• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.14-15
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• 2018

Logistics facilities are characterized by wide spans and high flooring, most of which are constructed with PC (Precast Concrete) methods to meet a wide range of commercial and industrial needs. However, the PC structure is a pin joint design, and the construction cost is increased due to the restrictions caused by the installation process, and the construction period is lengthened. In order to solve the above problem, SMART Frame, which is a structural system similar to the steel frame structure, was developed by embedding a steel frame at both ends of the PC. The purpose of this study is to analyze the erection time reduction effect of steel connected precast concrete components (SMART frames) for long span and heavy loaded logistics buildings compared to existing PC frames. For this study, a logistics building constructed with pin joint PC components is selected as a case. The result is compared with the existing PC frame to confirm the erection time reduction effect.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.219-224
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• 2011

In this study, a piezoelectric smart sensor that can be embedded inside of concrete structures is developed to investigate the early stage of concrete curing. A waterproof coating is used to protect the piezoelectric sensor from moistures of concrete mixture. Also, a mortar case is utilized to encapsulate the sensor to protect it from impact loads. To estimate the strength of concrete, a self-sense guided-wave actuated sensing technique is applied. In the guided wave, its velocity is varied according to the mechanical properties of concrete such as modulus of elasticity. Because modulus of elasticity directly affects the strength of concrete, the guidedwave's velocity also affects the concrete strength development. To verify the feasibility of using the proposed approach, the smart sensor was embedded into a 100MPa concrete cylinder and the self-sense guided wave is continuously measured throughout the curing process. The measurements showed that the propagation time (TOF) of the measured guided waves gradually decreased as the curing age increased. Especially, at the early age of the curing process, the variation of the TOF was very significant. Furthermore, the results showed that there is a linear relationship between the TOF of the self-sense guided waves and the strength of concrete existed. It is safe to conclude that the proposed approach can be used very effectively in monitoring of the strength development of high strength concrete structures.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.573-574
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• 2009

The feasibility of electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) sensing technique, utilizing piezo-ceramic (PZT) patches, for online strength gain monitoring of early age concrete is investigated. An experimental study is conducted on PZT patch instrumented concrete specimens. The applicability of the EMI sensing technique for strength gain monitoring is discussed.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.22-28
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• 2009

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.44-55
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.82-88
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• 2006

In People usually think that smart materials and smart structures have not been developed until recent years. But those kinds of sensors have already been used for sensing damage in a variety of materials and structures. Two typical examples are piezoelectric materials (e.g., PZT) and electric strain gauges. Load cell is an example that utilizes the piezoelectric property to measure the change in physical quantities occurred by applied loads, while strain gauges are used to measure the deformation of compressive and tension members. The feasibility of using smart materials is realized for a monitoring technology when those sensors are used to monitor damages at inside or outsider of the structures. In this study, a fundamental study on the development of self diagnostic smart concrete using PZT, and unsaturated polyester electric resistance sensor.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.135-150
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• 2015

Large concrete structures are prone to cracks and damages over time from human usage, weathers, and other environmental attacks such as flood, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The health of the concrete structures should be monitored regularly to ensure safety. A reliable method of real time communications can facilitate more frequent structural health monitoring (SHM) updates from hard to reach positions, enabling crack detections of embedded concrete structures as they occur to avoid catastrophic failures. By implementing an unconventional mode of communication that utilizes guided stress waves traveling along the concrete structure itself, we may be able to free structural health monitoring from costly (re-)installation of communication wires. In stress-wave communications, piezoelectric transducers can act as actuators and sensors to send and receive modulated signals carrying concrete status information. The new generation of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based smart aggregates cause multipath propagation in the homogeneous concrete channel, which presents both an opportunity and a challenge for multiple sensors communication. We propose a time reversal based pulse position modulation (TR-PPM) communication for stress wave communication within the concrete structure to combat multipath channel dispersion. Experimental results demonstrate successful transmission and recovery of TR-PPM using stress waves. Compared with PPM, we can achieve higher data rate and longer link distance via TR-PPM. Furthermore, TR-PPM remains effective under low signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This work also lays the foundation for implementing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) stress wave communication networks in concrete channels.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.293-306
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• 2023

This study proposes and demonstrates a smart monitoring system that uses transmission lines embedded in a reinforced concrete structure to detect the presence of defects through changes in the electromagnetic waves generated and measured by a time-domain reflectometer. Laboratory experiments were first conducted to identify the presence of voids in steel-concrete composite columns. The results indicated that voids in the concrete caused a positive signal reflection, and the amplitude of this signal decreased as the water content of the soil in the void increased. Multiple voids resulted in a decrease in the amplitude of the signal reflected at each void, effectively identifying their presence despite amplitude reduction. Furthermore, the electromagnetic wave velocity increased when voids were present, decreased as the water content of the soil in the voids increased, and increased with the water-cement ratio and curing time. Field experiments were then conducted using bored piles with on-center (sound) and off-center (defective) steel-reinforcement cage alignments. The results indicated that the signal amplitude in the defective pile section, where the off-center cage was poorly covered with concrete, was greater than that in the pile sections where the cage was completely covered with concrete. The crosshole sonic logging results for the same defective bored pile failed to identify an off-center cage alignment defect. Therefore, this study demonstrates that electromagnetic waves can be a useful tool for monitoring the health and integrity of reinforced concrete structures.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.34-36
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• 2012

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.489-504
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• 2012

For the safety of prestressed structures such as cable-stayed bridges and prestressed concrete bridges, it is very important to ensure the prestress force of cable or tendon. The loss of prestress force could significantly reduce load carrying capacity of the structure and even result in structural collapse. The objective of this study is to present a smart PZT-interface for wireless impedance-based prestress-loss monitoring in tendon-anchorage connection. Firstly, a smart PZT-interface is newly designed for sensitively monitoring of electro-mechanical impedance changes in tendon-anchorage subsystem. To analyze the effect of prestress force, an analytical model of tendon-anchorage is described regarding to the relationship between prestress force and structural parameters of the anchorage contact region. Based on the analytical model, an impedance-based method for monitoring of prestress-loss is conducted using the impedance-sensitive PZT-interface. Secondly, wireless impedance sensor node working on Imote2 platforms, which is interacted with the smart PZT-interface, is outlined. Finally, experiment on a lab-scale tendon-anchorage of a prestressed concrete girder is conducted to evaluate the performance of the smart PZT-interface along with the wireless impedance sensor node on prestress-loss detection. Frequency shift and cross correlation deviation of impedance signature are utilized to estimate impedance variation due to prestress-loss.