Search

The piezoelectric sensor-based electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique has been explored as a promising method to monitor the strength development and stiffness growth of concrete in past decades. The EMI method, however, has not been implemented in the field to evaluate the in-place strength gain of concrete structures or pavement. This study is one of the early works to apply EMI technology to test the real-time concrete strength of interstate pavement projects. To make it field-applicable, the concrete slab test was conducted to build the prediction function using a statistical approach. The electromechanical admittance was then employed to monitor the stiffness growth of concrete over time. The conventional cylinder test (ASTM C39) was performed as a reference to assess the accuracy of the EMI sensing method. It has been found that the EMI sensing methods and the related statistical index can effectively reflect the compressive strength gain of concrete slab at different ages. The prediction model was further used to estimate the compressive strength of highway concrete pavement. The results indicated that the EMI method could provide satisfactory results in predicting the in-place strength of concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]