Cloud-based pipe corrosion monitoring using electromechanical impedance instrumented piezoelectric ring sensor

Abstract

The corrosion of small-diameter pipes has resulted in numerous significant accidents and substantial economic losses in both industrial and civil sectors. This paper presents a wireless smart corrosion monitoring system based on electromechanical impedance (EMI) technology. This system comprises a smart corrosion sensing node (SCSN) designed using EMI principles and a wireless impedance monitoring system (WIMS) for remote impedance measurement. A finite element simulation was conducted to assess the performance of the SCSN under uniform corrosion conditions. Additionally, a comparative test, with and without fluid inside the pipe, was performed to determine the impact of the fluid on test results. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed wireless smart corrosion monitoring node, corrosion monitoring experiments were conducted on pipe specimens equipped with the sensing node. These findings were complemented by separate corrosion experiments, and it was revealed that as corrosion increased, the peak frequency decreased, indicating a strong linear relationship. The study demonstrates that the wireless smart corrosion monitoring node is highly capable of monitoring pipe corrosion in an experimental setting.