ASA 124th Meeting New Orleans 1992 October

4pSA14. The dynamic behavior of a reinforced concrete beam with or without cracks.

Zhijing Wang

Robert D. Finch

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77204-4792

The vibration behavior of a reinforced concrete beam with classical end conditions, with or without cracks, is being quantitatively investigated. The experimental results are expected to show that the natural frequencies of transverse vibration of the concrete beam will be changed when cracks are present. Other questions of interest are the effects of large numbers of cracks and their sizes. A comparison with the theory by Branson [Deformation of Concrete Structures (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977)] will be made. The direct and indirect effects of loading on the beam are important. There are potential applications for this new vibration technique in nondestructive evaluation of reinforced concrete structures such as buildings, piles, and highway bridges. [Work supported by NSF Grant No. MSS-9024224.]