Automatic Degradation Detection During a Dynamic Loaded Beam Test

Automatic Degradation Detection During a Dynamic Loaded Beam Test

Veerman, R.P.
Koenders, E.A.B.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Structural Engineering

2014-06-11

The remaining service life of concrete structures strongly depends on the corrosion level of the reinforcement bars. It explains that measuring the corrosion rate is a key issue in monitoring the structural health of concrete structures. A common and appropriate technique used to evaluate the instantaneous corrosion rate of steel reinforcement is by Linear Polarization Resistance (LPR). A dynamic loaded, four-point-bending test on a reinforced concrete (RC) beam was developed to measure dynamic responses and stiffness changes due to corrosion. The test setup can load two beams with a comparable structural behaviour simultaneously, while exposed to the same ambient conditions. To expedite corrosion in one of the beams, a water-chloride solution bath was mounted on top of it. As a reference, a tap water bath was placed on top of the other beam. A wetting cycle of two days wet and five days dry was carried out to simulate real-time situations and to accelerate the corrosion process. During this test, the responses of both beams were measured by Linear Variable Differential Transformers (LVDTs) and results were filed automatically. Furthermore, the corrosion rates of both RC beams were automatically measured by LPR every day. The results of these measurements show differences in corrosion rate between both beams with time. After beam failure, brief forensic engineering was executed to analyse the corrosion of the reinforcement bars. Visual observations show a good correlation with the corrosion behaviour measured by the LPR method.

corrosion
chemical degradation
dynamic load
Linear Polarization Resistance
Structural Health Monitoring

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8242a106-1224-4a53-8b88-7e077dd271b9

CIC 2014: The 1st Concrete Innovation Conference, Oslo, Norway, 11-13 June 2014

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2014 Veerman, R.P.
Koenders, E.A.B.