Project Title

Inversion of poro-elastic sound propagation model and measurement to monitor both rebar corrosion and crack formation using high frequency ultrasonics and contact transducers

Researcher(s)

Pierre-Philippe Beaujean, PhD – PI

Project Description

The goal of this project is to demonstrate the ability to detect early appearance of cracks in reinforced concrete due to rebar corrosion, using ultrasonic nondestructive acoustic testing with no direct contact between the sensor and the concrete block, in conjunction with a poro-elastic ultrasound propagation model. The objectives are threefold: (1) Identify the proper measurement configuration and predict the performance, using the modeling of the ultrasound propagation in the reinforced concrete; (2) Perform a series of targeted measurements using the proper ultrasonic transducers on a set of existing reinforced concrete samples placed in partial or complete immersion; (3) Evaluate the degree of corrosion within the reinforced concrete with confidence levels according to the poro-elastic model, and correlate the results with those obtained (separately from this proposal) using traditional non-invasive techniques (e.g. corrosion current and corrosion potential measurements).

Project Details

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