APPLICATION OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION TECHNIQUE TO DETECTION OF REINFORCING STEEL CORROSION IN CONCRETE

Although corrosion of reinforcing steel (rebar) in concrete is held responsible for most deterioration of structural concrete, current inspection methods lack accuracy and can provide information only after significant corrosion has occurred. Along the line in searching for an effective method for early detection of rebar corrosion in concrete, the capability of acoustic emission (AE) technique in detecting a weak stress wave make it a strong candidate. The primary advantage AE offers over other conventional nondestructive evaluation techniques is that it can directly detect the process of a flaw growth. When corrosion products are formed on a corroding rebar, they swell and apply pressure to the surrounding concrete. Microcracks will be formed and stress waves will be generated during the expansion process when the pressure is high enough to break the interface layer. The growth of the microcracks is directly related to the amount of corrosion product of a corroding rebar. Thus, by detecting the AE event rate and their amplitude, the degree of the corrosion can be interpreted. This paper explores the feasibility of using AE technique in rebar corrosion detection. It examines the correlation between the characteristics of the acoustic emission event and the behavior of the rebar corrosion in HCl solution first. Then it investigates the possibility of the corrosion detection of rebar inside of concrete through an accelerated corrosion experimental method. The theoretical prediction and experiment results have shown that AE technique do have the capability to detect rebar corrosion in an early corrosion stage. It is thus expected that the information obtained in this investigation can be used for a field application to characterize the change of a corroded rebar and to help make decisions on maintenance and repair for buildings and infrastructures.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/13846872
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The partial financial support from Grant HKUST641/95E awarded by Hong Kong Grant Council and from NSF ACBM Center at Northwestern University for this project is acknowledged.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Concrete Institute (ACI)

  38800 Country Club Drive
  Farmington Hills, MI  United States  48331
• Authors:
  • Li, Zhihao
  • Li, F
  • Zdunek, A
  • Landis, E
  • Shah, S P
• Publication Date: 1998-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 68-76
• Serial:
  • ACI Materials Journal
  • Volume: 95
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: American Concrete Institute (ACI)
  • ISSN: 0889-325X
  • Serial URL: https://www.concrete.org/publications/acimaterialsjournal.aspx

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acoustic emission tests; Corrosion; Infrastructure; Microcracking; Nondestructive tests; Reinforced concrete; Reinforcing bars; Reinforcing steel; Structural analysis
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls; I32: Concrete; I34: Steels and Metals;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00746401
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: NSC 84-221 1-E-009-14, HKUST641/95E
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 18 1998 12:00AM