficacy is explored by testing concrete beams loaded on bending and by assessing their damage healing and mechanical recovery. The healing system is composed of additively manufactured polymer components that appear equally effective compared to conventional ceramic tubes since the 3D printed polymer-tubes instantly break upon cracking. It is shown that bulk reservoirs embedded into concrete can deviate cracks and detrimentally affect the concrete’s resistance to failure. The crack formation and re-opening is monitored by acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) concluding that initial brittle cracking is shifted after healing to a pseudo-ductile crack re-opening with extended post-softening. The sealed cracks show significant strength and toughness recovery (i.e., above 80% of the original value) escorted also by an ultrasound pulse velocity (UPV) increase (up to 126% relative to the damage state) after a healing intervention. The work critically reports on obstructions of the current design: (i) the network tubes are clogged although the agent was flushed out of the network after healing and as a result re-healing is unattainable; and (ii) vacuum spaces are formed during casting underneath the network tubes, due to limited vibration aiming on the tubes’ tightness, but also due to inefficient aggregates settlement, leading to a strength decrease. This work calls attention to the impact of vascular networks design and performance on a complex cracks network and fracture zone development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The State of the Art in Non-destructive Evaluation of Concrete)

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Review

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14 pages, 4123 KiB

Open AccessReview

Assessment of Concrete Strength Using the Combination of NDT—Review and Performance Analysis

by Bouchra Kouddane, Zoubir Mehdi Sbartaï, Maitham Alwash, Khoudja Ali-Benyahia, Sidi Mohammed Elachachi, Nouzha Lamdouar and Said Kenai

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(23), 12190; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app122312190 - 28 Nov 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1545

Abstract

This paper presents a review on combining NDT techniques, such as rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity, for assessing concrete compressive strength. These methods, though being favorably not invasive and easy to be extended to a larger number of elements, are affected by many contingency factors. The SonReb technique suggests combining the two methods to partially offset their low reliability if considered separately. For years, this concept was introduced in order to improve the evaluation compared with the use of one NDT. In order to combine the ultrasonic pulse velocity and rebound hammer, many empirical, multiparametric models were proposed in the literature as linear, power, exponential, or polynomial. However, the variety of these models emphasizes that they can give a correct strength prediction only for the particular cases that they are derived for. Therefore, to assess concrete on site, the strength should be predicted using a calibration procedure due to the variability of existing concrete mixes. This paper presents a brief outline of the key aspects of strength assessment, including the different approaches used to build the SonReb model and a calibration procedure for assessing concrete strength. A comparison study between the different approaches is proposed, and a performance analysis using Monte Carlo simulations is discussed. Finally, the estimation capacity of the existing model identification approaches is investigated, and the effect of the “trade-off” is analyzed for different random sampling with varying the number of cores. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The State of the Art in Non-destructive Evaluation of Concrete)

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