Steel reinforced concrete beam testing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12153020-B1
Application number	US-202418780588-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 23, 2024
Priority date	Apr 20, 2021
Publication date	Nov 26, 2024
Grant date	Nov 26, 2024

Abstract

A system for non-destructive testing of a bond condition of concrete beams reinforced by steel rods is described. The system includes a transducing transmitter, a transducing receiver, and an ultrasonic pulse generator configured to generate drive signals for the transducing transmitter and receive a plurality vibrational waves at the transducing receiver. The system further includes a computing device including a measurement circuit configured to record a transit time for each vibrational wave and divide a distance between the transducing transmitter and the transducing receiver by the transit time to determine a pulse velocity of each vibrational wave, a comparison circuit configured to identify a highest pulse velocity of the vibrational waves and compare each highest pulse velocity to a first reference pulse velocity, and a decision circuit including an artificial neural network configured to identify a compromised bond condition around a steel rod.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Steel reinforced concrete beam testing method, comprising:
casting a Portland cement around steel reinforcements and curing to form a concrete beam with steel reinforcements;
wherein the concrete beam includes a plurality of steel reinforcing rods disposed inside the concrete beam along a length of the concrete beam and a plurality of shear stirrup reinforcements around the steel reinforcing rods and disposed along the length of the steel reinforcing rods;
applying, by a transmitting transducer of an ultrasonic tester, ultrasonic pulses to the concrete beam with steel reinforcements, wherein the transmitting transducer operates at a frequency of from 20 kHz to 150 kHz;
receiving, by a receiving transducer, vibrational waves reflected from the steel rods at a plurality of reading locations along the concrete beam;
measuring a transit time of the vibrational waves received at each reading location;
determining a pulse velocity of each vibrational wave received at each reading location;
determining a highest pulse velocity of the vibrational waves at each reading location;
comparing the highest pulse velocity of the vibrational waves received at a reading location to a first reference pulse velocity; and
identifying a bond condition of cracking around a steel rod at a testing location when the highest pulse velocity at the testing location is less than the first reference pulse velocity;
determining a peak load carrying capacity (P peak ) of the concrete beam by:
applying a force perpendicular to a center of a length of the concrete beam;
applying ultrasonic pulses to the concrete beam;
determining the highest pulse velocity at each reading location;
increasing a magnitude of the force by equal increments of 10%;
determining the highest pulse velocity at each reading location for each incremental increase in the magnitude of the force; and

determining the peak load carrying capacity (P peak ) of the concrete beam when the highest pulse velocity at one of the reading locations is less than a second reference pulse velocity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vibrational waves reflected from the steel reinforcements in the concrete beam are received with the receiving transducer operating at a frequency of 60 kHz.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic pulses applied to the concrete beam have a pulse velocity of from 4950 to 5472 m/s.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
predicting, by an artificial neural network, a width of each crack formed around the bonds in the concrete beam.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
marking the concrete beam with a grid having two rows and a plurality of columns;
wherein an intersection of a row with a column defines a reading location.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
a first row is parallel to and separated from a second row by a distance in the range of 140 mm to 160 mm; and
each column is parallel to an adjacent column and separated from the adjacent column by a distance in the range of 90 mm to 110 mm.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining the first reference pulse velocity at each reading location by measuring the highest pulse velocity when the force applied to the concrete beam is zero.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
marking the reading locations on a first row parallel to a length of a first steel rod reinforcement within the concrete beam; and
marking the reading locations on a second row parallel to a length of a second steel rod reinforcement within the concrete beam.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
attaching the receiving transducer to the concrete beam at a location perpendicular to a length of the steel reinforcements; and
contacting the transmitting transducer to the concrete beam at each of the plurality of reading locations.

Assignees

• Univ Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal

Inventors

• Saleem Muhammad

Classifications

• G01N29/4436

  with a reference signal (amplitude comparison G01N29/48) · CPC title

• G01N2291/011

  Velocity or travel time · CPC title

• G01N2291/0232

  Glass, ceramics, concrete or stone · CPC title

• G01N2291/2626

  Wires, bars, rods · CPC title

• G01N29/4481

  Neural networks · CPC title