Acoustic Emission Sensing for Crack Monitoring in Prefabricated and Prestressed Reinforced Concrete Bridge Girders
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 4
Abstract
Prefabricated and prestressed beams are integral to accelerated bridge construction (ABC) and other construction projects, but concerns exist regarding the development of cracks during curing, form removal, detensioning, transport, installation, and operation. Acoustic emission (AE) sensing techniques have the potential for detecting and locating cracking in prefabricated, prestressed concrete girders used as prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) in ABC as part of a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program. AE measures the elastic waves produced by crack nucleation and growth with an array of point sensors. The AE instrument system is relatively portable, which can allow for it to be an option for off-site fabrication QA/QC and on-site field QA/QC. This paper presents AE measurements and analysis on relatively small laboratory reinforced concrete beam specimens under pullout and three-point bending to demonstrate the efficacy of AE in detecting cracks. It then presents application of AE during detensioning and lifting of full-scale Northeast Extreme Tee (NEXT) beams and Bulb Tee. The results indicate that AE sensing is a practical QA/QC process for PBES elements.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans). The views and findings stated in this paper are those of the authors, and do not reflect the views and findings of the agency. The authors are grateful to J.P. Carrara & Sons, Inc., for providing access to their facilities and resources for field testing.
References
AASHTO. (2014). AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications. 7th ed. Washington, DC: AASHTO.
Arancibia, M. D., and P. Okumus. 2017. “Causes of excessive detensioning stresses in northeast extreme tee (NEXT) beams.” PCI J. (May–Jun): 31–45.
ASTM. 2016. Standard practice for examination of gas-filled filament-wound composite pressure vessels using acoustic emission. ASTM E2191/E2191M-16. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2017. Standard guide for acoustic emission examination of concrete structures. ASTM E3100-17. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2018. Standard terminology for nondestructive examinations. ASTM E1316-18a. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ElBatanouny, M. K., A. Larosche, P. Mazzoleni, P. H. Ziehl, F. Matta, and E. Zappa. 2014. “Identification of cracking mechanisms in scaled FRP reinforced concrete beams using acoustic emission.” Exp. Mech. 54 (1): 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-012-9692-3.
Gupta, P., and R. S. Mnnit. 2010. “Overview of multi functional materials.” In New trends in technologies: Devices, computer, communication and industrial systems, edited by Z. Lian. London: InTech.
Hasenkamp, C. J., S. S. Badie, C. Y. Tuan, and M. K. Tadros. 2008. “Sources of end zone cracking of pretensioned concrete girders.” In Proc., Civil Engineering Faculty Proceedings and Presentations. Omaha, NE: Univ. of Nebraska.
Huston, D. 2011. “Sensor and health monitoring system design.” In Structural sensing, health monitoring, and performance evaluation. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis.
Kaphle, M., A. C. C. Tan, D. P. Thambiratnam, and T. H. T. Chan. 2012a. “Effective discrimination of acoustic emission source signals for structural health monitoring.” Adv. Struct. Eng. 15 (5): 707–716. https://doi.org/10.1260/1369-4332.15.5.707.
Kaphle, M., A. C. C. Tan, D. P. Thambiratnam, and T. H. T. Chan. 2012b. “Identification of acoustic emission wave modes for accurate source location in plate-like structures.” Struct. Control Health Monit. 19 (2): 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.413.
Krautkrämer, J., and H. Krautkrämer. 1990. Ultrasonic testing of materials. Berlin: Springer.
Lee, Y. H., and T. Oh. 2016. “The measurement of P-, S-, and R-wave velocities to evaluate the condition of reinforced and prestressed concrete slabs.” Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng. 2016: 1548215. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1548215.
Okumus, P., R. Kristam, and M. Arancibia. 2016. “Sources of crack growth in pretensioned concrete-bridge girder anchorage zones after detensioning.” J. Bridge Eng. 21 (10): 04016072. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000928.
Okumus, P., and M. G. Oliva. 2013. “Evaluation of crack control methods for end zone cracking in prestressed concrete bridge girders.” PCI J. 58 (2): 91–105. https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij.03012013.91.105.
PCI Northeast. 2014. Guidelines for accelerated bridge construction using precast/prestressed concrete elements including guideline details. 2nd ed. Belmont, MA: PCI Northeast.
Physical Acoustics. 2018. “Sensor highway III product data sheet.” Princeton, NJ: MISTRAS Group. Accessed August 31, 2017. http://www.physicalacoustics.com/content/literature/multichannel_systems/Sensor%20Highway_III_Product_Data_Sheet.pdf.
Ronanki, V. S., D. I. Burkhalter, S. Aaleti, W. Song, and J. A. Richardson. 2017. “Experimental and analytical investigation of end zone cracking in BT-78 girders.” Eng. Struct. 151 (Nov): 503–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.08.014.
Sause, M. G. R. 2011. “Investigation of pencil-lead breaks as acoustic emission sources.” J. Acoust. Emission 29: 184–196.
Tuan, C. Y., S. A. Yehia, N. Jongpitaksseel, and M. K. Tadros. 2004. “End zone reinforcement for pretensioned concrete girders.” PCI J. 49 (3): 68–82. https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij.05012004.68.82.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • April 2019
Copyright
© 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 28, 2018
Accepted: Oct 4, 2018
Published online: Feb 11, 2019
Published in print: Apr 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Jul 11, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.