Use of the digital image correlation and acoustic emission technique to study the effect of structural size on cracking of reinforced concrete

An experimental investigation is performed to study the degradation of reinforced concrete beams by employing two experimental techniques simultaneously i.e. digital image correlation and acoustic emission. The former method gives very precise measurement of surface displacements, thus crack openings and crack spacing are determined. In order to complement this method and to investigate damage mechanisms, acoustic emissions resulting from internal damage are also analysed. Beams of three different sizes but proportionally similar, are tested to study the effect of structural size. A comparison of the experimental measurements with Eurocode expressions is also presented. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.