Sustainable monitoring of concrete structures : strength and durability performance of polymer-modified self-sensing concrete

摘要

Concrete structures all over the world are reaching the end of their service life sooner than expected. This is due to the factthat ordinary Portland cement-based concrete deteriorates under environmental actions and also that structural inspectionsand conservation actions are expensive. Besides, as they consume energy and non-renewable resources, they have negativeenvironmental impacts. Self-sensing concrete provides an alternative way of monitoring concrete-reinforced structures at a much lesser cost and with lesser environmental impact. Although the short-term mechanical properties of these materials are usually well documented, the long-term durability issues about carbon fibre concrete still deserve further investigations.This paper reports some investigation of the strength and durability characteristics of several concrete mixtures modified with different percentages of polymer and carbon fibre addition. The results show that the addition of carbon fibre decreases the strength and increases water penetration under pressure and also increases chloride diffusion, whereas polymer addition is responsible for a denser microstructure and higher concrete durability