Real-time fast ultrasonic monitoring of concrete cracking using embedded piezoelectric transducers

This paper deals with the use of embedded piezoelectric transducers for ultrasonic monitoring of cracking in concrete. Based on the previous developments of our research team on that topic, we design a new data acquisition system which is able to interrogate the emitter-receiver pair up to 150 times per second. The system is based on low-voltage actuation (up to 20 V) and the signal-to-noise ratio is excellent due to the use of a voltage amplifier at the receiver side and the possibility to perform averages. With such a high measurement rate, we are able to follow brittle failure events such as the failure of a concrete cylinder in compression, which is the application example presented. In this application, we show that, in addition to the ultrasonic active monitoring of cracking, the system is also able to record the passive acoustic emission events which can be used as a complementary indicator of damage in the cylinder. We also demonstrate that because of the high level of stresses in compression, the damage indicator defined in our previous studies is not suited for crack monitoring due to the elastoacoustic effect. The amplitude of the first wave arrival is shown to be a robust alternative damage indicator allowing to follow accurately the three successive phases of cracking leading to the failure of the cylinder.