Development of sensing concrete: principles, properties and its applications

YesSensing concrete has the capability to sense its condition and environmental changes, including stress (or force), strain (or deformation), crack, damage, temperature and humidity through incorporating functional fillers. Sensing concrete has recently attracted major research interests, aiming to produce smart infrastructures with elegantly integrated health monitoring abilities. In addition to having highly improved mechanical properties, sensing concrete has multifunctional properties, such as improved ductility, durability, resistance to impact, and most importantly self-health monitoring due to its electrical conductivity capability, allowing damage detection without the need of an external grid of sensors. This tutorial will provide an overview of sensing concrete, with attentions to its principles, properties, and applications. It concludes with an outline of some future opportunities and challenges in the application of sensing concrete in construction industry.National Science Foundation of China (51978127 and 51908103), the China Postdoctoral Science Fundation (2019M651116) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (DUT18GJ203).National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 51978127 and 51908103), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M651116), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (No. DUT18GJ203)