An Experimental Study on the Performance of Piezoceramic-Based Smart Aggregate in Water Environment

A number of smart aggregate (SA)-based monitoring systems have been developed to monitor the early age hydration process of concrete. In these systems, the embedded SAs act as sensors and work in a solid-liquid mixture. However, the influence of water on the performance of SA is still unclear. This letter presents some efforts to study the working performance of SA in water environment. A SA-based monitoring system, with the SA sensors immersed in tap water for various periods, was designed to monitor the variation of sensing signals. The test results show that the influence of water on SA is vital. The amplitude of sensing signals increases greatly for the early hours in water, and is tending toward stability for subsequent time. This can thus explain why the amplitude of sensing signals increases fast during early hours in concrete hydration monitoring process.