EVALUATION OF CONDUCTIVE FRP SENSORS FOR POTENTIAL MONITORING OF CONCRETE STRUCTURE SOUNDNESS

Realising self-diagnostic materials can greatly improve safety and reliability of civil structures. In fact, such materials can be used to monitor the stress state of the structures, to control damage propagation and to prevent catastrophic fractures. Nevertheless, due to the peculiar nature of the concrete where they have to be inserted, the sensors have to be accurately studied and developed. In particular, they have to be resistant to mechanical damages that can suffer during their burying into concrete. Moreover, they have to be cheap, easy to be introduced into the concrete and easily measurable. In this paper some results of preliminary tests carried out on self- diagnostic FRPs, designed to be used in concrete, are reported. Among different studied systems, Carbon Particle-Glass Fiber Rinforced Plastics (CP-GFRP) seem to match in the best way the required properties. In the present study, cylindrical CP-GFRP sensors were designed, manufactured and tested, consisting of an internal conductive core containing the carbon particles, protected by an external coaxial skin made by GFRP. Such sensors were successively tested to correlate the stress with their electrical resistance variation.

• INTRODUCTION

• MATERIALS AND METHODS

• RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES