Quantitative linear and nonlinear resonant inspection techniques for characterizing thermal damage in concrete

C Payan , T.J. Ulrich , Pierre-Yves Le Bas (1) , M. Guimaraes

1 LANL - Los Alamos National Laboratory

In the context of license renewal in the field of nuclear energy, maintaining in service and re-qualifying existing concrete structures for ten years is a great challenge. The integrity of concrete in the concrete pedestal and biological shield wall in nuclear plants remains unknown. These structures have been subjected to radiation and medium temperature for a long period of time. This paper aims at providing some quantitative information related to the degree of micro-cracking of concrete and cement based materials in the presence of thermal damage. We develop a methodology based on linear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, numerical simulations and nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy to get quantitative values of nonlinearity. We show the high sensitivity of derived nonlinearity to thermal damage and its correlation with the evolution of concrete microstructure.

Mots clés: Nonlinear acoustics; Damage; Resonance; Concrete

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

C Payan, T.J. Ulrich, Pierre-Yves Le Bas, M. Guimaraes. Quantitative linear and nonlinear resonant inspection techniques for characterizing thermal damage in concrete. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00810938⟩