Early Corrosion Detection in Prestressed Concrete Girders Using Acoustic Emission
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 3
Abstract
Long-term corrosion tests were performed on prestressed T-girders measuring 4.98 m (16 ft, 4 in.). The test program was composed of four specimens, including one control. The specimens were subjected to wet/dry cycles using 3% NaCl solution to accelerate corrosion. Two of the specimens were precracked prior to conditioning to examine the effect of crack presence and/or width. The specimens were continuously monitored using acoustic emission (AE). Half-cell potential (HCP) measurements and linear polarization resistance (LPR) were performed daily to serve as a benchmark for corrosion detection. Acoustic emission can detect the onset of corrosion comparable in time to conventional electrochemical methods. Furthermore, AE intensity analysis has the ability to distinguish between different levels of corrosion. The specimens were load-tested to measure the residual capacity, which can give an indication of AE’s ability to detect corrosion damage before it affects the strength of prestressed structures.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks are extended to the personnel of the University of South Carolina Structures and Materials Laboratory (in particular to Mr. Aaron Larosche, Mr. William Velez, and Mr. William McIntosh) in addition to the Mistras Group (particularly Miguel Gonzalez) for the technical support provided.
References
Andrade, C., Alonso, M. C., and Gonzalez, J. A. (1990). “An initial effort to use corrosion rate measurements for estimating rebar durability corrosion rates of steel in concrete.” Corrosion rates of steel in concrete, N. S. Berke, V. Chaker, and D. Whiting, eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, Issue 1065, 29–37.
Andrade, C., and Gonzalez, J. A. (1978). “Quantitative measurements of corrosion rate of reinforcing steels embedded in concrete using polarization resistance measurements.” Mater. Corros., 29(8), 515–519.
ASCE. (2009). Rep. card for America’s infrastructure, Reston, VA.
ASTM. (1994). “Standard guide for examination and evaluation of pitting corrosion.” G46-94, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (1997). “Standard test method for conducting potentiodynamic polarization resistance measurements.” G59-97, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard terminology for nondestructive examinations.” E1316-06, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test method for half-cell potentials of uncoated reinforcing steel in concrete.” C876-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
Austin, S., Lyons, R., and Ing, M. (2004). “Electrochemical behavior of steel-reinforced concrete during accelerated corrosion testing.” Corrosion, 60(2), 203–212.
Auyeung, Y., Balaguru, B., and Chung, L. (2000). “Bond behavior of corroded reinforcement bars.” ACI Mater. J., 97(2), 214–220.
Darmawan, M., and Stewart, M. (2007). “Effect of pitting corrosion on capacity of prestressing wires.” Mag. Concrete Res., 59(2), 131–139.
Di Benedetti, M., Loreto, G., Matta, F., and Nanni, A. (2013). “Acoustic emission monitoring of reinforced concrete under accelerated corrosion.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 1022–1029.
ElBatanouny, M., Mangual, J., Vélez, W., Ziehl, P., Matta, F., and Gonzalez-Nunez, M. (2012). “Monitoring corrosion in prestressed concrete beams using acoustic emission technique.” Proc., Smart Structures and Materials, Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Bellingham, WA, 834718.
ElBatanouny, M., Mangual, J., Ziehl, P., and Matta, F. (2011). “Corrosion intensity classification in prestressed concrete using acoustic emission technique.” Proc., Fall Conf. and Quality Testing Show, American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Columbus, OH, 24–28.
Fowler, T., Blessing, J., and Conlisk, P. (1989). “New directions in testing.” Proc., Int. Conf. of Acoustic Emission from Composite Materials, K. Ono, ed., Acoustic Emission Working Group, Memphis, TN, 16–27.
Golaski, L., Gebski, P., and Ono, K. (2002). “Diagnostics of reinforced concrete by acoustic emission.” J. Acoustic Emission, 20(1), 83–89.
Harries, K., Kasan, J., and Aktas, J. (2002). “Repair methods for prestressed concrete girders.”, Federal Highway Administration.
Li, Z., Zdunek, 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.
Lovejoy, S. (2008). “Acoustic emission testing of beams to simulate SHM of vintage reinforced concrete deck girder highway bridges.” Struct. Health Monit., 7(4), 327–346.
Mangat, P. S., and Molloy, B. T. (1994). “Prediction of long term chloride concentration in concrete.” Mater. Struct., 27(6), 338–346.
Mangual, J., ElBatanouny, M., Vélez, W., Ziehl, P., Matta, F., and Gonzalez-Nunez, M. (2011). “Assessment of corrosion rate in prestressed concrete with acoustic emission.” Proc., Smart Structures and Materials, Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Bellingham, WA, 79811K.
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), 89–98.
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.
Mistras Group. (2010). Complete line of standard acoustic emission sensors, Physical Acoustic Corporation, Princeton, NJ.
Nair, A., and Cai, C. S. (2010). “Acoustic emission monitoring of bridges: Review and case studies.” Eng. Struct., 32(6), 1704–1714.
National Bridge Inventory (NBI). (2011). Tables of frequently requested NBI information: Deficient bridges by state and highway system, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Ohtsu, M., and Tomoda, Y. (2008). “Phenomenological model of corrosion process in reinforced concrete identified by acoustic emission.” ACI Mater. J., 105(2), 194–199.
Pollock, A. A. (1986). “Classical wave theory in practical AE testing.” Proc., Int. Acoustic Emission Symp., Japanese Society for Nondestructive Testing, 708–721.
Sly, C. (2001). “Walkway failure, an initial look at the lowe’s motor speedway pedestrian bridge collapse.” Pract. Failure Anal., 1(2), 7–9.
Tinkey, B. V., Fowler, T. J., and Klingner, R. E. (2002). “Nondestructive testing of prestressed bridge girders with distributed damage.” Research Rep. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)-TX-03/1857-2, Federal Highway Administration.
Trejo, D., Pillai, R. G., Hueste, M. B., and Reinschmidt, K. F. (2009). “Parameters influencing corrosion and tension capacity of post-tensioning strands.” ACI Mater. J., 106(2), 144–153.
Yoon, D., Weiss, W., and Shah, S. (2000). “Assessing damage in corroded reinforced concrete using acoustic emission.” J. Eng. Mech., 273–283.
Zdunek, A., and Prine, D. (1995). “Early detection of steel rebar corrosion by acoustic emission monitoring.”, Northwestern Univ. Infrastructure Technology Institute, Evanston, IL.
Ziehl, P. (2008). “Applications of acoustic emission evaluation for civil infrastructure.” Proc., Smart Structures and Materials, Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Bellingham, WA, 693401.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 20, 2012
Accepted: Apr 28, 2013
Published online: Apr 30, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2013
Published in print: Mar 1, 2014
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.