Strain and Damage Sensing Property of Self-compacting Concrete Reinforced with Carbon Fibers

Abstract

Present paper investigated the strain and damage sensing property on concrete cubes embedded with carbon fibers. Concrete cubes of dimension 150 mm have been casted with different concentration of carbon fibers to study the strain and damage sensing property under cyclic loading that can be further used for health monitoring as non-destructive testing (NDT) approach. All the specimens were tested under cyclic loading within elastic region of the sample for three cycles of loading with a maximum load of 195kN for strain sensing test. During cyclic loading, fractional change in resistance (FCR) is calculated and co-relation with the stress is plotted. During strain sensing test, gauge factors (GF) were also calculated during loading and unloading on the samples. From obtained results, it is found that the concrete sample containing 1.5% of carbon fibers by weight of cement gives best co-relation between stress and FCR that can be further used for health monitoring purpose. Along with strain sensing property, damage sensing property and ultimate load carrying capacities of all the specimens are also reported in present paper with detailed explanation.