Electrical resistance - compressive strain relationship of steel fiber reinforced cement composites

The smart structural materials are enable to health monitoring of concrete with reduced expenses and high sensitivity. In this study, steel fibre concretes were produced and their examination was showing that their electrical resistance is increasing with the curing age. The measurements possibilities of these sensors, which are gage factor (sensitivity), linearity and strain limit were determined. The gage factor of the commercial metal strain gages is K=2 while gage factor of steel fibre concrete was high, equal K=156. Thus, the steel fibre concretes are much more sensitive to strain than commercial metal strain gages. Even after the repeated loading of concrete samples to considerable stress levels, the gage factor remains high which shows that the cement composite can be used as a smart structural material.