DETECTING DAMAGED ZONES ALONG SMART SELFSENSORY CARBON BASED TRC BY TDR

The study aims to investigate the ability of smart self-sensory carbon roving to detect damaged zones in TRC structures. State of the art monitoring procedures are based on integrative measurements and accordingly are limited in detecting only the occurrence of damage. This study aims to handle this limitation and offers to adopt the Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) technique. The TDR concept is widely used in Bayonet Nut Coupling (BNC) cables to identify defects along the cable (opens, shorts, etc.). The current study adopts its principle to carbon rovings. To simulate the BNC cable configuration, the study offers to connect two parallel carbon rovings to the TDR Data Acquisition (DAQ) system. The proposed monitoring technique is investigated by loading two textile reinforced MPC beams under uniaxial tensile loading. Results show the potential of the suggested technique to locate damage zones in TRC structures and highlights its limitation.