Parametric study on contact sensors for MASW measurement-based interfacial debonding detection for SCCS

Steel-concrete composite structures (SCCS) have been widely used as primary load-bearing components in large-scale civil infrastructures. As the basis of the co-working ability of steel plate and concrete, the bonding status plays an essential role in guaranteeing the structural performance of SCCS. Accordingly, efficient non-destructive testing (NDT) on interfacial debondings in SCCS has become a prominent research area. Multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) has been validated as an effective NDT technique for interfacial debonding detection for SCCS. However, the feasibility of MASW must be validated using experimental measurements. This study establishes a high-frequency data synchronous acquisition system with 32 channels to perform comparative verification experiments in depth. First, the current sensing approaches for high-frequency vibration and stress waves are summarized. Secondly, three types of contact sensors, namely, piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) patches, accelerometers, and ultrasonic transducers, are selected for MASW measurement. Then, the selection and optimization of the force hammer head are performed. Comparative experiments are carried out for the optimal selection of ultrasonic transducers, PZT patches, and accelerometers for MASW measurement. In addition, the influence of different pasting methods on the output signal of the sensor array is discussed. Experimental results indicate that optimized PZT patches, acceleration sensors, and ultrasonic transducers can provide efficient data acquisition for MASW-based non-destructive experiments. The research findings in this study lay a solid foundation for analyzing the recognition accuracy of contact MASW measurement using different sensor arrays.