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Intrinsic self-sensing concrete for smart infrastructures

Conference Paper · October 2016

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 2016 1st International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring for Railway Systems (IWSHM-RS 2016)
ISBN: 978-1-60595-371-7

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete for Smart

Infrastructures
Liqing Zhang, Sufen Dong, Siqi Ding, Shengwei Sun
and Baoguo Han

ABSTRACT

Intrinsic self-sensing concrete (ISSC) refers to a structural material that can

monitor itself without the need of embedded, attached or remote sensors. By
measuring electrical resistance of the ISSC, the stress, strain, crack and damage can be
in situ monitored. Compared with conventional structural materials which require
additional sensors for monitoring or detection, the ISSC is advantageous in its high
sensitivity, good mechanical property, natural compatibility, identical lifespan with
concrete and easy installation and maintenance. The ISSC can be used for structural
health monitoring, traffic detection and border/military security. In this paper, the
ISSC with single filler (including microscale fillers and nanoscale fillers) and hybrid
fillers are introduced.

INTRODUCTION

With the development of society, civil infrastructures become more complicate,

large-scale, and expensive. Civil infrastructures, such as super high-rise building,
bridge, high speed rail corridors, and nuclear power station, suffer from material
aging, environmental corrosion and natural disaster. To improve the safety and
durability of infrastructures, designing smart civil infrastructures is becoming more
and more important. The civil infrastructures are mainly made up by concrete.
________________________
Liqing Zhang, Sufen Dong, Baoguo Han, School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of
Technology, Dalian, 116024 China
Sufen Dong, School of Architectural and Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of
Science and Technology, Baotou, 014010 China
Siqi, Ding, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Shengwei Sun, School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090,
China
Baoguo Han, corresponding author: hithanbaoguo@163.com, hanbaoguo@dlut.edu.cn
Therefore, smart concrete can provide a support to build smart civil infrastructures and
even smart city. Among smart concrete, intrinsic self-sensing concrete (ISSC) arouses
much attentions [1-6].
ISSC refers to a structural material that can monitor itself without the need of
embedded, attached or remote sensors. The stress, strain, crack and damage can be in
situ monitored by measuring electrical resistance of the ISSC. Compared with
conventional sensors for monitoring or detection, the ISSC has high sensitivity, good
mechanical property, natural compatibility, identical lifespan with concrete and easy
installation and maintenance [7-12].
Conventional concrete is usually poor electrical conductor whose electrical shows
no or litter change with different external force or other environment factors. ISSC can
be fabricated through adding functional fillers, such as steel fibers, carbon fiber (CF),
nickel powders, carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotube (CNT), into conventional
concrete. In this paper, the ISSC with different fillers are investigated.

INTRINSIC SELF-SENSING CONCRETE WITH SINGLE FILLER

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with Short-Cut Super-Fine Stainless Wire

SEM photograph of short-cut super-fine stainless wire (SSSW) is shown in Figure

1. Sensing property of concrete with 1.5% of SSSW after natural curing for 28 days
was tested by cyclic compressive loading, compressive loading to failure and flexural
loading to failure. The relationships between cyclic compressive stress/strain and the
fractional change in resistivity of the composites are shown in Figure 2. As shown in
Figure 2, the fractional change in electrical resistivity of the composites is only 0.3%
upon loading and unloading. However, the change is stable and reversible.
The fractional change in electrical resistivity of the composites under monotonic
compressive loading to failure is shown in Figure 3. It can be seen from Figure 3 that
the fractional change in electrical resistivity first decreases slowly and then rapidly
with the increase of compressive strain. The resistivity fractional change of the
composites under peak failure stress is -14.06%.
The electrical resistance of the composites is measured under flexural-tensile
loading to failure. The relationships between the flexural strain and fractional change
in electrical resistivity are shown in Figure 4. It can be seen from Figure 4 that the
electrical resistivity increases with increasing flexural loading and the fractional
change value of electrical resistivity under peak failure stress is 0.54%. Strain
sensitivity of the composites under monotonic compressive loading and flexural
loading is 29.7 and 43.6, respectively.
Therefore, strain, stress (or external force), crack and damage of concrete with
SSSW can be monitored through measuring the electrical resistivity of the composites.
 Figure 1. SEM photograph of SSSW.

25 0.6
0.6
600

electrical resistivity (%)

20 0.5 0.5

electrical resistivity (%)

Fractional change in

Fractional change in
15 0.4 0.4
400
Stress (MPa)

0.3 0.3
10

Strain (με)
0.2 200 0.2
5 0.1
0.1
0 0.0 0 0.0
-5 -0.1 -0.1
-200 -0.2
-10 -0.2
-0.3 -0.3
-15 -400
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Time (s) Time (s)
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Variation of the fractional change in electrical resistivity with stress (a) and strain (b) of
concrete with SSSW under 7 times of cyclic compressive loading.

120 10 12 Stress
1.0
11 0.9
Flexural-tensile stress (MPa)

Fractional change in electrical resistivity

electrical resistivity (%)
Compressive stress (MPa)

100 5 10

electrical resistivity (%)

0.8
Fractional change in

Fractional change in
9
80 0 8 0.7
7 0.6
60 -5 6 0.5
5 0.4
40 -10 4 0.3
3
20 Stress -15 2 0.2
Fractional change in electrical resistivity 0.1
1
0 -20 0 0.0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Strain (με) Strain(με)
Figure 3. The relationship between monotonic Figure 4. The relationships between flexural-
compressive strain, stress and fractional change tensile strain, stress and the fractional change in
in electrical resistivity of concrete with SSSW. electrical resistivity of concrete with SSSW.

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with CF

SEM photograph of concrete with CF is shown in Figure 5. Figure 6 shows the

relationships between compressive stress and electrical resistance of concreter with
CF. It can be seen from Figure 6 that the electrical resistance decreased with
increasing compressive stress before the concrete with CF is failure. When the
concrete with CF is failure, the electrical resistance increased sharply due to destroy of
conductive network of CF. In addition, the six samples in the same group have similar
relationships between compressive stress and electrical resistance of concrete with CF.
The average stress sensitivity of six samples is 0.004972 %/MPa. The research results
indicated that concrete with CF is able to sense the change of stress and damage.
 in electrical resistivity / %
Sample 1
0.6 Sample 2
Sample 3

Fractional change
Sample 4
0.4 Sample 5
Sample 6

0.2

0.0

-0.2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Stress / MPa

Figure 6. Relationships between compressive stress

Figure 5. SEM photograph of concrete
and fractional change in electrical resistance of
with CF.
concreter with CF.

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with Nickel Powders

As shown in Figure 7, the spiky spherical nickel particles have nano-tip on their
surface. Figure 8 shows the sensing property of concrete with spiky spherical nickel
particles under uniaxial compression. It can be seen from Figure 8 that the relative
electrical resistivity of these composites decreases by 0.69 maximum. In addition, the
decrease of the electrical resistivity reaches 0.63 within the elastic regime. The stress
sensitivity coefficient and strain sensitivity coefficient (gauge factor) decrease with
increase of compressive stress and strain. They can reach 0.124/MPa and 1930
(extraordinarily high compared to the values of around 2 for conventional resistive
strain gauges and 100-200 for silicon pressure-sensitive sensors) respectively at a low
stress and strain level. The sharp nano-tips on the surface of spiky spherical nickel
particles is responsible for generating field-assisted tunneling conduction, which leads
to the strong responses of electrical conductivity of the composites to external force or
deformation [7].

1.0 1.0
-1
0.124MPa 1930

0.8 0.8



0.102MPa
-1 1373
0.6 0.6

-1
0.050MPa 896
0.4 0.4
0.37 0.37
0.31 0.31
0.2 0.2
0 10 20 30 40 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
3
 / MPa  / 10 
Figure 7. SEM photograph of spiky Figure 8. Sensing property of concrete with
spherical nickel particles. spiky spherical nickel particles.
Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with CNT

Figure 9 depicts the variation of the electrical resistance of concrete with CNT
under repeated compressive loading and impulsive loading. Figure 9(a) shows that the
electrical resistance of the composite decreases upon loading and increases upon
unloading in every cycle under repeated compressive loading with amplitude up to 6
MPa. It indicates that the response of electrical resistance of this composite to
compressive stress is regular under repeated compressive loading. The change in
electrical resistance reaches about 1500 Ω maximum as compressive stress is 6 MPa.
As shown in Figure 9(b), the impulsive loadings also cause regular changes in the
electrical resistance of concrete with CNT. According to these results, it can be seen
that the response of electrical resistance of concrete with CNT to compressive stress is
reversible and sensitive, which means that the concrete with CNT has excellent
sensing capability.

(a) Under repeated compressive loading with

(b) Under impulsive loading
amplitude of 6MPa
Figure 9. Relationships between compressive stress and electrical resistance of concrete with CNT.

INTRINSIC SELF-SENSING CONCRETE WITH HYBRID FILLERS

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with Hybrid CF and CB

Relationships between compressive stress/strain and fractional change in electrical

resistivity of concrete with CF and CB are shown in Figure 10. The absolute value of
fractional change in electrical increased linearly with increasing compressive
stress/stain.
Such parameters of the composites as input, output, sensitivity, linearity,
repeatability, and hysteresis are tabulated in TABLE I. As shown in TABLE I, the
sensitivity of concrete with CF and CB is 0.0227%/με (i.e. a gage factor of 227), and
this means the sensitivity of sensors is well above those of conventional metal strain
gages (gage factors of 2).
Sensing property results from the variation in the contact resistance among fillers
and between fillers and concrete matrix under compressive loading, which is due to
the contacting and tunneling conduction effect. The combination of CF and CB
particles provides charge transport over long and short distances and enhances the
contacting and tunneling conduction effect, and consequently, keeps the response of
contact resistance to a force-field sensitive and stable. Therefore, the repeatability and
the linearity of sensing property of concrete composites can be improved by adding
CF and CB into concrete.

0 0

in electrical resistivity /%
in electrical resistivity /%

-2

Fractional change
-2
Fractional change

-4 -4
-6 -6
-8 -8
-10 -10
-12 -12
0 2 4 6 8 0 1 2 3 2 4 5
Compressive stress /MPa Compressive strain/10 με
Figure 10. Relationships between compressive stress/strain and fractional change in electrical resistivity of
concrete with CF and CB.

TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF CONCRETE WITH CF AND CB.

Values
Parameters
Stress sensing Strain sensing
Input 0-8MPa 0-476με
Output 0-10.8% 0-10.8%
Sensitivity 1.35%/MPa 0.0227%/με
Linearity 4.17% 4.16%
Repeatability 4.05% 4.06%
Hysteresis 3.61% 3.62%

Intrinsic Self-Sensing Concrete with Electrostatic Self-Assembled CNT/NCB

CNT/NCB composite fillers were prepared as follow: CNT self-assembled to the

surface of NCB by electrostatic adsorption; CNT and NCB formed a grape bunch
structure together, i.e. fibrous CNT just likes stem and spherical conductive NCB likes
grape, as shown in Figure 11. Electrostatic self-assembly CNT/NCB composite fillers
have excellent electrical conductivity and can achieve cooperative improvement
effect. Therefore, the sensing properties of concrete with 2.40 vol. % electrostatic self-
assembled CNT/NCB was explored.
As shown in Figure 12, the relationships between fractional change in electrical
resistivity and stress/strain of the composites have different trends under 7 times of
cyclic compressive stress with amplitude of 8 MPa. For the composites in Figure 12,
the overall trend is that the fractional change in electrical resistivity decreases as the
compressive stress/strain increases as stress/strain decreases. When the compressive
stress reaches 8 MPa, the absolute value of fractional change in electrical resistivity of
the composites can get to the value of 22.1% corresponding to peak strain values of
314με. The highest stress and strain sensitivities are 2.69 %MP-1and 704, respectively.
Therefore, concrete with CNT/NCB composite fillers possess excellent sensing
properties.
 Stem

Grapes

Figure 11. SEM photograph of CNT/NCB composite fillers.

15 15 5
25

Compressive strain (10 με)

2.40 vol.% 2.40 vol.%
Compressive stress (MPa)

electrical resistivity(%)
10 10 20

Fracrional change in

electrical resistivity(%)
2
3

Fractional change in
5 5 15
2 10
0 0 1 5
-5 -5 0 0
-1 -5
-10 -10 -10
-2
-15 -15 -3 -15
-20
-20 -20 -4
-25
-5
-25 -25 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Time (s)
Time (s)
(a) stress and fractional change in resistivity (b) strain and fractional change in resistivity
Figure 12. Compressive stress/strain and fractional change in electrical resistivity of concrete with 2.40
vol.% CNT/NCB composite fillers under repeated compressive loading with stress amplitude of
8MPa.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, six types of ISSC concrete with SSSW, CF, nickel powder, CNT, CF
and CB, or electrical self-assembled CNT/NCB are investigated. By measuring
electrical resistance of the ISSC, the stress, strain, crack and damage can be in situ
monitored. In general, ISSC with nanoscale fillers have much more stable and stronger
sensing behaviors than that of ISSC with microscale fillers. Compared with ISSC with
single filler, ISSC with hybrid fillers can improve the linearity of sensing property. It
should be noted that hybrid CNT and NCB in special structure, i.e. electrostatic self-
assembled, can highly enhance the sensing property. Till now, ISSC has been used in
structural health monitoring and traffic detection. It is expected that ISSC will provide
a high-performance and mutifunctional/smart material support to build smart railway
system and even smart city (as shown in Figure 13).
 Figure 13. Smart city in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the funding supported from the National Science Foundation of
China (51578110 and 51428801).

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