An Electrical Impedance Imaging System Towards Edge Intelligence for Non-Destructive Testing of Concrete

In the construction industry,to prevent accidents,non-destructive tests are necessary and cost-effective.Electrical impedance tomography is a new technology in non-invasive imaging in which the image of the inner part of conductive bodies is reconstructed by the arrays of external electrodes that are connected on the periphery of the object.The equipment is cheap,fast,and edge compatible.In this imaging method,the image of electrical conductivity distribution(or its opposite;electrical impedance)of the internal parts of the target object is reconstructed.The image reconstruction process is performed by injecting a precise electric current to the peripheral boundaries of the object,measuring the peripheral voltages induced from it and processing the collected data.In an electrical impedance tomography system,the voltages measured in the peripheral boundaries have a non-linear equation with the electrical conductivity distribution.This paper presents a cheap Electrical Impedance Tomography(EIT)instrument for detecting impurities in the concrete.A voltage-controlled current source,a micro-controller,a set of multiplexers,a set of electrodes,and a personal computer constitute the structure of the system.The conducted tests on concrete with impurities show that the designed EIT system can reveal impurities with a good accuracy in a reasonable time.

Acoustic Non-Destructive Testing Technology in Concrete Bridge Inspection and Pile Foundation Detection

This article takes the actual construction project of a certain concrete bridge project as an example to analyze the application of acoustic non-destructive testing technology in its detection.It includes an overview of a certain bridge construction project studied and acoustic non-destructive testing technology and the application of acoustic non-destructive testing technology in actual testing.This analysis hopes to provide some guidelines for acoustic non-destructive testing of modern concrete bridge projects.

Compressive Strength of Basic Magnesium Sulfate Cement Coral Aggregate Concrete(MCAC)on Non-Destructive Testing

Basic magnesium sulfate cement coral aggregate concrete(MCAC)is a new type of concrete consisting of basic magnesium sulfate cement,coarse coral aggregate,coral reef sand and seawater.The rebound hammer(RH),the ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV)and the compressive strength(fcu)tests of 14 sets of cube specimens of the MCAC after 28 d of aging were conducted.The impact of the content and length of sisal fiber on the relationship between the fcu-RH and the fcu-UPV was determined.A mathematical model was established to predict the strength of the MCAC using the UPV,RH,and comprehensive UPV/RH methods and to obtain the curves of test strength.The applicability of the test strength curves of ordinary portland concrete(OPC),light-weight aggregate concrete(LAC),and coral aggregate concrete(CAC)to MCAC was assessed.The results showed that the test strength curves of OPC,LAC and CAC were inappropriate to determine the strength of MCAC using non-destructive method.The relative standard error of the curves of test strength of the RH method and the comprehensive method met the specifications,whereas that of the UPV method did not.

Flexible pavement longitudinal joint quality evaluation using non-destructive testing

Longitudinal joint construction quality is critical to the life of flexible pavements.Maintaining deteriorated longitudinal joints has become a challenge for many highway agencies.Improving the joint's quality through better compaction during construction can help achieve flexible pavements with longer service lives and less maintenance.Current quality control(QC)and quality assurance(QA)plans provide limited coverage.Consequently,the risk of missing areas with poor joint compaction is significant.A density profiling system(DPS)is a non-destructive alternative to conventional destructive evaluation methods.It can provide quick and continuous real-time coverage of the compaction during construction in dielectrics.The paper presents several case studies comparing various types of longitudinal joints and demonstrating the use of DPS to evaluate the joint's compaction quality.The paper shows that dielectric measurements can provide valuable insight into the ability of various construction techniques to achieve adequate levels of compaction at the longitudinal joint.The paper proposes a dielectric-based longitudinal joint quality index(LJQI)to evaluate the relative compaction of the joint during construction.It also shows that adopting DPS for assessing the compaction of longitudinal joints can minimize the risk of agencies accepting poorly constructed joints,identify locations of poor quality during construction,and achieve better-performing flexible pavements.

Explosion resistance performance of reinforced concrete box girder coated with polyurea:Model test and numerical simulation

To study the anti-explosion protection effect of polyurea coating on reinforced concrete box girder,two segmental girder specimens were made at a scale of 1:3,numbered as G(without polyurea coating)and PCG(with polyurea coating).The failure characteristics and dynamic responses of the specimens were compared through conducting explosion tests.The reliability of the numerical simulation using LS-DYNA software was verified by the test results.The effects of different scaled distances,reinforcement ratios,concrete strengths,coating thicknesses and ranges of polyurea were studied.The results show that the polyurea coating can effectively enhance the anti-explosion performance of the girder.The top plate of middle chamber in specimen G forms an elliptical penetrating hole,while that in specimen PCG only shows a very slight local dent.The peak vertical displacement and residual displacement of PCG decrease by 74.8% and 73.7%,respectively,compared with those of specimen G.For the TNT explosion with small equivalent,the polyurea coating has a more significant protective effect on reducing the size of fracture.With the increase of TNT equivalent,the protective effect of polyurea on reducing girder displacement becomes more significant.The optimal reinforcement ratio,concrete strength,thickness and range of polyurea coating were also drawn.

Discussion on the Status Quo of Non-Destructive Testing Technology in Highway Engineering and Strategies of Improving the Quality of Testing

Highway test and detection technology play a very important role in controlling the quality of road and bridge engineering and improving the maintenance of roads and bridges.The study of highway bridge test detection technology is both theoretically and practically useful.Road and bridge test and detection is a complicated task.With the development of science and technology,highway and bridge engineering test and detection technology has also made great progress.The continuous improvement of test and detection technology has brought good social benefits to road and bridge construction.This article discusses the problems in test and detection technology of highway bridges and how to improve the quality of test and detection.

Application of Non-Destructive Testing Technology in Quality Testing and Control of Water Conservancy Projects

In view of social development,the demand for water conservancy engineering applications continues to increase.The number and scale of water conservancy projects in China have been in a state of continuous expansion in recent years.As a result,how to achieve efficient testing and effective control of the quality of water conservancy projects has always been a topic of discussion in the field of water conservancy engineering in our country.This paper summarizes the application of non-destructive testing technology in the quality testing and control of water conservancy projects.On the basis of explaining the connotation and application advantages of non-destructive testing technology,the non-destructive testing application strategies for concrete strength,steel corrosion and shallow cracks in water conservancy projects were studied.

Evaluation of internal void related defects in reinforced concrete slab using electromagnetic wave properties

This study aims to develop a damage-detection algorithm based on the electromagnetic wave properties inside a reinforced concrete structure.The proposed method involves employing two algorithms based on data measured using ground-penetrating radar—a common electromagnetic wave method in civil engineering.The possible defect area was identified based on the energy dissipated by the damage in the frequency-wavenumber domain,with the damage localized using the calculated relative permittivity of the measurements.The proposed method was verified through a finite difference time-domain-based numerical analysis and a testing slab with artificial damage.As a result of verification,the proposed method quickly identified the presence of damage inside the concrete,especially for honeycomb-like defects located at the top of the rebar.This study has practical significance in scanning structures over a large area more quickly than other non-destructive testing methods,such as ultrasonic methods.

Micromechanical testing and property upscaling of planetary rocks:A critical review

Knowledge of the mechanical behavior of planetary rocks is indispensable for space explorations.The scarcity of pristine samples and the irregular shapes of planetary meteorites make it difficult to obtain representative samples for conventional macroscale rock mechanics experiments(macro-RMEs).This critical review discusses recent advances in microscale RMEs(micro-RMEs)techniques and the upscaling methods for extracting mechanical parameters.Methods of mineralogical and microstructural analyses,along with non-destructive mechanical techniques,have provided new opportunities for studying planetary rocks with unprecedented precision and capabilities.First,we summarize several mainstream methods for obtaining the mineralogy and microstructure of planetary rocks.Then,nondestructive micromechanical testing methods,nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy(AFM),are detailed reviewed,illustrating the principles,advantages,influencing factors,and available testing results from literature.Subsequently,several feasible upscaling methods that bridge the micro-measurements of meteorite pieces to the strength of the intact body are introduced.Finally,the potential applications of planetary rock mechanics research to guiding the design and execution of space missions are environed,ranging from sample return missions and planetary defense to extraterrestrial construction.These discussions are expected to broaden the understanding of the microscale mechanical properties of planetary rocks and their significant role in deep space exploration.

Experimental study on the size effect on the equation of state of concretes under shock loading

Adopting the classical theory of hydrocodes,the constitutive relations of concretes are separated into an equation of state(EoS)which describes the volumetric behavior of concrete material and a strength model which depicts the shear properties of concrete.The experiments on the EoS of concrete is always challenging due to the technical difficulties and equipment limitations,especially for the specimen size effect on the EoS.Although some researchers investigate the shock properties of concretes by fly-plate impact tests,the specimens used in their tests are usually in one size.In this paper,the fly-plate impact tests on concrete specimens with different sizes are performed to investigate the size effect on the shock properties of concrete materials.The mechanical background of the size effect on the shock properties are revealed,which is related to the lateral rarefaction effect and the deviatoric stress produced in the specimen.According to the tests results,the modified EoS considering the size effect on the shock properties of concrete are proposed,which the bulk modulus of concrete is unpredicted by up to 20% if size effects are not accounted for.

Comparative impact behaviours of ultra high performance concrete columns reinforced with polypropylene vs steel fibres

Polypropylene(PP) fibres have primarily used to control shrinkage cracks or mitigate explosive spalling in concrete structures exposed to fire or subjected to impact/blast loads, with limited investigations on capacity improvement. This study unveils the possibility of using PP micro-fibres to improve the impact behaviour of fibre-reinforced ultra-high-performance concrete(FRUHPC) columns. Results show that the addition of fibres significantly improves the impact behaviour of FRUHPC columns by shifting the failure mechanism from brittle shear to favourable flexural failure. The addition of steel or PP fibres affected the impact responses differently. Steel fibres considerably increased the peak impact force(up to 18%) while PP micro-fibres slightly increased the peak(3%-4%). FRUHPC significantly reduced the maximum midheight displacement by up to 30%(under 20°impact) and substantially improved the displacement recovery by up to 100%(under 20° impact). FRUHPC with steel fibres significantly improved the energy absorption while those with PP micro-fibres reduced the energy absorption, which is different from the effect of PP-macro fibre reported in the literature. The optimal fibre content for micro-PP fibres is 1% due to its minimal fibre usage and low peak and residual displacement. This study highlights the potential of FRUHPC as a promising material for impact-resistant structures by creating a more favourable flexural failure mechanism, enhancing ductility and toughness under impact loading, and advancing the understanding of the role of fibres in structural performance.

Phase aberration correction in ultrasonic phased array non-destructive testing systems

Phase aberration correction for medical ultrasound systems has attracted a great deal of attention. Since phased array techniques are now widely employed for industrial non-destructive testing （NDT） applications in various fields, the problem of phase aberrations in the process of NDT testing is considered. The technique of cross-covariance for phase aberration correction is presented. The performance of the technique for phase aberration correction is tested by means of echo signals obtained in practical non-destructive testing experiment. The results show that the technique has the better accuracy of phase correction.

Frost Resistance of Pervious Concrete Mixed with Waste Glass Powder

The contents of waste glass powder(WGP)(0%,10%,15%,20%,25%)and water-binder ratio(W/C)(0.24,0.26,0.28)were used as influencing factors,and the quality loss rate(Δm)and compressive strength loss rate(Δfc)were used as characterization parameters.The Ca/Si ratio and main element contents of C-S-H gels with different WGP content were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometry(EDS).The pore structure evolution characteristics of WGP composite cementing materials were investigated by low field nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR).UsingΔfc as the index of frost resistance degradation and Weibull function,the frost resistance degradation of glass doped pervious concrete(WGP-PC)was modeled.The results show that,with WGP,for the same number of cycles,Δm andΔfc decrease and increase with the increase of WGP.Under the same WGP content,Δm andΔfc decrease first and then increase with the increase of W/C.After 100 freeze-thaw cycles,the samples with WGP content of 20%and W/C of 0.26 have the best freeze-resistance.Microscopic tests show that with the increase of WGP content,the Ca/Si ratio of C-S-H gel decreases at first and then increases with the increase of WGP content.The extreme value of Ca/Si is 2.36 when WGP is added by 20%.The pore volume of hardened paste with 20%WGP content decreased by 18.6%compared with that of cement system without WGP.The overall compactness of the specimen was improved.On the basis of the test data,a life prediction model was established according to Weibull function.The experiment showed thatΔfc could be used as a durability degradation index,and the slope of the reliability curve became gentle after WGP was added,which reduced the damage degradation rate of PC.W/C was 0.26.It's about 5000 hours.

Discussion on Detection and Evaluation of Simply Supported Prestressed Concrete Small Box Girder Bridge After a Fire

The article takes a simply supported prestressed concrete small box girder bridge project as an example for inspection and evaluation after a fire incident.This includes appearance detection,concrete color hardness detection,concrete strength detection,concrete surface damage layer detection,reinforcement protective layer detection,and concrete carbonation detection.It is hoped that this analysis can be used as a reference for the detection and evaluation of future bridge projects with fire incidents to smoothen its subsequent repair and maintenance.

Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties of Self-Compacting Recycled Concrete

The application of self-compacting recycled concrete can solve the problem of environmental pollution caused by construction waste but its mechanical properties have not been unified and need further study.The strength of recycled concrete is unstable,and its performance still needs further study.The combination of fixed sand and stone volume method and free water cement ratio method is used to determine the mix ratio of self-compacting recycled concrete.24 sets of slump expansion tests and 24 sets of cube axial compression tests were carried out to study the effect of recycled aggregate replacement rate on the flow performance and axial compressive strength of self-compacting recycled concrete,and the performance conversion formula of self-compacting recycled concrete was given.The results show that with the increase of the regenerated coarse aggregate substitution rate,the fluidity and filling property of the self-compacting regenerated concrete mix decreased.The failure of self-compacting recycled concrete is mainly due to the failure of strength between old mortar and new mixture.As the substitution rate increases from 0 to 100%,the axial compressive strength decreases by 15.2%.

Mechanical Test and Meso-Model Numerical Study of Composite Rubber Concrete under Salt-Freezing Cycle

A composite rubber concrete(CRC)was designed by combining waste tire rubber particles with particle sizes of 3~5 mm,1~3 mm and 20 mesh.Taking the rubber content of different particle sizes as the influencing factors,the range and variance analysis of the mechanical and impermeability properties of CRC was carried out by orthogonal test.Through analysis,it is concluded that the optimal proportion of 3~5 mm,1~3 mm,and 20 mesh particle size composite rubber is 1:2.5:5.5 kinds of CRC and 3 kinds of ordinary single-mixed rubber concrete(RC)with a total content of 10%~20%were designed under this ratio,and the salt-freezing cycle test was carried out with a concentration of 5%Na 2 SO4 solution.The physical and mechanical damage laws during 120 salt-freezing cycles are obtained,and the corresponding damage prediction model is established according to the experimental data.The results show that:on the one hand,the composite rubber in CRC produces a more uniform“graded”structure,forms a retractable particle group,and reduces the loss of mechanical properties of CRC.On the other hand,colloidal particles with different particle sizes are used as air entraining agent to improve the pore structure of concrete and introduce evenly dispersed bubbles,which fundamentally improves the durability of concrete.Under the experimental conditions,the CRC performance is the best when the overall content of composite rubber is 15%.

Pulsed Eddy Current Non-destructive Testing and Evaluation:A Review

Pulsed eddy current （PEC） non-destructive test- ing and evaluation （NDT＆E） has been around for some time and it is still attracting extensive attention from researchers around the globe, which can be witnessed through the reports reviewed in this paper. Thanks to its richness of spectral components, various applications of this technique have been proposed and reported in the lit- erature covering both structural integrity inspection and material characterization in various industrial sectors. To support its development and for better understanding of the phenomena around the transient induced eddy currents, attempts for its modelling both analytically and numeri- cally have been made by researchers around the world. This review is an attempt to capture the state-of-the-art development and applications of PEC, especially in the last 15 years and it is not intended to be exhaustive. Future challenges and opportunities for PEC NDT＆E are also presented.

A coin-tap method of composite materials non-destructive testing based on improved grey clustering

Aiming at the problems of low reliability and complex operation of traditional coin-tap test of composite material,this paper introduces the grey system theory and achieves better performance.The response signals of coin-tap are classified through the grey clustering based on relation analysis,and corresponding improvements are made to the calculation method of the relation degree of nearness.First,the time history of acceleration is taken as the system behavior sequence.The improved correlation calculation method is used to solve the relation degree of nearness between the sequences,and the matrix of degree of grey relation is constructed based on this.Then,the sequence groups are summarized through the matrix,and the response signals of coin-tap are qualitatively classified according to the location of the reference sequence.Finally,the defect detection of composite materials is completed without pre-testing.The test results show that the accuracy of the coin-tap test based on improved grey clustering reaches 100%,which simplifies the operation steps while ensuring the reliability of the coin-tap test results.

Substructure hybrid testing of reinforced concrete shear wall structure using a domain overlapping technique

An online hybrid test was carried out on a 40-story 120-m high concrete shear wall structure. The structure was divided into two substructures whereby a physical model of the bottom three stories was tested in the laboratory and the upper 37 stories were simulated numerically using ABAQUS. An overlapping domain method was employed for the bottom three stories to ensure the validity of the boundary conditions of the superstructure. Mixed control was adopted in the test. Displacement control was used to apply the horizontal displacement, while two controlled force actuators were applied to simulate the overturning moment, which is very large and cannot be ignored in the substructure hybrid test of high-rise buildings. A series of tests with earthquake sources of sequentially increasing intensities were carried out. The test results indicate that the proposed hybrid test method is a solution to reproduce the seismic response of high-rise concrete shear wall buildings. The seismic performance of the tested precast high-rise building satisfies the requirements of the Chinese seismic design code.

Non-Destructive Testing of Structures Using Optical and Other Methods: A Review

Non-destructive testing (NDT) of structures is one of the most important tasksof the proper maintenance and diagnosis of machines and constructions structuralcondition. NDT methods contribute to the damage tolerance philosophy used in theaircraft design methodology as well as many other operation and maintenance programsof machinery and constructions. The following study is focusing on overviewing animportant group of NDT methods: the optical and other ones, which found broadapplicability in scientific and industrial studies nowadays. The paper discusses theselected most widely applicable methods, namely, visual testing, ultrasonic testing,radiographic testing, infrared thermography as well as electronic speckle patterninterferometry and shearographic testing. Besides the basic principles of testing usingthese methods, their potential applications in various industrial and technologicalbranches are broadly discussed. The analysis as categorization of the NDT methodsprovided in this paper may help in selection of such methods in diagnosis of varioustypes of structures and defects and damage occurring in these structures.