Self-sensing carbon nanotube-cement composites material for structural health monitoring of pavements

Self-sensing materials are capable of sensing the occurring strains and damage states present within. Smart concrete pavement made with cement-based self-sensing materials could be used for in situ monitoring of both the structural integrity as well as traffic characteristics. This article studies the electrical resistivity and piezoresistivity of cement enriched with multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under cyclic loading. The effects of fatigue damage and environmental factors, such as temperature, water content, and freeze-thaw cycles, on resistivity and piezoresistivity, were investigated. The test results show that the resistivity increases with the number of fatigue loading cycles.