Abstract
Detection of degradation has the potential to improve the long-term performance and integrity of concrete structures and pavements. Conductive surface sensors, specifically conductive paints, have been shown to be effective and adaptable when used as part of crack detection systems. The impact of environmental effects on conductive surface sensors must be known if these sensors will be used on structures or pavements exposed to environmental changes. This paper presents two experiments used to evaluate the effects of temperature and relative humidity on the behavior of a silver-based conductive paint and a more economical nickel-based conductive paint. Environmental effects on sensitivity to cracking and resistance were evaluated. A third experiment is presented that considered different patterns of conductive paint for use in crack localization applications. The results showed that the nickel-based and silver-based conductive paints perform comparably at detecting cracking and can be used over a range of temperature and relative humidity conditions. The patterns evaluated were shown to be effective at localizing cracking over an area, which is promising for application of this technology.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented in this article was performed in The Theodore V. Galambos Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The authors acknowledge the support provided by the University Transportation Center: Center for Highway Pavement Preservation, which made this research possible under Grant No. DTRT13-G-UTC44.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 6 • June 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 1, 2018
Accepted: Dec 17, 2018
Published online: Mar 30, 2019
Published in print: Jun 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Aug 30, 2019
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