Optical Fiber Sensor for corrosion detection and evolution monitoring in reinforced concrete structures

Shamyr Sadat Ali-Alvarez (1) , Pierre Ferdinand (1) , Sylvain Magne (1) , R. Nogueira (2)

1 LCFO (CEA, LIST) - Laboratoire Capteurs Fibres Optiques (CEA, LIST)
2 LEPMI - Laboratoire d'Electrochimie et de Physico-chimie des Matériaux et des Interfaces

Corrosion of reinforced bars (rebars) in concrete structures is a major issue in civil engineering structures, being its detection and evolution measurement a challenge for applied research. In this project we present a new methodology to detect corrosion and its evolution monitoring, based on the direct rebar-concrete interface changes measurement by the use of Optical Fiber Sensor (OFS) either a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) network or Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) interrogation technique providing distributed strain measurement. A built-in pre-strain profile makes possible the detection of general and pitting corrosion with the same sensor. Accelerated corrosion tests were performed in an electrolytic solution under both pitting and general corrosion. A clear correlation is observed between the evolution of the spectral shift and the corrosion progress thus demonstrating the feasibility of this technique.

Mots clés: Frequency domain analysis; Optical fibers; Corrosion prevention; Fiber Bragg grating; Corrosion; Concretes; Concrete buildings; Reinforced concrete; Pitting; Intelligent structures; Structural health monitoring; Strain measurement; Concrete construction; Accelerated corrosion tests; Civil engineering structures; Corrosion of reinforced bars; Corrosion detection; Distributed strain measurement; Interrogation techniques; Electrolytic solution; instrumentation; Optical frequency domain reflectometry; Reflectometry; Distributed and Quasi-distributed sensing

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Optique [physics.optics]; Matériaux; Structures

Shamyr Sadat Ali-Alvarez, Pierre Ferdinand, Sylvain Magne, R. Nogueira. Optical Fiber Sensor for corrosion detection and evolution monitoring in reinforced concrete structures. 9th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring: A Roadmap to Intelligent Structures, IWSHM 2013, Sep 2013, Standford, United States. pp.1591-1596. ⟨cea-01844698⟩