Evaluation of Compliance Changes in Concrete Beams Reinforced by Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics Using Acoustic Emission

Glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) frequently are used for reinforcement of engineered concrete structures. However, the effectiveness of GFRP as reinforcement is reduced because of their susceptibility to stress corrosion. To estimate damage evolution of composite reinforcement as a result of stress corrosion, an acoustic emission (AE) technique was used. It has been stated that stress corrosion takes place both in acid and alkaline environments; however, the damages are different. The waveform of acoustic emission signals can be used to indicate different failure mechanisms. There is a relationship between the number of AE events and compliance changes as a result of stress corrosion cracking. The number of AE events may be used to predict the service time of composite reinforced of concrete structures.