Assessing Corrosion Damage in Posttensioned Concrete Structures Using Acoustic Emission
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 2
Abstract
The ingress of chlorides into posttensioned (PT) concrete structures is a leading cause of corrosion of the prestressing strands. This reduces the strength, durability, and service life of the structure and may result in catastrophic failure. A structural health monitoring (SHM) method is needed to improve the maintenance procedures associated with this method of construction. To evaluate the potential of acoustic emission monitoring for this application, long term corrosion monitoring tests were performed on specimens that were representative of internal and external posttensioning methods. Corrosion was induced in the specimens by adding chlorides to the grout and by performing wet/dry cycling with NaCl solution. The corrosion process was monitored by half-cell potential measurements (HCP) and acoustic emission (AE). Results show that AE has the ability to detect corrosion damage in the PT specimens with similar accuracy to HCP measurements. Furthermore, intensity analysis of the AE data shows that the damage in the PT specimens can be categorized according to the level of corrosion present. This investigation demonstrates that AE can be successfully implemented to detect, monitor, and quantify corrosion levels in PT concrete structures, and that AE is a promising nonintrusive method to detect and quantify corrosion in the absence of electrochemical techniques.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks are extended to Mr. Jese Mangual for his support during the course of this investigation. This work was performed and partially supported under the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Innovation Program, Cooperative Agreement Number 70NANB9H9007.
References
Assouli, B., Simescu, F., Debicki, G., and Idrissi, H. (2005). “Detection and identification of concrete cracking during corrosion of reinforced concrete by acoustic emission coupled to the electrochemical techniques.” NDT & E Int., 38(8), 682–689.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard terminology for nondestructive examinations.” ASTM E1316, West Conshohocken, PA, 1–33.
Bartoli, I., Salamone, S., Phillips, R., and Lanza di Scalea, F. (2011). “Use of interwire ultrasonic leakage to quantify loss of prestress in multiwire tendons.” J. Eng. Mech., 324–333.
Broomfield, J. P. (2007). Corrosion of steel in concrete: Understanding, investigation and repair, CRC Press, Oxfordshire, U.K., 296.
Corven, J. (2001). “Mid bay bridge post-tensioning evaluation.”, Florida Dept. of Transportation, FL.
Corven, J., and Moreton, A. (2004). “Post-tensioning tendon installation and grouting manual.”, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, 172.
Cullington, D. W., MacNeil, D., Paulson, P., and Elliott, J. (2001). “Continuous acoustic monitoring of grouted post-tensioned concrete bridges.” NDT & E Int., 34(2), 95–105.
Dickson, T. J., Tabatabai, H., and Whiting, D. A. (1993). “Corrosion assessment of a 34 year old precast post–tensioned concrete girder.” PCI J., 38(6), 44–51.
ElBatanouny, M. K., Mangual, J., Ziehl, P., and Matta, F. (2014). “Early corrosion detection in prestressed concrete girders using acoustic emission.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 504–511.
Feng, X., Tang, Y., and Zuo, Y. (2011). “Influence of stress on passive behavior of steel bars in concrete pore solution.” Corros. Sci., 53(4), 1304–1311.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2011). “Elevated chloride levels in sika grout 300 PT cementitious grout.” Washington, DC.
Fowler, T. J., Blessing, J. A., Conlisk, P. J., and Swanson, T. L. (1989). “The MONPAC system.” J. Acoust. Emission, 8(3), 1–8.
Ghorbanpoor, A., Borchelt, R., Edwards, M., and Abdel Salam, E. (2000). “Magnetic-based NDE of prestressed and post-tensioned concrete members—The MFL system.”, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. DOT, Washington, DC.
Huang, M., Jiang, L., Liaw, P. K., Brooks, C. R., Seeley, R., and Klarstrom, D. L. (1998). “Using acoustic emission in fatigue and fracture materials research.” J. Mater., 50(11), 1–14.
Idrissi, H., and Limam, A. (2003). “Study and characterization by acoustic emission and electrochemical measurements of concrete deterioration caused by reinforcement steel corrosion.” NDT & E Int., 36(8), 563–569.
Kawasaki, Y., Tomoda, Y., and Ohtsu, M. (2010). “AE monitoring of corrosion process in cyclic wet-dry test.” Constr. Build. Mater., 24(12), 2353–2357.
Lee, J. K. (2007). “Evaluation of external post tensioned tendons using vibration signatures.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
Li, Z., Zudnek, A., Landis, E., and Shah, S. (1998). “Application of acoustic emission technique to detection of reinforcing steel corrosion in concrete.” ACI Mater. J., 95(1), 68–76.
Lyons, R., Ing, M., and Austin, S. (2005). “Influence of diurnal and seasonal temperature variations on the detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete by acoustic emission.” Corros. Sci., 47(2), 413–433.
Mangual, J., ElBatanouny, M. K., Ziehl, P., and Matta, F. (2013a). “Acoustic-emission-based characterization of corrosion damage in cracked concrete with prestressing strand.” ACI Mater. J., 110(1), 89.
Mangual, J., ElBatanouny, M. K., Ziehl, P., and Matta, F. (2013b). “Corrosion damage quantification of prestressing strands using acoustic emission.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 1326–1334.
Melchers, R. E., and Li, C. Q. (2006). “Phenomenological modeling of reinforcement corrosion in marine environments.” ACI Mater. J., 103(1), 25–32.
Moustafa, A., Dehghan Niri, E., Farhidzadeh, A., and Salamone, S. (2014). “Corrosion monitoring of post-tensioned concrete structures using fractal analysis of guided ultrasonic waves.” Struct. Control Health Monitor., 21(3), 438–448.
Nair, A., and Cai, C. S. (2010). “Acoustic emission monitoring of bridges: Review and case studies.” Eng. Struct., 32(6), 1704–1714.
Ohno, K., and Ohtsu, M. (2010). “Crack classification in concrete based on acoustic emission.” Constr. Build. Mater., 24(12), 2339–2346.
Ohtsu, M., and Tomoda, Y. (2008). “Phenomenological model of corrosion on process in reinforced concrete identified by acoustic emission.” ACI Mater. J., 105, 194–199.
Pillai, R. G. (2009). “Electrochemical characterization and time variant structural reliability assessment of post-tensioned segmental concrete bridges.” Ph.D. dissertation, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX.
Podolny, W. (1992). “Corrosion of prestressing steels and its mitigation.” PCI J., 37(5), 34–55.
Ramadan, S., Gaillet, L., Tessier, C., and Idrissi, H. (2008). “Detection of stress corrosion cracking of high-strength steel used in prestressed concrete structures by acoustic emission technique.” Appl. Surf. Sci., 254(8), 2255–2261.
Song, G., and Shayan, A. (1998). “ Corrosion of steel in concrete—State of the art review.”, ARRB Transportation Research, Vermont South, Australia.
Yuyama, S., Yokoyama, K., Niitani, K., Ohtsu, M., and Uomoto, T. (2007). “Detection and evaluation of failures in high-strength tendon of prestressed concrete bridges by acoustic emission.” Constr. Build. Mater., 21(3), 491–500.
Ziehl, P. (2008). “Applications of acoustic emission evaluation for civil infrastructure.” Proc., SPIE Smart Structures NDE, San Diego.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 2 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 13, 2014
Accepted: Jun 8, 2015
Published online: Aug 17, 2015
Discussion open until: Jan 17, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.