Overview of the modified magnetoelastic method applicability

Abstract

A requirement of axial force determination in important structural elements of a building or engineering structure during its construction or operational state is very frequent in technical practice. In civil engineering practice, five experimental techniques are usually used for evaluation of axial tensile forces in these elements. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. One of these methods is the magnetoelastic method, that can be used, for example, on engineering structures for experimental determination of the axial forces in prestressed structural elements made of ferromagnetic materials, e.g., prestressed bars, wires and strands. The article presents general principles of the magnetoelastic method, the magnetoelastic sensor layout and actual information and knowledge about practical application of the new approach based on the magnetoelastic principle on prestressed concrete structures. Subsequently, recent results of the experimental verification and the in-situ application of the method are described in the text. The described experimental approach is usable not only for newly built structures but in particular for existing ones. Furthermore, this approach is the only one effectively usable experimental method for determination of the prestressed force on existing prestressed concrete structures in many cases in the technical practice.