Piezoelectric skin sensor for electromechanical impedance responses sensitive to concrete damage in prestressed anchorage zone

This study presents a numerical investigation on the sensitivity of electromechanical (EM) impedance responses to inner damaged concrete of a prestressed anchorage zone. Firstly, the Ottosen yield criterion is selected to simulate the plasticity behavior of the concrete anchorage zone under the compressive loading. Secondly, several overloading cases are selected to analyze inner damage formations in the concrete of the anchorage zone. Using a finite element (FE) model of the anchorage zone, the relationship between applied forces and stresses is analyzed to illustrate inner plasticity regions in concrete induced by the overloading. Thirdly, EM impedance responses of surface-mounted PZT (lead-zirconate-titanate) sensors are numerically acquired before and after concrete damage occurrence in the anchorage zone. The variation of impedance responses is estimated using the RMSD (root-mean-square-deviation) damage metric to quantify the sensitivity of the signals to inner damaged concrete. Lastly, a novel PZT skin, which can measure impedance signatures in predetermined frequency ranges, is designed for the anchorage zone to sensitively monitor the EM impedance signals of the inner damaged concrete. The feasibility of the proposed method is numerically evaluated for a series of damage cases of the anchorage zone. The results reveal that the proposed impedance-based method is promising for monitoring inner damaged concrete in anchorage zones.