Hybrid vibration-impedance monitoring in prestressed concrete structure with local strand breakage

In this paper, a hybrid vibration-impedance-based damage monitoring approach is experimentally evaluated for prestressed concrete (PSC) structures with local strand breakage. Firstly, the hybrid monitoring scheme is designed to alert damage occurrence from changes in vibration characteristics and to localize strand breakage from changes in impedance signatures. Secondly, a full-scale PSC anchorage is experimented to measure global vibration responses and local impedance responses under a sequence of simulated strand-breakage events. Finally, the measured data are analyzed using the hybrid monitoring framework. The change of structural condition (i.e., damage extent) induced by the local strand breakage is estimated by changes in a few natural frequencies obtained from a few accelerometers in the structure. The damaged strand is locally identified by tomography analysis of impedance features measured via an array of PZT (lead-zirconate-titanate) sensors mounted on the anchorage. Experimental results demonstrate that the strand breakage in the PSC structure can be accurately assessed by using the combined vibration and impedance features.