A built-in active sensing diagnostic technique is proposed to detect debonding damage in steel-reinforced concrete (RC) structures. In this technique, piezoelectric elements are embedded in RC structures as sensors/actuators to receive and generate signals. In order to fundamentally understand the behavior of sensor signals with response to the actuator excitation, a model was developed. Based on the model, PZFlex finite element code was used to simulate the responses of RC structures with embedded piezoelectric elements. The results of the simulations were verified by experiment which showed debonding could be detected by the proposed technique. Using the code, a parametric study was performed to assess of the signal sensitivity to the various types of debonding in RC structures.
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