Embedded Piezo-Transducer in Concrete for Property Diagnosis

Abstract

In this study, new ultrasonic transducers with piezo patches as transmitting and sensing element were fabricated and used as embedded ultrasonic transducers for concrete property diagnosis. The ultrasonic transmitter was designed and manufactured to generate both longitudinal and transverse wave simultaneously according to the polarization and electric field direction. The current research focused on the velocity measurement of the longitudinal and transverse waves. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of concrete could be calculated using the measured wave velocity. The Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio obtained by test results of newly developed embedded transducers were compared with the values obtained from impact test for same batch of concrete and good agreement was observed. The advantages of this method were that it could generate both longitudinal and transverse wave and had a stable coupling between concrete matrix and ultrasonic transducers. This method showed a good potential for application in concrete health monitoring.