Rone,
Manjeet Chahar,
Manish Kumar,
- Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, EIT Faridabad, Haryana, India
- Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, EIT Faridabad, Haryana, India
- Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, EIT Faridabad, Haryana, India
Abstract
This paper describes the use of piezoelectric sensors in a wave propagation-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) method to identify lap splices in steel reinforcing bars. Straight and lapped steel bars with lap lengths of 10° and 20° were used for the experiments. Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers were employed, one of which served as an actuator to produce stress waves and the other as a sensor to record the signals that were delivered. The responses were measured in both the time and frequency domains after a 20 V sinusoidal stimulation was administered in the 10–100 kHz frequency range. The study is predicated on the idea that structural discontinuities such lap splices affect wave propagation, resulting in signal attenuation, reflection, and scattering. The signal amplitude in lapped bars is significantly lower than in straight bars, according to the results, with attenuation varying from 33% to 56% based on lap length. While frequency response analysis makes it easier to distinguish between different lap circumstances, time response analysis shows signal deterioration. The results verify that PZT-based wave propagation is a successful, non-destructive method for monitoring the integrity of reinforced concrete structures and identifying structural abnormalities
Keywords: Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), Piezoelectric Sensors (PZT), Wave Propagation, Lap Splice Detection, Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE)
[This article belongs to Journal of Experimental & Applied Mechanics ]
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Journal of Experimental & Applied Mechanics
| Volume | 17 | |
| Issue | 02 | |
| Received | 26/05/2026 | |
| Accepted | 19/06/2026 | |
| Published | 16/07/2026 | |
| Publication Time | 51 Days |