Magnetoelastic Resonance Sensing for Structural Health Monitoring of Cementitious Materials

This study investigates the use of magnetoelastic sensing for vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) of cementitious beam specimens under intact and damaged conditions. Prismatic mortar beams with dimensions of 160 × 40 × 40 mm3 were fabricated following standardized preparation procedures and equipped with annealed amorphous ferromagnetic ribbons, Metglas 2826MB3, for nondestructive magnetoelastic vibration sensing. The specimens were tested under free-vibration conditions in a simply supported configuration, and their vibration response was measured using a detection coil and subsequently analyzed using MATLAB software. The undamaged specimen exhibited a dominant resonance frequency at 6531 Hz, which closely corresponded to the fourth bending mode predicted by Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. Controlled notch-shaped cracks with varying locations and depths were subsequently introduced to evaluate the sensitivity of the sensing system to structural damage. Experimental results showed that the frequency shift is strongly influenced by the location of damage relative to the modal nodes, with maximum sensitivity observed between nodal regions and minimal variation near the nodes. Furthermore, increasing notch-shaped crack depth produced progressively larger frequency shifts, revealing a monotonic and non-linear relationship between damage severity and dynamic response. Polynomial fitting and 3D surface analysis further highlighted the combined influence of crack location and depth on the measured frequency variation. The findings confirm that the magnetoelastic sensor is capable of accurately detecting and magnetically transmitting the vibration state and damage-induced changes in cementitious structures, demonstrating high sensitivity and strong potential for application in vibration-based structural health monitoring systems, particularly in materials characterized by strong vibration damping.