A study on monitoring multi-scale concrete members with coda-wave interferometry using embedded transducers

Abstract

This paper presents a study on the application of the coda-wave interferometry (CWI) technique using embedded transducers for the monitoring of concrete structural members. The coda-wave interferometry (CWI) has been recognized as a promising technique in detecting small changes in the parameters of materials. To reduce the influence of environment and enable the access to the interested region of the target structure we propose to apply CWI with embedded transducers for the monitoring concrete structures. In this paper, the proposed approach is applied on a 0.5-m cylinder under compression and on a 10-m full-scale beam under bending. The results showed a good correspondence between the CWI-deducted wavespeed change and the estimated strain value in both the small-scale and the large-scale test. Besides, the correlation coefficient of the coda, especially the late coda is sensitive to the formation of cracks even at a distance from the sensor pair. Thus, they can be used as crack indicators of the structure.