Integrating embedded piezoelectric sensors with continuous wavelet transforms for real-time concrete curing strength monitoring

It is highly necessary to evaluate strength development during the curing process to ensure the quality of concrete in construction using concrete. In particular, curing strength monitoring at early age is very important to reduce the construction cost and time, because it can provide the information required for the decision-making to safely progress to the next process. In this study, a guided wave-based non-destructive curing strength gain monitoring method that can be used even for early-age concrete is proposed. A steel plate-type piezoelectric sensor module was embedded in the concrete media at the same time as concrete placement to measure the signal from early-age concrete. The guided wave signals were measured continuously using the pitch-catch method at regular intervals. The wavelet transform process was performed to improve the quality of the signal. The guided wave's velocity of each measurement time was varied by extracting the time of flight. The wave velocity hysteresis curve according to the curing age was traced to analyse the variation patterns. Finally, a specific equation to estimate the curing strength without destructive test was derived using regression analysis based on the wave velocity hysteresis and the results from the compression test.