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ABSTRACT: The goal of the research presented here is to investigate the extent of healing of cracked concrete.
A feedback-controlled test was used to generate a crack with a controlled width in concrete specimens. Then,
water permeability was evaluated by a low-pressure water permeability test (WPT). Elastic wave signal trans-
mission measurements were performed immediately after cracking and repeated after 100 days of WPT. Im-
mediately after cracking, water permeability increased and the signal transmission decreased with increasing
initial crack width. The water permeability of cracked specimens decreased significantly, whereas the signal
transmission increased with time. Both permeability and transmission measurements suggest autogenous healing
of the cracks. However, the recovery in signal transmission with crack healing is not as spectacular as changes
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(1) (2)
Slump (cm) 7.5
Modulus of elasticitya (GPa) 19.12
Tensile strengtha (MPa) 3.84 FIG. 2. Permeability Coefficient as Function of Time, NSC, 50
Compressive strengtha (MPa) 36 mm; Initial Crack Width = 205 Microns
a
Measured at 28 days.
time; consequently, the permeability drastically decreases, as
seen in Fig. 2. In general, permeability decreases by several
Water Permeability Test orders of magnitude, although the decrease in permeability co-
efficient depends on initial crack opening. The results of the
The WPT of the cracked samples consisted of monitoring present research showed that, for all the cracked specimens,
the water level in the pipette and then refilling it at the initial the permeability tended to decrease to the range corresponding
level with a syringe, as shown in Fig. 1 (Wang et al. 1997; to that of the uncracked material. This behavior reveals the
Aldea et al. 1999). During the test, only inflow was measured. ability of cracked concrete to seal itself in time.
The whole setup is based on the idea of axial water flow The experimental results (90–100 days) suggest that both
through the sample, due to a low pressure of approximately cracked and uncracked material exhibit changes in permeabil-
30 cm head. The change in head was recorded regularly, de- ity (Fig. 2). However, the decrease in permeability for un-
pending on the average crack opening after unloading and the cracked concrete is relatively small as compared with cracked
time elapsed after the beginning of the test. Water permeability specimens.
was monitored up to 90–100 days for all the specimens tested.
The permeability coefficient was used to quantify water flow, Investigation of Autogenous Crack Healing Using
and it was calculated assuming laminar flow through the Nondestructive Evaluation Technique
cracked material, based on Darcy’s law, and using the as-
sumption of the continuity of flow (Wang et al. 1997; Aldea It has been demonstrated that ultrasonic signal transmission
et al. 1999). measurement, performed under laboratory conditions, is a very
sensitive indicator of the presence of cracking damage in con-
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS crete (Sellick et al. 1998). However, the practical application
of signal transmission measurements in concrete has been re-
Investigation of Autogenous Crack Healing Using stricted because of the disrupting effects of source, receiver,
WPT and coupling variability. Practical signal transmission mea-
surements in metals have been obtained through the use of a
Water permeability was monitored up to 90–100 days for ‘‘self-compensating’’ procedure. Recently, a one-sided, self-
all the specimens tested. Water flow drastically decreases with compensating technique that allows practical measurement of
signal transmission in concrete was developed at Northwestern
University (Popovics et al. 1998). It has been established that
signal transmission measurement is more sensitive to the ex-
tent of cracking in concrete than wave velocity measurement
(Song et al. 1999).
The extent of crack healing was monitored using this non-
destructive evaluation technique. Elastic (stress) waves are
generated by a point load acting on the surface of the specimen
and are detected by receivers (miniature accelerometers),
mounted with wax on the surface of the specimen along a
diametral line through the source. The experimental setup is
presented in Fig. 3. The received transient response is domi-
nated by the surface wave arrival, although other direct and
reflected wave arrivals are also captured. As the waves prop-
agate between the two receivers, a portion of the total signal
is transmitted and the rest is attenuated. The signal transmis-
sion between the receivers is calculated in the frequency do-
main; this enables the application of the self-compensating
scheme, which minimizes experimental errors caused by var-
iation of impact events, accelerometer coupling, etc. The ob-
tained transmission response is a function of frequency and
FIG. 1. Water Permeability Test (WPT) Setup can be visualized as the ratio of the amplitude of the signal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / FEBRUARY 2000 / 93
from the far accelerometer to that of the near accelerometer. come closer to that corresponding to the uncracked sample
Thus, a transmission value of 1 indicates complete signal (Fig. 5, dotted line). The observed recovery in signal trans-
transmission (no signal amplitude loss), whereas a value of 0 mission suggests significant closing (filling) of cracks in each
indicates no signal transmission (complete signal amplitude case.
loss). Both permeability and transmission measurements confirm
One-sided stress wave transmission measurements were autogenous healing of the cracks. The recovery of the per-
used to characterize the material immediately after inducing meability coefficient for samples with varying initial crack
the crack, and then after 100 days of WPT. A solenoid-driven widths (including uncracked samples) is presented in Fig. 6.
impact source that generated waves with a frequency content The initial permeability coefficient (k,1) is compared with the
of 0–60 kHz was used to produce the waves. The signals were permeability coefficient after 100 days of WPT (k,100) for
captured by a digital oscilloscope and sent to a computer with
GPIB interface for further signal processing. The spacings be-
tween the source-receiver and the receiver-receiver were 20
mm. The source and receiver locations were marked and kept
constant for all the tests performed on each of the samples.
Five signals were recorded for each test. All the signals ob-
tained from the samples showed good consistency in the fre-
quency range of 30–60 kHz. Accordingly, the data within this
region was analyzed. Signal transmission values were sensitive
to the presence of the crack for all the specimens tested (Fig.
4). A drastic drop in transmission value, compared with the
uncracked material, is seen in the case of initial cracks wider
than 100 microns. The transmission measurements clearly dis-
tinguish a crack width threshold; crack widths less than 100
microns show much greater signal transmission than those
above 100 microns. The transmission measurements are unable
to clearly distinguish between crack widths within the range
above 100 microns, however. Transmission measurements per-
formed after 100 days of WPT show a significant change for FIG. 5. Signal Transmission Immediately after Inducing Crack
the cracked samples; the transmission values increase and be- and Again After 100 Days of WPT for Varying Initial Crack Width,
NSC, 50 mm
several initial crack widths. The permeability of cracked con- to the fact that the material filling the cracks is more me-
crete decreases by several orders of magnitude after WPT. In chanically compliant than sound (uncracked) concrete.
fact, the permeability of the cracked concrete after 100 days
of WPT is approximately the same as that for uncracked con- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
crete. The increase in signal transmission after WPT for sev-
eral initial crack widths is presented in Fig. 7. The transmis- This research was carried out at the ACBM Center, Northwestern Uni-
versity. Support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through
sion area, obtained by integrating the transmission of the
grant DMS/9313013 to the National Institute of Statistical Sciences
signal over the usable frequency range (30–60 kHz), is used (NISS) is greatly appreciated.
to represent the signal transmission in the concrete samples
(Fig. 7). The signal transmission area immediately after crack-
ing (A,1) is compared with that after 100 days WPT (A,100). APPENDIX. REFERENCES
Signal transmission areas for the cracked samples calculated Abdel-Jawad, Y., and Haddad, R. (1992). ‘‘Effect of early overloading of
after 100 days WPT become closer to those corresponding to concrete on strength at later ages.’’ Cement and Concrete Res., 22(5),
the uncracked sample. However, the recovery in signal with 927–936.
crack healing is not as spectacular as that observed for per- Abrams, D. (1925). ‘‘Autogeneous healing of concrete.’’ Concrete, 27(2),
50.
meability; the signal transmission of the cracked concrete after Aldea, C., Shah, S. P., and Karr, A. (1999). ‘‘Permeability of cracked
WPT never recovers to the value of the uncracked concrete. concrete.’’ Mat. and Struct., Paris, 32(219), 370–376.
This suggests that, although the healed cracks are filled with Clear, C. A. (1985). ‘‘The effects of autogenous healing upon the leakage
products that drastically reduce water flow, these products are of water through cracks in concrete.’’ Tech. Rep. 559, Cement and
more mechanically compliant than sound material. Concrete Association, London.
Edvardsen, C. (1996). ‘‘Water permeability and autogenous healing of
separation cracks in concrete.’’ Concrete Precasting Plant and Tech-
CONCLUSIONS nol., 62(November), 77–85.
Gettu, R., Mobasher, S., Carmona, S., and Jansen, D. (1996). ‘‘Testing
The following conclusions are drawn based on the data pre- of concrete under closed-loop control.’’ Advanced Cement-Based Mat.,
sented in this paper: 3(2), 54–71.
Hearn, N. (1992). ‘‘Saturated permeability of concrete as influenced by
• The permeability of cracked concrete decreases signifi- cracking and self-sealing,’’ PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, Cam-
bridge, U.K.
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• Elastic wave signal transmission measurements are sen- —experimental evidence.’’ Mat. and Struct., Paris, 30(August–Sep-
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Popovics, J. S., Song, W., and Achenbach, J. D. (1998). ‘‘A study of
• Both permeability and signal transmission measurements surface wave attenuation measurement for application to pavement
suggest autogenous healing of the cracks. However, the characterization.’’ Proc., Struct. Mat. Technol.: An NDT Conf., R. D.
recovery in signal transmission with crack healing is not Medlock and D. C. Laffrey, eds., International Society for Optical En-
as spectacular as that in permeability. This might be due gineering, Bellingham, Wash., 300–308.