PSI - Issue 83

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 83 (2026) 47–56

© 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the ESIAM26 organizers Keywords: Self-sensing; UHPC; Smart infrastructure; Concrete; Piezoresistivity; Structural Health Monitoring (SHM); Conductive fillers; Percolation threshold. Abstract The persistent deterioration of civil engineering infrastructure, which reduces service life and durability, necessitates the use of advanced structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. Traditional sensors suffer from significant limitations which include high cost, long-term durability problems, and material incompatibility with concrete. Intrinsic self-sensing concrete, a smart material that integrates sensing capabilities into the structural component itself, presents a cost effective and durable alternative. Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) has emerged as an ideal matrix for these sensors, offering superior mechanical strength, exceptional durability, and a high intrinsic electrical resistance that enhances signal sensitivity. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of self-sensing UHPC (SS-UHPC). The fundamental sensing mechanism is rooted in the piezoresistive principle, whereby the bulk resistivity of the material changes in response to mechanical strain, a phenomenon governed by percolation theory. This paper critically examines the constituent materials of SS-UHPC and the various types of fibers that have been utilized in previous studies for self-sensing purposes, the physics of piezoresistive mechanisms, and the electrical measurement techniques required to obtain valid data for self-sensing applications. Key factors influencing the performance of the developed composites for self-sensing applications have also been discussed. The review finally outlines the persistent challenges that hinder widespread adoption of such mechanisms for SHM applications. The fourth European Conference on the Structural Integrity of Additively Manufactured Materials (ESIAM26) Self-sensing Ultra-High Performance Concrete: Mechanisms, performance, and challenges. Henry Ssenyonjo a , Shaban Shahzad b , Salman Siddique b , Chuanlin Hu c , Asad Hanif a, b,* a Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia b Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Construction and Building Materials, KFUPM, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia c State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan Univ. of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: asad.hanif@kfupm.edu.sa; ahanigf@connect.ust.hk

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the ESIAM26 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.07.006