IBEM analyses on half-cell potential measurement for NDE of rebar corrosion

Abstract

Corrosion of Reinforcement (rebar) is nondestructively estimated by the half-cell potential measurement. As is the case with other nondestructive testings (NDT), understanding of the underlying principles should be clarified in order to obtain meaningful results. Therefore, the measurement of potentials in concrete is analytically investigated. The effect of internal defects on the potentials measured is clarified numerically by the boundary element method (BEM). Thus, a simplified inversion by BEM is applied to convert the potentials on concrete surface to those on rebars, taking into account the concrete resistivity. Because the potentials measured on concrete surface are so sensitive to moisture content, concrete resistivity and surface condition, an inverse procedure to convert the potentials on concrete surface into those on rebars is developed on the basis of BEM. It is found that ASTM criterion is practically applicable to estimate corrosion from the potential values converted. In experiments, an applicability of the procedure is examined by accelerated corrosion tests of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs. For practical use, the procedure is developed where results of IBEM are visualized by VRML (Virtual Reality modeling Language) in three-dimensional space.