Study on Breaking Concrete Structures by Pulse Power Technology

Abstract

Using pulse power technology to break concrete structures can reduce environmental pollution, save energy, and increase safety and reliability. The whole process of concrete beam subjected to shock wave generated by pulse power discharge was simulated and analyzed. An experiment of breaking reinforced concrete beams by metal wire explosion in liquid was carried out. And the main parameters are pulse power discharge voltage, copper wires section size, concrete beam material strength, drilling parameters, etc. The results show that with the increase of discharge voltage and the total area of copper wire cross section between electrodes, the breaking effect of concrete beam is obviously improved. The breaking effect of the beam is slightly improved when the concrete strength is reduced. The breaking effect of concrete beams with 40 mm aperture is better than that of concrete beams with 50 mm aperture. As the distance between adjacent boreholes decreases, the fractures are easier to connect. According to the test results, the formulas for calculating the crack width of concrete beams were proposed, which takes the output voltage, the number of copper wires between electrodes, the hole spacing, the strength of concrete and other key parameters as independent variables. The calculated results agree well with the test results.