Development of Sensor-Enabled Geosynthetics (SEG) for Health Monitoring of Reinforced Soil Structures

A novel technique is developed based on the piezoresistivity of electrically-filled polymers to measure tensile strain in geosynthetics as an alternative method to conventional instrumentation (e.g. use of strain gauges). The paper reports the development of the technique and selected results obtained for polyolefin geogrid specimens filled with carbon black (CB). The proof-of-concept study reported in this paper has two important aspects: 1) strain sensitivity of electrical conductivity was demonstrated in polyolefins that are used to manufacture geosynthetics and 2) this strain sensitivity was obtained and demonstrated over the range of strain values that are important in geosynthetic engineering applications.