Chapter 25
Detection and Evaluation of Vascular
Network Based Self-healing Concrete
Using Acoustic Emission
Y. Wang, R. Pullin, M. Pearson, R. Davies, and K. Holford
Abstract Given the very wide use of concrete within construction sectors, a huge
amount of money has been spent to maintain and repair damage to infrastructure
every year due to poor durability, construction methods, and quality control process
of concrete structures. Then people started to investigate the “smart materials” that
will adapt to their environment, including the self-healing concrete. In this study,
totally four sets specimen (12 beams) has been tested and each whole testing process
is divided into two parts. Acoustic Emission (AE) technique was applied to monitor
the behaviour of self-healing concrete through whole testing process. The results
have demonstrated that self-healing concrete based on vascular network is capable
of restoring around 70% of the original concrete strength and bearing capacity. AE
parameters can be effectively used to characterize the damage level of self-healing
concrete. Experimental results also demonstrated that the use of Felicity effect could
be promisingly applied to intuitively determine and evaluate the effectiveness of
healing.
25.1 Introduction
As a kind of typical construction material, the durability, performance and service
life of concrete used is of great importance regarding the reliability and safety of the
structure. However, for a long time, a significant amount of money has been spent to
maintain and repair damage to the concrete structures every year. Normally the repair
and maintenance costs account for approximately half of the total expenditure on
construction [1]. One of the biggest reasons is cracking of concrete. This is extremely
common, and Especially the formation of microcracks can be caused by a number of
factors including structural loading, plastic shrinkage, drying shrinkage, and thermal
effects et al. Due to the reasons above, there are a lot of researchers starting to
investigate the “smart materials” within the construction industry, including selfhealing materials.
Y. Wang (B) · R. Pullin · M. Pearson · R. Davies · K. Holford
Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff C24 3AA, UK
e-mail: WangY219@cardiff.ac.uk
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
G. Shen et al. (eds.), Advances in Acoustic Emission Technology, Springer Proceedings
in Physics 259, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9837-1_25
299
Detection and Evaluation of Vascular
Network Based Self-healing Concrete
Using Acoustic Emission
Y. Wang, R. Pullin, M. Pearson, R. Davies, and K. Holford
Abstract Given the very wide use of concrete within construction sectors, a huge
amount of money has been spent to maintain and repair damage to infrastructure
every year due to poor durability, construction methods, and quality control process
of concrete structures. Then people started to investigate the “smart materials” that
will adapt to their environment, including the self-healing concrete. In this study,
totally four sets specimen (12 beams) has been tested and each whole testing process
is divided into two parts. Acoustic Emission (AE) technique was applied to monitor
the behaviour of self-healing concrete through whole testing process. The results
have demonstrated that self-healing concrete based on vascular network is capable
of restoring around 70% of the original concrete strength and bearing capacity. AE
parameters can be effectively used to characterize the damage level of self-healing
concrete. Experimental results also demonstrated that the use of Felicity effect could
be promisingly applied to intuitively determine and evaluate the effectiveness of
healing.
25.1 Introduction
As a kind of typical construction material, the durability, performance and service
life of concrete used is of great importance regarding the reliability and safety of the
structure. However, for a long time, a significant amount of money has been spent to
maintain and repair damage to the concrete structures every year. Normally the repair
and maintenance costs account for approximately half of the total expenditure on
construction [1]. One of the biggest reasons is cracking of concrete. This is extremely
common, and Especially the formation of microcracks can be caused by a number of
factors including structural loading, plastic shrinkage, drying shrinkage, and thermal
effects et al. Due to the reasons above, there are a lot of researchers starting to
investigate the “smart materials” within the construction industry, including selfhealing materials.
Y. Wang (B) · R. Pullin · M. Pearson · R. Davies · K. Holford
Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff C24 3AA, UK
e-mail: WangY219@cardiff.ac.uk
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
G. Shen et al. (eds.), Advances in Acoustic Emission Technology, Springer Proceedings
in Physics 259, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9837-1_25
299