Numerical Study on the Effect of Cracking on Surface Resistivity of Plain and Reinforced Concrete Elements
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 12
Abstract
The effect of discrete cracks on the Wenner probe measurements for surface resistivity of plain and reinforced concrete elements is investigated. A numerical modeling approach is utilized to study the effect of a wide range of parameters that are related to discrete cracks (type, depth, width, location, and orientation with respect to the probe), reinforcement (cover thickness, bar spacing, and bar orientation with respect to the crack), and the Wenner probe (electrode spacing). Depending on the type of the crack and its location, the results indicate that measurements might have errors as much as higher or lower than the actual resistivity of concrete. Rebar mesh reduces measured resistivity and causes additional error in measurements—the denser the reinforcement, the higher the error. Whereas in most scenarios, crack and rebar mesh affect the accuracy of measurements independently, the effect of deep cracks that surpass the depth of rebars is limited by the presence of rebar mesh. A decrease in electrode spacing would reduce the errors associated with rebar mesh while it increases the impact from the crack; therefore, the common perception of using smaller electrode spacing for error minimization is not valid for reinforced concrete elements with cracks.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and technical support and critical feedback from the engineering staff of Giatec Scientific during the course of this study are gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 12 • December 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2014
Accepted: Mar 6, 2015
Published online: Apr 30, 2015
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
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