Experimental Study on the Detection of the Existence and Location of Mimicked and Unexpected Interface Debonding Defects in an Existing Rectangular CFST Column with PZT Materials.

Interface bonding conditions between concrete and steel materials play key roles in ensuring the composite effect and load-carrying capacity of concrete-steel composite structures such as concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) members in practice. A method using both surface wave and electromechanical impedance (EMI) measurement for detecting the existence and the location of inaccessible interface debonding defects between the concrete core and steel tube in CFST members using piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) patches as actuators and sensors is proposed. A rectangular CFST specimen with two artificially mimicked interface debonding defects was experimentally verified using PZT patches as the actuator and sensor. By comparing the surface wave measurement of PZT sensors at different surface wave travelling paths under both a continuous sinusoidal signal and a 10-period sinusoidal windowed signal, three potential interface debonding defects are quickly identified. Furthermore, the accurate locations of the three detected potential interface debonding defects are determined with the help of EMI measurements from a number of additional PZT sensors around the three potential interface debonding defects. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed interface debonding detection method is verified with a destructive observation by removing the local steel tube at the three detected interface debonding locations. The observation results show that the three detected interface debonding defects are two mimicked interface debonding defects, and an unexpected debonding defect occurred spontaneously due to concrete shrinkage in the past one and a half years before conducting the test. Results in this study indicate that the proposed method can be an efficient and accurate approach for the detection of unknown interface debonding defects in existing CFST members.

Synthesis and photophysical studies of oxazole rings containing compounds as electron accepting units.

A series of oxazole derivatives, 5-methyl-2-(p-methylphenyl)-4-acetyl oxazole (MMPAO), 5-methyl-2-(p-methoxyphenyl)-4-acetyl oxazole (MOPAO), 5-methyl-2-(p-N,N'-dimethylamino-phenyl)-4-acetyl oxazole (MDMAPAO) and 5-methyl-2-(p-N,N'-diphenylaminophenyl)-4-acetyl oxazole (MDPAPAO) have been synthesized and studied to compare their photophysical properties. The UV-visible absorption spectra of MDMAPAO and MDPAPAO are bathochromatically shifted as compared to that of MMPAO and MOPAO. The fluorescence emission of MDPAPAO is very sensitive to the polarity of solvents. The magnitude of change in the dipole moment was calculated using the Lippert-Mataga equation. MDPAPAO shows the highest change in the dipole moment (Δu=13.3D) than that of the other three oxazole derivatives. The spectral properties including fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime were determined in solvents with different polarities. MDPAPAO displays the highest fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime, following a bi-exponential fluorescent decay fashion. Our result demonstrates that the excited state of MDPAPAO possesses the property of intramolecular charge transfer.