Experimental study on the characteristics of GSIFCON and its capacity for supervising the damages of reinforced concrete beams

In order to use GSIFCON (Graphite Slurry Infiltrated Steel Fiber Concrete) intelligent materials to inspect the internal damages of reinforced concrete members, the mechanical behavior, the relationship between its resistance variation and damage process and the influence of different contents of graphite and steel fiber on the GSIFCON compressive strength and resistance were studied through tests of 32 specimens. For inspecting the internal damage of reinforced concrete members, variations of GSIFCON resistance during the destructive process were measured for cyclic loading tests of 8 reinforced concrete beams laminated with GSIFCON. The test results indicated that the compressive strength of GSIFCON reduces by 3%-5% when the content of graphite increases by 1%. The contents of graphite and steel fiber had threshold percolation values. The relative variations of GSIFCON resistance in the compressive parts and especially the tensile parts had clear correspondence with the destructive process. The 100 cyclical loading tests proved that the relative variations of the resistance corresponded with the process of component damage, thus the component internal damage could be supervised by inspecting the relative variations of GSIFCON resistance.