Non-Destructive Evaluation for Corrosion Monitoring in Concrete: A Review and Capability of Acoustic Emission Technique.

Ahmad Zaki,Dimitrios Aggelis,Ninel Alver,Hwa Chai

doi:10.3390/s150819069

Abstract

Corrosion of reinforced concrete (RC) structures has been one of the major causes of structural failure. Early detection of the corrosion process could help limit the location and the extent of necessary repairs or replacement, as well as reduce the cost associated with rehabilitation work. Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods have been found to be useful for in-situ evaluation of steel corrosion in RC, where the effect of steel corrosion and the integrity of the concrete structure can be assessed effectively. A complementary study of NDT methods for the investigation of corrosion is presented here. In this paper, acoustic emission (AE) effectively detects the corrosion of concrete structures at an early stage. The capability of the AE technique to detect corrosion occurring in real-time makes it a strong candidate for serving as an efficient NDT method, giving it an advantage over other NDT methods.

Highlights

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is a global problem that leads to deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures [1].Damage induced by steel corrosion usually requires proper repair, followed by maintenance [2,3]
This paper aims to give a brief review of the Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for monitoring and evaluating steel corrosion in RC structures, followed by a discussion and review of a technique based on acoustic emission (AE) developed to achieve the same objectives
They are classified into six main categories as follows: visual inspection, electrochemical methods (i.e., open circuit potential (OCP) monitoring, resistivity method, polarization resistance, galvanostatic pulse method (GPM), electrochemical noise (EN)), elastic wave methods (i.e., ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), acoustic emission (AE), and impact echo (IE)), electromagnetic (EM) methods (i.e., ground penetrating radar (GPR)), optical sensing methods (i.e., fiber Bragg grating (FBG)), and infrared thermography (IRT)

Summary

Introduction

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is a global problem that leads to deterioration of RC structures [1]. Damage induced by steel corrosion usually requires proper repair, followed by maintenance [2,3]. It is reported that the costs of repair and maintenance of corroded structures exceed billions of dollars per year [4]. A reliable inspection method is required at an early stage before the functionality of the RC structure is seriously damaged due to steel corrosion. The inspection method usually provides information about the current condition of the RC structures, so that their future performance can be predicted. The inspection method is almost a prerequisite for efficient and cost effective rehabilitation of existing RC structures

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion