Quantitative Non-Destructive Evaluation of Rebar Corrosion in Concrete Structures

P.I.: Dr. Yazdani
Grad. Research Asst.: Khadiza Jalal

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation

A project at the University of Texas at Arlington aims to develop guidelines to be followed to quantitatively evaluate the rebar corrosion in concrete structures using non-destructive methods. The galvanic accelerated corrosion process will be applied to accelerate the corrosion in the samples. The proposed concept consists of using the NDE approach to obtain NDE test parameters (such as velocity change, refraction angle change, amplitude change, corrosion rate change, and change in electrical resistivity of concrete) from test samples and then to correlate the parameters with the actual corrosion amount when these same samples are destructively examined.

In order to evaluate the corrosion, the following non-destructive techniques will be performed:

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): Each sample will be scanned and the wave profile, the frequency and the amplitude of the wave will be recorded. The angle of refraction and the reflection of the wave through different materials are different. A comparison between different scans may lead to the identification of the parameters. 

ICOR: Each sample will be scanned and the change in corrosion rate, corrosion potential and electrical resistivity of concrete will be recorded. These parameters will change with existence of different amount of corrosion in the test sample. A comparison between different scans may lead to the identification of the parameters.