Ultrasound monitoring for evaluation of damage in reinforced concrete

The paper deals with automated monitoring of damage evolution in concrete elements subjected to three-point bending tests. The monitoring is based on the nonlinear interactions of traveling ultrasonic waves with micro-crack zones inside the concrete specimens and surface-breaking cracks. The developed procedure assumes semi-continuous ultrasonic testing during the element full loading cycle and generation of the power spectral density maps for the on-line assessment of the degradation process. Two damage indicators are introduced to evaluate micro- and macro-damage. The preliminary experimental results show that the proposed automated monitoring system provides an effective method for the evaluation of progressive damage in concrete.