The Strain Sensitivity of Coal Reinforced Smart Concrete by Piezoresistive Effect

Year 2022, Volume: 33 Issue: 1, 11507 - 11519, 01.01.2022

Özkan Kolatar Egemen Teomete , Serap Kahraman

https://doi.org/10.18400/tekderg.634659

Cited By: 5

Abstract

The structures are challenged by earthquakes, material degradations and other environmental factors. In order to protect the lives, assets, and for maintenance planning, structural health monitoring (SHM) is important. In SHM applications, strain gages are widely used which have low durability, low sensitivity while they have high cost. To monitor a structure, large number of strain gages have to be used that increases the cost. In this study, seven coal reinforced concrete mixtures with 0, 0.35, 0.5, 0.8, 1, 1.5 and 2 volume % of coal were designed; three cubic samples for each mixture were fabricated. Simultaneous strain and electrical resistance measurement of the samples during the compression test was conducted. A strong linear piezoresistive relationship between strain and electrical resistance change with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 was determined. The concrete mixture having 0.8 volume % coal had the highest strain sensitivity of K=44, which was 22 times the strain sensitivity of commercial metal strain gages while it had a linearity error of LE=6.9% that was low. This mixture with 0.8 volume % coal is a candidate to be smart concrete which can sense its strain. As a contribution to the literature, a phenomenological model for the relationship between gage factor and coal volume % was explained in details. The multifunctional smart concrete will be used as a smart material, which can sense its strain in SHM applications while acting as a load bearing material.

Keywords

smart concrete, strain, electrical resistance, smart materials, piezoresistivity

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

213M452

Thanks

This work was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through project “Smart Concrete Production”, Grant no: 213M452. The authors would like to thank to Batıbeton Batıçim West Anatolia Cement Industry Inc. for supplying cement and aggregate; Sika Construction Chemicals Co. for supplying super plasticizer; BASF Chemical Co. for supplying silica fume, Turkish Coal Institution for supplying coal.

The Strain Sensitivity of Coal Reinforced Smart Concrete by Piezoresistive Effect

Abstract

The structures are challenged by earthquakes, material degradations and other environmental factors. In order to protect the lives, assets, and for maintenance planning, structural health monitoring (SHM) is important. In SHM applications, strain gages are widely used which have low durability, low sensitivity while they have high cost. To monitor a structure, large number of strain gages have to be used that increases the cost. In this study, seven coal reinforced concrete mixtures with 0, 0.35, 0.5, 0.8, 1, 1.5 and 2 volume % of coal were designed; three cubic samples for each mixture were fabricated. Simultaneous strain and electrical resistance measurements of the samples during the compression test were conducted. A strong linear relationship between strain and electrical resistance change with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 was determined. The concrete mixture having 0.8% coal volume had the highest strain sensitivity of K=44, which was 22 times the strain sensitivity of commercial metal strain gages while it had a linearity error of LE=6.9% that was low. This mixture with 0.8% coal volume is a candidate to be smart concrete which can sense its strain. As a contribution to the literature, a phenomenological model for the relationship between gage factor and coal volume percentage was explained in details. The multifunctional smart concrete will be used as a smart material, which can sense its strain in SHM applications while acting as a load bearing material.

Keywords

smart concrete, strain, electrical resistance, smart materials, piezoresistivity

Project Number

213M452

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