Ultrasonic guided waves for steel bar concrete interface testing

Won Bae Na, Tribikram Kundu, Mohammad R. Ehsani

Research output: Contribution to specialist publicationArticle

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

The feasibility of detecting and quantifying delamination at the interface between steel bar and concrete using ultrasonic guided waves is investigated in this paper. These waves can propagate a long distance along the reinforcing steel bar or concrete beam as guided waves and are sensitive to the interface bonding condition between the steel bar and concrete. The traditional ultrasonic methods are good for detecting large voids in concrete but not very efficient for detecting delamination at the interface between concrete and steel bar since they use reflection, transmission and scattering of longitudinal waves by internal discontinuities. In this study, special solid couplers between the steel bar (or concrete beam) and ultrasonic transducers have been used to launch flexural cylindrical guided waves (or lamb waves) in the steel bar (or concrete). This investigation shows that the guided wave testing technique is an efficient and effective tool for health monitoring of reinforced concrete structures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages437-444
Number of pages8
Volume60
No3
Specialist publicationMaterials Evaluation
StatePublished - 2002

Keywords

  • Cylindrical guided waves
  • Delamination
  • Lamb waves
  • Nondestructive testing
  • Reinforced concrete
  • Steel bar
  • Ultrasonic waves

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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