Acoustic Emission Monitoring to Evaluate the Detection of Adhesion of Reinforcing Rebar in the Concrete Beams

Acoustic Emission is a Non-destructive Testing method, widely used for monitoring the mechanical behaviour of steel and concrete structures. In particular, the method can be characterized and evaluate cracks or other defects under the stress of the structures. The present research aims to investigate the feasibility to evaluate the adhesion of the rebar to concrete using the Acoustic Emission Technique. For this purpose, the Active Acoustic Emission technique has been used for rebar-reinforced concrete beams. An acoustic Emission test has been made on both conditions of rebars, with/without adhesion. The fundamental parameter to distinguish adhesion and non-adhesion rebar has been the attenuation of acoustic energy, generated by the acoustic sensors, activated as ultrasonic transducers. The results have been very promising; the difference of attenuation between adhesion and non-adhesion rebar showed high enough to evaluate the condition of rebars.