Application of Structural Health Monitoring to concrete structures with non-metallic reinforcement.

About the Project

Application of non-metallic reinforcement, such as Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP), is getting increasingly popular due to reduced risk of corrosion, high strength, no interference with electro-magnetic fields and other positive characteristics. At the same time a relatively brittle way of failure and lack of sufficient warning before destruction is forcing structural designers to be more conservative and to avoid using the full capacity of the FRP material.

One of the relatively simple and elegant solutions of this problem and opportunity to develop significantly more economical design of FRP reinforced structural elements is the application of different methods for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Their usage will allow the timely registration of defects in the structure due to the loading and environmental conditions well before the stage of potential failure.

The proposed research will consider a variety of specific characteristics of non-metallic reinforcements and the way such reinforcement would influence the results from SHM. Application of this technique would be especially beneficial for structures subjected to cyclic/dynamic loading, such as bridges, offshore structures and other structures in proximity with marine environment and earthquake zones. The planned research will combine experimental and theoretical investigation and will development of expert system for application of SHM for FRP reinforced structural elements.

Funding Notes

there is no funding for this project