Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Corrosion Damage Propagation in Large-Scale Reinforced Concrete Beams
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 32, Issue 2
Abstract
An extensive experimental study was performed to apply acoustic emission (AE) monitoring to assess the bond strength of corroded large-scale RC beam specimens. This paper demonstrates the data obtained from AE monitoring of these RC beams, while being exposed to localized, accelerated corrosion procedures at one of the end sides of each beam. Five RC beams were corroded through an electrically accelerated corrosion process to reach 5, 10, 20, and 30% of steel mass loss. The beams were constantly monitored during the accelerated corrosion tests via half-cell potential (HCP) measurements and three attached AE sensors distributed along the span of the beam. During the test, the corrosion and cover crack initiation were monitored and the crack width measurements were attained daily. The results showed that the analysis of AE signal parameters acquired throughout the corrosion period enabled the detection of both corrosion and cover crack onset earlier than HCP readings and prior to any signs of visual cracking, regardless of sensor location. Acoustic emission parameters examined in this paper {cumulative number of hits, cumulative signal strength (CSS), historic index [ ()], and severity ()} were shown to be highly correlated with the level of corrosion propagation. The study also presents developed damage classification charts interrelating the results of crack growth and mass losses to the average values of () and . These charts can be used to quantify the level of deterioration of RC structures due to reinforcement corrosion.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from Research and Development Corporation Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) in the form of the Ocean Industries Student Research Award (OISRA) for the first author.
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Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 32 • Issue 2 • April 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 8, 2017
Accepted: Aug 16, 2017
Published online: Dec 16, 2017
Published in print: Apr 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 16, 2018
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