Abstract:In order to monitor the corrosion of reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures, a monitoring method based on wave propagation method with piezoelectric ceramic(PZT) was proposed. Firstly, based on PZT wave propagation, experiments and numerical simulation were conducted to investigate and identify the stress wave propagation attenuation law in absence of the corrosion of reinforcement. Secondly, eighteen reinforced concrete specimens were prepared, and PZT actuators/sensors were attached at the same position on the surface of each embedded reinforcement. Finally, fast electrochemical corrosion was applied to these specimens, and the PZT test was carried out to enable the specimen corrosion process to trace the influence of corrosion on the wave propagation characteristics. The results show that the corrosion of reinforcement affects the stress wave propagation attenuation law seriously, and it shows a quadratic function between the amplitude of the wave propagation and the corrosion rate of reinforcement.
