Identification of corrosion in reinforcement rebars by using the GPR

Abstract

Considering the problem of corroded steel reinforcements buried in concrete members, a methodology based on ground penetrating radar was proposed for the identification of the corrosion affected zone. The method uses post-processing of radargram as obtained from a classic B-scan realized by the electromagnetic radar, when working with adequate high frequencies that are usually used for inspection of reinforced concrete structures. The radar displays are in general complex and not easy to interpret. However, significant information can be extracted from the obtained images to make a reliable report after the inspection. In this context, a correlation formula was proposed previously to estimate the perimeter of a reinforcement bar which is embedded in a concrete massif by using the radargram traces. This formula was employed in the present work in order to estimate the corroded zone perimeter. The obtained results have shown that it provides good prediction of the deterioration extent. Clear contrast of traces was noticed also while modifying the depth of the corrosion affected zone. However, to obtain the depth of the corroded segment of the rebar, further developments concerning image processing of a radargram are required.