Assessment of Construction Joint Effect in Full-Scale Concrete Beams by Acoustic Emission Activity
by Dimitrios G. Aggelis, (corresponding author), (Assistant Professor, (Contract), Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Univ. of Ioannina, Ioannina 45110, Greece E-mail: daggelis@cc.uoi.gr), Tomoki Shiotani, (Associate Professor, Dept. of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto Univ., C1-2-236, Kyoto-Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan. E-mail: shiotani@toshi.kuciv.kyoto-u.ac.jp), and Masato Terazawa, (Project Manager, Civil Engineering Headquarters, Tobishima Corp., 2-Banchi, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8332, Japan. E-mail: masato_terazawa@tobishima.co.jp)
Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 136, No. 7, July 2010, pp. 906-912, (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0000130)
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| Document type: |
Journal Paper |
| Abstract: |
In the present paper the mechanical and acoustic emission (AE) behaviors of full-scale reinforced concrete beams are evaluated. One of the beams was constructed in two parts, which were assembled later in order to evaluate the effect of the joints in the structural behavior. The load was applied by means of a four-point-bending configuration. It is revealed that at initial stages of loading, the conventional measurements of strain and deflection, as well as pulse velocity, do not show any discrepancy, although the structural performance of the two beams is eventually proven to be quite different. On the contrary, AE parameters, even from early load steps, indicate that the damage accumulation is much faster in the assembled beam. This is confirmed by the calculated sources of AE events which are close to the construction joints. The results show that the AE technique is suitable to monitor the deterioration process of full-scale structures and yields valuable information that cannot be obtained at the early stages of damage by any other way. |
| Author Keywords: | 
| Acoustic methods |
| Concrete beams |
| Cracking |
| Fracture |
| Load bearing capacity |
| Reinforcement |
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