Monitoring of Concrete Hydration Using Resin Jacketed Embedded PZT Sensors

Abstract

Effective monitoring of concrete hydration makes construction of civil structures efficient and safe by indicating the strength gain of concrete under curing. Due to the complexity in construction practices, the condition monitoring of concrete is still a challenge for engineers. Hence, even after the curing of concrete as per the recommendations by standards codes, expected strength is not always achieved. In this paper, concrete hydration has been monitored using two types of sensors, i.e., concrete vibration sensor (CVS) and resin jacketed piezo sensors (RJP). Three concrete cubes of M35 grade are cast with both types of sensors embedded at equal distances from the center. The admittance signatures are recorded over a period of 28 days. The experiment shows variation of signatures with strength gain of the cubes over time. CVS has shown better results in monitoring the concrete hydration in comparison to RJP sensors.