Two-dimensional water seepage monitoring in concrete structures using smart aggregates

The presence of water inside concrete structures is an essential condition for the deterioration of the structures. The free water in the concrete pores and micro-cracks is the culprit for the durability related problems, such as alkali-aggregate reaction, carbonation, freeze-thaw damage, and corrosion of steel reinforcement. To ensure the integrity and safe operation of the concrete structures, it is very important to monitor water seepage inside the concrete. This paper presents the experimental investigation of water seepage monitoring in a concrete slab using piezoelectric-based smart aggregates. In the experimental setup, an 800 mm X 800 mm X 100 mm concrete slab was fabricated with 15 SAs distributed inside the slab. The water seepage process was monitored through interrogating the SA pairs. In each SA pair, one SA was used as actuator to emit harmonic sine wave, and the other was used as sensor to receive the transmitted stress wave. The amplitudes of the received signals were able to indicate the water seepage process inside the concrete slab.