Abstract
A wall climbing inspection robot has been designed to climb on safety critical concrete structures by adhering to reinforcement steel bars (rebars) using permanent magnets to generate the adhesion forces. Simulation and experimental validation has been performed to determine the optimum flux focusing magnet configurations with the robot operating on 30 to 35mm of concrete cover over rebars arranged in different patterns. The goal of adhesion force optimization is to be able to carry a ground penetrating radar (GPR) sensor which detects rebar corrosion, concrete delamination and concrete cover deterioration. The autonomous robot uses an ultra-wide band (UWB) localisation system and GPR data to control its motion trajectories to avoid regions where there is insufficient density of rebars. Non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection data acquired by GPR is transmitted wirelessly to a ground station for processing and monitoring by NDT technicians.
Highlights
Corrosion of structures costs the UK economy approximately 3.5% of its gross domestic product annually [1] and results in £100 billion yearly for repairs and downtime
Robot structural integrity has been assured with a series of structural analysis experiments using CAD design software (SolidWorks) and FEA software (COMSOL)
Adhesion force to carry the robot payload has been optimized by using configurations of neodymium 52 magnets placed on yokes of high permeability with force predictions made with COMSOL FEA simulations and validated experimentally
Summary
Corrosion of structures costs the UK economy approximately 3.5% of its gross domestic product annually [1] and results in £100 billion yearly for repairs and downtime. Mobile robots must first provide access to test sites on large vertical surfaces before the inspection can be performed. Wall-climbing robots have been developed for nondestructive testing [8], laser cutting for nuclear decommissioning [9], window cleaning [10], maintenance and inspection of vertical structures [11], inspection of petrochemical tanks [12], and wind turbine towers/blades [13]. Most problems of structural integrity have to do with large steel structures such as petrochemical storage tanks, ship hulls, bridges, monopiles, and wind turbine towers On these structures, the best adhesion method is obtained by using permanent magnets or electromagnets. It adheres to concrete reinforcement bars to reach test sites on vertical structures to detect rebar corrosion and delamination defects with 100% volume coverage.
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