Integrated Monitoring of Early-Age Hydration and Structural Rehabilitation in RDF Ash-Modified Concrete Using Embedded Piezoelectric Sensors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55544/jrasb.icaces.8Keywords:
Refuse-Derived Fuel Ash, Electromechanical Impedance, Piezoelectric Sensors, Structural Health Monitoring, Early-Age Hydration, RetrofittingAbstract
Verifying the performance of low-carbon binders while at the same time keeping watch over the members they form remains a practical barrier to wider use of sustainable concrete. This work tackles both problems together by applying an electromechanical impedance (EMI) framework, built on embedded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) sensors, to concrete in which refuse-derived fuel (RDF) ash replaces part of the cement. Cube specimens were prepared with ordinary Portland cement (control mix, CM) and with 30% RDF-ash replacement (RDF mix, RM) and were followed continuously over the first eight hours after casting to capture early-age hydration. Separately, reinforced concrete (RC) beams were taken through three progressive damage states and then repaired in three matching stages. Conductance signatures and resonance peaks were recorded throughout and condensed into a single root-mean-square-deviation (RMSD) index. Within eight hours the RMSD reached 14.35% for CM and 12.71% for RM, while the CM resonance peak migrated from 234.6 to 248.3 kHz. As the beams were damaged, conductance fell from 0.0135 S to 0.0089 S and RMSD climbed from 10.53% to 23.01%; staged repair reversed the trend, lifting conductance to 0.0145 S and RMSD to 30.86% as stiffer repair materials altered the sensor signature. The RDF mixture hydrated along a path close to the control and coupled reliably with the embedded sensors, and the EMI response tracked both deterioration and recovery without ambiguity. By placing fresh-state hydration tracking and long-term damage-repair diagnosis within one sensing scheme, the study extends earlier EMI work to waste-derived binders and points toward scalable, life-cycle monitoring that supports circular-economy goals in construction.
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