Carbon Nanofiber Concrete for Damage Detection of Infrastructure

Abstract

Fiber research in concrete construction is an ongoing field and the use of carbon nanofibers (CNF) is examined. Fibers improve brittle materials such as concrete by enhancing tensile strength, ductility, toughness, and conductivity. Short-fiber composites are a class of strain sensor based on the concept of short electrically conducting fiber pull-out that accompanies slight and reversible crack opening. For a fiber composite to have strain sensing ability, the fibers must be more conducting than the matrix in which they are embedded, of diameter smaller than the crack length, and well dispersed. Their orientations can be random, and they do not have to touch one another. The electrical conductivity of the fibers enables the direct current (DC) electrical resistivity of the composites to change in response to strain change or temperature, allowing sensing.