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INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Structures consist of an assembly of various members like columns, beams, slabs, etc. It
is well known that each and every structure is designed for a specific lifetime, which can vary
from a few years to a century. During this lifespan, the structure faces a continuous deterioration
due to many factors such as environmental corrosion, long term loading or fatigue effects,
material aging or their coupled effects with extreme loading, resulting in damage accumulation,
performance degeneration and reduced capacity. As the occurrence of many of these factors is
unpredictable in nature, most of the structures fail quite early before their estimated life span.
To ensure the safety of the structure, different destructive and non-destructive techniques
are used. Traditionally, structural inspection was carried out by trained or experienced entities.
The effectiveness of such inspection are costly and can only identify macroscopic damages at
accessible locations. For this purpose numerous structural engineers have drawn attention
towards using modern sensor technology for making structures, smart enough to warn the
concerned authorities before their failure. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a new
engineering discipline, which deals with the continuous monitoring of the structures for incipient
to severe damages.
SHM is the art of detecting the changes in structure that affect its performance. Two major
categories of SHM are disaster response (earthquake, explosion, etc.) and continuous health
monitoring (ambient vibrations, wind, etc.). This work is focused on continuous health
monitoring. Sensors like accelerometers, strain gauges and piezo-based Lead Zirconate Titanate
(PZT) patches, are used to monitor the health of the structures. Among all these, piezo based
sensors are becoming more popular due to many of their advantages over other sensors.
SHM System's elements include:
1. Structure
2. Sensors
3. Data acquisition systems
4. Data transfer and storage mechanism
5. Data management
6. Data interpretation and diagnosis:
a) System Identification
b) Structural model update
c) Structural condition assessment
d) Prediction of remaining service life
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1.2 Recent Accidents Due To Structural Failure
Major damages to structures can lead to failures, causing inconvenience and safety
problems. The following examples explain the same as follows.
1) Faulty construction can have tragic consequences. Vivekanda Flyover, India, bridge
which was under construction in Kolkata was collapsed on March 31, 2016 as shown in
figure 1.2.1. The collapse killed at least 25 people. The experts claimed that authorities
ignored monitoring of Bridge over the weather effects. An investigation of the disaster
showed that the construction materials were inadequate, the girders were in appropriately
placed to bear the load of the green concrete.

Figure 1.2.1: The remains of the Vivekanda Bridge, Kolkata after its collapse[1]

2) Extreme conditions can also result in structural failure. Rana Plaza commercial building
in Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh as shown in figure 1.2.2 was collapsed on April
24, 2013 as shown in figure 1.2.3. The collapse killed 1,129 people and injured 2,515
people. The building contains clothing factories, a bank, apartments and several other
shops. It is considered as the deadliest structural failure in modern human history.

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Figure 1.2.2: Rana Plaza before collapse Figure 1.2.3: Rana Plaza after collapse[2]

1.3 Need of SHM

As new materials and technologies are discovered, buildings get taller; bridges get longer
spans and the designs of structures become more ambitious, but more complex. In view of these
developments, there is an increased requirement to provide both the costs savings with regard to
maintenance and a safer environment for by preventing structural failures.
India has a rich cultural and historical background which is very well reflected in the varied
amount of historical structures. These structures are very well built and have withstood the test of
time. But due to their historical importance it becomes very important to assess health condition
of these structures, so that appropriate steps can be taken before it is too late.
Lifeline Structures like hospitals, schools, power plants, dams etc and buildings with large
public gatherings like sports arenas, stadiums, commercial buildings, which could cause harm to
large amount of people at a time are to be monitored regularly to avoid any type of damage due
to any calamity either natural or manmade.
Every nation is spending money every year for the rehabilitation and maintenance of civil
engineering structures. Failure of civil infrastructure to perform at optimum level may affect the
gross domestic production of the country. By proper SHM, it is possible that the life of structure
can be increased and serviceability enhanced, as and when required, at a short notice, which will
be helpful for economy of the country and also for psychology of human beings.
Some of the Major Engineering Structures which needs Monitoring are shown in Fig. 1.3

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 Figure 1.3: Major civil structures in which monitoring is required[3]

1.4 Advantages of SHM

There are various advantages and positive implications of including Structural Health
monitoring in structures.
 Increased understanding of in‐situ structural behavior
 Early damage detection
 Assurances of structural strength and serviceability
 Decreased down time for inspection and repair
 Development of rational maintenance / management strategies
 Enables and encourages use of new and innovative materials

1.5 Introduction to Precast

Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mould
or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site
and lifted into place. By producing precast concrete in a controlled environment (typically
referred to as a precast plant), the precast concrete is afforded the opportunity to properly cure
and closely monitored. There is greater control over material quality and workmanship in a
precast plant compared to a construction site. The forms used in a precast plant can be reused

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hundreds to thousands of times before they have to be replaced, often making it cheaper than
onsite casting when looking at the cost per unit of formwork.
1.5.1 Advantages of Precast

1. The concrete of superior quality is produced as it is possible to have better technical control
on the production of concrete in factory.
2. It is not necessary to provide joints in the precast construction.
3. The labor required in the manufacturing process of the precast units can easily be trained.
4. The moulds employed for preparing the precast units are of steel with exact dimension in all
directions. These moulds are more durable and they can be used several times.
5. The precast articles may be given the desired shape and finish with accuracy.
6. The precast structures can be dismantled, when required and they can then be suitably used
elsewhere.
7. The transport and storage of various components of concrete for cast in situ work are
eliminated when precast members are adopted.
8. The work can be completed in a short time, when precast units are adopted.
9. When precast structures are to be installed, it is evident that the amount of scaffolding and
formwork is considerably reduced

1.6 Smart System and Application of Piezoelectric Materials in SHM

1.6.1 Smart System
A system or material which has a built in or intrinsic sensor(s), actuator(s), and control
mechanism(s) whereby it is capable of sensing a stimulus, responding to it in a predetermined
manner and extent, in a short/appropriate time, and reverting to its original state as soon as the
stimulus is removed.

1.6.2 Piezoelectricity and Piezolectric materials

The word „piezo‟ is derived from a Greek word meaning pressure. Piezoelectricity means
“Electricity from pressure”, the phenomenon of piezoelectricity was discovered in 1880 by
Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie. It occurs in certain crystalline minerals, in which electric charges
are generated when the crystals are loaded with mechanical deformations. The same crystals also
exhibit the converse effect, i.e., they undergo mechanical deformation when subjected to electric
fields.There are a few materials that exhibit piezoelectricity are piezoelectric ceramics (Lead

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Ziroconate Titanate, or in short, PZT), piezoelectric polymers (Polyvinylidene Fluoride, denoted
as PVDF) and Piezoelectric Ceramic/Polymer.

1.6.3 Application of piezoelectric material as Mechatronic Impedance Transducers (MIT)

for SHM
The term mechatronic impedance transducer (MIT) was coined by park meaning a
transducer which can convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and vice-versa. The
piezoceramic (PZT) materials, because of their direct (sensor) and converse (actuator)
capabilities, are mechatronic transducers. When used as MIT, their electromechanical impedance
characteristics are utilised for diagnosing the condition of the structures and the same patch plays
the dual roles as an actuator as well as sensor, hence the piezoelectric materials are employed in
SHM.

1.6.4 Reusable PZT Patches

The idea of Reusable EMI method is still relatively new, resulting in the Reduction of
monitoring costs since the same piezoelectric material is used as many times as possible, while
ensuring better repeatability and reliability in measurements. It was found that the buried
Transducers are not sensitive enough for localized monitoring and moreover the wire connection
can be easily damaged during Casting. For repetitive application such as in Precast Industry, a
method to reuse the PZT transducer was found necessary. The research about Reusable PZT
patch is limited. More research ideas have to be explored to effectively monitor the health of
Structure.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 General
The SHM system should be able to provide, on demand, reliable information pertaining to
the safety and integrity of a structure accurately and efficiently. The efficiency of monitoring
depends on both the performance of the applied monitoring system and the algorithms employed.

2.2 Review of Literature

The literature has been referred from various research papers is illustrated and the brief
explanation of various works on structural health monitoring using piezoelectric materials as
well as Precast Concrete Structure which researcher explained in their literatures are given
below:
Wijanto and Andriono[4] (2008) studied extensive use of precast concrete components,
which were fabricated off-site and then connected on-site. Various Case studies and Joint
Condition for different buildings were studied and monitored. It was found that structural
construction cost efficiency around 5-10% was generally obtained by replacing conventional
structural systems with precast/prestressed concrete. It has also been proved that the construction
speed was able to be increased significantly in-line with the achievement of better quality works
and more eco-friendly construction projects.
Atamturktur et al[5] (2013) presented about Rock-pocket and honeycomb defects impair
and also said about its overall stiffness, accelerate aging, reduce service life, and cause structural
problems in hardened concrete members.A vibration response-based nondestructive technique
was proposed that combines experimental and numerical methodologies for use in identifying the
location and severity of internal defects of concrete members. The experimental component
entails collecting mode shape curvatures from laboratory beam specimens. Defects were detected
by comparing the FE model predictions to experimental measurements and inferring the low
number of defect-identifying variables.
Bindurani [6] (2013) worked on modelling of connections in a wall type precast building
system. Two computational models were investigated to find the effect of modelling the vertical
joints on a 23-storeyed building between the wall panels, on the drifts and the generated forces in
the walls. It was observed that the model, which was not considering any shear transfer through
the vertical joints, tend to provide conservative results in terms of amount of steel requirement.
The emulative monolithic wall system seems to be adequate in moderate seismic zones. The
provisions of tie reinforcements, reinforced shear keys and dowel bars provide the required
structural integrity for the precast system to avoid progressive collapse.
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 Bahador and Yaowen[7] (2010) studied about a re-usable PZT transducer and an
embedded PZT transducer for monitoring Hydration of Concrete. Impedance Analyser
Technique was used to analyse Signature at Different Stages. Both embedded and reusable PZT
Patches were used to effectively monitor the hydration of concrete. The Reuasble PZT patches
were cost efficient and were recommended to use in Precast Concrete Industry
Yang et al.[8] (2010) provided a reusable PZT transducer setup for monitoring Initial
Hydration of concrete and Structure Health is developed, where a piece of PZT is bonded to an
enclosure with two bolts tightened inside the holes drilled inside the enclosure. The results
showed that the reusable setup was able to effectively monitor the initial Hydration of concrete
and the structural Health. It could also be detached from the Structure for further re-use.
Annamdas and Radhika[9] (2013) worked on smart materials with an applied input
sinusoidal voltage interact with the structure, to sense, measure, process and detect any change in
the selected variables (stress, damage) at critical locations are determined. The effectiveness of
these electromechanical impedance–methods could be classified into active and passive based on
the properties of the material, the component and the structure to be monitored. It was observed
that stresses were Crictical at the Joints

Sam et. al[10] (2012) proposed a reusable method for the electromechanical impedance
technique by using a lead zirconate titanate patch to eliminate the trial-and-error approach to
minimize the time requirement for the electromechanical impedance method while reducing the
cost for multiple measurements. The proposed reusable device was used to evaluate the damage
of the adhesive layer between the fiber-reinforced plastic plates subjected to a corrosive solution
while investigating the reliability performance of the device.
Providakis et al [11] (2013) studied the development and evaluation of a potential active
wireless USB sensing tool that consists of a miniaturized electromechanical impedance
measuring chip and a reusable piezoelectric transducer appropriately installed in a Teflon-based
enclosure to monitor the concrete strength development at early ages and initial hydration states.
In this study, the changes of the measured electromechanical impedance signature was obtained
by using the proposed sensing system during the whole early-age concrete hydration process. It
is found that the proposed electromechanical impedance (EMI) sensing system associated with a
properly defined statistical index evaluated the rate of concrete strength development. It was very
sensitive to the strength gain of concrete structures from their earliest stages.
[12]
Wang (2014) presented a health monitoring method based on EMI measurements,
which use the electromechanical coupling property of embedded PZT transducers. The

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embedded PZT transducers were designed and made with naked PZT, waterproof and
encapsulation materials in the study and experimental investigation was carried out. Further the
mathematical calculations were performed to find out the crack in concrete structure.
Tawie and Lee [13] (2011) invented a device using a nut and a bolt where a PZT material
was attached on the head of the bolt for the EMI method. The experimentation involved
monitoring the moisture changes in a cubic specimen (80mm x 80mm x80mm). The cubic
specimens were cured under water for 28days where it was then taken out for monitoring
process. The advantage of the sensor design was that the PZT can be easily removed from the
set-up and re-used for repetitive tests. The applicability of the sensor was demonstrated for
monitoring of the setting of cement mortar.EMI measurements were performed using an
impedance analyzer and the transformation of the specimen from the plastic to solid state was
monitored by automatically measuring the changes in the PZT conductance spectra with respect
to curing time using the root mean square deviation (RMSD) algorithm.
Feng et al [14] (2012) proposed a novel methodology to detect the post-earthquake damage
in concrete dams by using of embedded electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) sensors. The
variations in the impedance spectral of the sensors before and after earthquake were extracted as
the damage-sensitive features and utilized to detect the damage quantitatively. To verify the
proposed method, a scale model of a high concrete dam was fabricated and shaking table tests
were carried out. The experimental results demonstrate that the embedded EMI sensors are
sensitive enough to detect the incipient damages, which provides a promising tool to detect the
structural damages after the earthquake for the concrete dams.
Baptista et al.[15] (2011) studied theoretical and experimental analysis regarding the
correct size of PZT transducers used in SHM based on EMI technique. The results show that
the sensitivity of SHM system for damaged detection could be optimized if the transducers
were correctly sized according to proposed procedure. The Optimal Size of PZT patches for
SHM based on EMI were investigated. According to the results, the patch must be small to
ensure low static Capacitance and High amplitude in electrical Impedance.

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3. METHODOLOGY
The methodology to be adopted in present study is as follows:
1) Health monitoring of structures will be done by using PZT patches, LCR meter and
structural element under consideration as concrete specimen.
2) Damage identification or crack detection will be analyzed experimentally by using VEE
Pro 9.32 software utilizing response from PZT patches.
3) Different Setups of Reusable PZT patch in structures will be considered for different
cases.
4) Computational analysis will be done by using computer software.
In the experimental analysis, investigation is carried over precast concrete beam by using
EMI technique; a reusable PZT patch in the form of innovative material is kept on structure
whose health is to be monitored using epoxy adhesive. The dimensions of the PZT patches are
10mm x10mm and the thickness is about 0.2mm. The Thickness and sizes of different PZT
patches will be used depending upon availability of patches. To prepare the Reusable PZT Setup,
Cast Iron , Galvinised Sheet , Magnet , Jack and Screw using Nut and Bolt will be used and
different combinations will be used. This experiment essentially require precast concrete
specimen, PZT patch, LCR meter and VEE Pro 9.32 for data acquisition through system.
Damage induced will then be identified by changes in the responses through PZT patches.

4. OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the present study is to carry out the structural health monitoring of
structures as and when required using PZT patches.
The specific objectives are as given below:
1) To monitor the health of the precast structure by using High Frequency PZT patches.
2) To develop a low cost reusable PZT system for damage Identification.
3) To construct different reusable PZT arrangement for detecting efficiency in RC structure
4) To utilize te EMI technique for detecting and locating incipient damages and also to
determine the Hydration of concrete.
5) To identify flaws in Precast Material such as Honey Combing, Lack of cover, Corrosion
of Reinforcement.

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5. EXPECTED RESULTS
The literature review clearly indicated that the structural health monitoring using PZT
patches will be more beneficial over other conventional method. Expected results may be
summarized as:
1) Structural health monitoring will help in reduction of maintenance cost required for
structures.
2) Location and identification of damage can predicted with desired accuracy.
3) Reusability efficiency of sensor will be obtained while bedding on precast surface and
also in real life structures.
4) Continuous monitoring is possible using proposed technique.
5) Information of structural health will be available at any time.

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REFERENCES
[1] https://www.google.co.in/search?q=delayed-for-7-years-the-vivekanand-flyover-project-was-
the-toughest-bridge-project-ivrcl-ever-took-oDCpwQyjcIOA&ei=im7rV6b_B4XnvgSChqvgCQ
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_S_Rana_building_collapse
[3] https://civil.blogspot.ac.in/civil-diversified-image-the-user-guide
[4] Sugeng Wijanto and Takim Andriono (2008), “Research and application of precast /
prestressed concrete systems”, The 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering , Beijing,
China
[5] H. Sezer Atamturktur , Christopher R. Gilligan and Kelly A. Salyards (2013), “Detection of
internal defects in concrete members using global vibration characteristics ”,ACI material
Journal,Title no.110-M48

[6] Bindurani, P, A. Meher Prasad, Amlan K. Sengupta (2013), “Analysis of Precast

Multistoreyed Building - A Case Study”, International Journal of Innovative Research in
Science, Engineering and Technology.
[7] Sabet Divsholi Bahador, Yang Yaowen (2010),“Monitoring hydration of concrete with
piezoelectric transducers”, 35th Conference on our world in concrete & structures,Singapore,
Article Online Id: 100035006

[8] Yaowen Yang, Bahador Sabet Divsholi and Chee Kiong Soh(2010), “A reusable PZT
transducer for monitoring initial hydration and structural health of concrete”, School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang
Avenue, 639798, Singapore, pp. 5193-5208

[9] Annamdas and Madhav A Radhika (2013) ,“ Electromechanical impedance of

piezoelectric transducers for monitoring metallic and non-metallic structures: a review of
wired, wireless and energy-harvesting methods”, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and
Structures, pp. 1021–1042
[10] Sam Na, Rudy Tawie and Haeng-Ki Lee (2012), “Electromechanical impedance method of
fiber-reinforced plastic adhesive joints in corrosive environment using a reusable piezoelectric
device”, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, pp. 737-747

[11] C. P. Providakis, E. V. Liarakos, and E. Kampianakis (2013), “Nondestructive wireless

monitoring of early-age concrete strength gain using an innovative electromechanical impedance
sensing system”, Smart Materials Research, Article ID 932568

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[12] Dansheng Wang, Zhi Li, Shishi Zhang, Hongping Zhu (2014) ,”Experimental study on
sensitivity of embedded PZT impedence transducers to crack damage of reinforced concrete
beam”, The 13th International Symposiumon Structural Engineering, pp 1837-1845

[13] Tawie, R, and Lee, H.K . (2011) ,“Characterization of cement-based materials using a
reusable piezoelectric impedance-based sensor”, Smart Materials and Structures, Volume 20,
Issue 8, article id. 085023,( 9 pp)

[14] X. Feng, E.T. Dandjekpo & J. Zhou (2012), “Post-earthquake damage detection using
embedded electro-mechanical impedance sensors for concrete dams”, WCEE, LISBOO (7 pp)

[15] Fabricio G. Baptista , Jozue Vieira Filho and Daniel J. Inman (2011), “Sizing PZT
Transducers in Impedance-Based Structural Health Monitoring”, IEEE Sensors Journal, pp.
1405 - 1414

Rahul N. Jain Prof. Dr. S. N. Khante

M. Tech. Student Guide
2nd Year Associate Professor
Structural Engineering Applied Mechanics Department,
ID- 15053001 GCOE, Amravati.

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