© 2007 Computational & Experimental Mechanics

Editors: A. K. Ariffin, N. A. Nik Mohamed and S. Abdullah

BEM AND MAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENT FOR DETECTION OF

CORROSION IN REINFORCED CONCRETE

Syarizal Fonna1, A. K. Ariffin1 and M. Ridha2

1
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Bangi, 43600 Selangor, Malaysia
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Syiah Kuala University
Banda Aceh, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a concept for identification reinforced concrete corrosion by

using the inverse analysis based on boundary element method and magnetic field
measurement. The Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)
sensor is applied to measuring a very low magnetic field on the concrete
structure. Inverse analysis was carried out by minimizing a cost function which is
a residual between the calculated and measured magnetic flux density on the
concrete structure. The magnetic flux density is calculated by using the law of
Biot and Savart and by taking into account the current that flows in the concrete
domain and that in the steel in concrete. The potential in concrete domain is
modelled using Laplace’s equation. Boundary element method was applied to
solve the Laplace’s equation to obtain any potential and current density in the
whole surface and in the concrete domain. An example shows that the location of
corrosion area on the steel in the concrete structure can be effectively detected by
using numerical simulation data. Some challenges to refine the method are also
noted in this paper.

Keywords: BEM; corrosion detection; inverse problem; magnetic field

measurement; reinforced concrete

INTRODUCTION

It is important to detect early corrosion of the steels in concrete structure

since the corrosion of steels in concrete is a major cause of premature
deteriorations and failures of the reinforced concrete structures. Also it is
important to maintain a long life of the structures and reduce the cost of
maintenances (Broomfield 1998, Anonymous 2002, Hertlein 1992).

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 BEM and Magnetic Field Measurement for Detection of Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete: An Overview

Ridha et. al. (2001 and 1999) has reported the identification method for
solving the above problems. However, since the existing equipments for
measuring the potential is less sensitive (about tens m-Volt), the methods still
have some limitations to precisely detect corrosion in concrete structure.
The corrosion current has an associated magnetic component. The intensities
of the associated magnetic fields should be very low since the corrosion currents
are small (about some µA/cm2). Such fields could be measured by using the
superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), which is an extremely
sensitive magnetic field sensor (Jenks et. al. 1999, 1997, Wikswo 1996,
Bellingham et. al. 1986, Li et. al. 1988)
In this paper, the concept of inverse analysis by combining BEM and
magnetic field measurement is introduced to detect the location of steel corrosion
in concrete and also noted some challenges to refine the introduced method.

THE ELECTROCHEMISTRY OF CORROSION

Several anodic (oxidation) and cathodic (reduction) reactions occur

simultaneously on the steel surface during the electrochemical corrosion process
(Fontana 1986). Iron is oxidized to the iron ion at the anode, releasing electrons.

Fe → Fe 2+ + 2e (1)

At the cathode, the electrons combine with oxygen and moisture to form
hydroxide ions.

1
O 2 + H 2 O + 2e → 2OH − (2)
2

The total corrosion rate is the self-corrosion rate plus the galvanic corrosion
rate. The self-corrosion rate can be neglected since it is generally much lower
than the galvanic corrosion rate.
The corrosion rate is proportional to the density of current across the surface
of an anode, so the analysis of corrosion problem can be reduced to computing
the electro-galvanic field due to multiple anodic/cathodic interactions
An electric current flow occurs due to the above reactions. A polarization
curve given in Figure 1 shows the relationship between the current density i
across the steel surface versus electrical potential in the electrolyte near the metal
surface to a reference electrode E. These relationships between i and E for anodic
and cathodic reaction (solid curves) are not obtained individually, but only
nominal relationship E = f(i) for the two reactions (dashed curve) is measured. In
natural state, the reaction become in equilibrium at point R. The current
corresponding to RS flows from anode to the cathode due to galvanic effect.

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FIGURE 1 Schematic view of polarization curve

MODELING OF CORROSION IN CONCRETE

The potential field in the concrete domain (Ω) can be modeled mathematically by
the Laplace's equation:

∇2φ = 0 in Ω (3)

The associated boundary conditions to Equation (3) are given as followings

(Figure 2):

i=0 on Γs (4)

i = iCE on ΓCE (5)

− φ a = f a (i) on Γm1 (6)

− φ c = f c (i) on Γm2 (7)

where fa(i) and fc(i) are the non-linear functions representing the experimentally
determined polarization curves for corroded and non-corroded areas on the steel
in concrete, respectively.
The minus signs on the right hand sides of Equation (6) and (7) are due to the
fact that the potential in the electrolyte near the metal surface, φ, is equal to
minus value of potential difference between the metal and the reference
electrode, such as saturated calomel electrode, SCE. It is noted that the potential
φ is defined with referring to the metal and has the inverse sign of the employed
usually in the corrosion science. The potential within the steels has been imposed
as the reference potential (i.e. zero volts) for the numerical calculations.
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 BEM and Magnetic Field Measurement for Detection of Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete: An Overview

By solving the Laplace's equation in Equation (3) under the boundary in

Equations (4) to (7), the potential φ and current density i on the overall surface of
the electrolyte domain can be determined (Aoki et. al. 1998).
Since the knowledge of physical quantities on the metal surface is important,
boundary element method is employed here. The standard boundary element
procedures lead to:

⎧φ s ⎫ ⎧ io ⎫
⎪ ⎪
κ [H ]⎨ − f (i a ) ⎬ − [G ]⎪⎨ i a ⎪
⎬ = 0 (8)
⎪ − f (i ) ⎪ ⎪i ⎪
⎩ c ⎭ ⎩ c ⎭

where the detail expression of matrices [H] and [G] are given in references
(Brebbia 1980), and the subscripts s, a, c and m represent the quantities on Γs,
Γm1 and Γm2, respectively. The system of non-linear algebraic equation in
Equation (8) can be solved by the iterative procedures, e.g. the Newton-Raphson
method. An experimental verification of the boundary element solution is shown
in reference (Aoki et. Al. 1998).

MAGNETIC FIELD CALCULATION ON THE CONCRETE SURFACE

Figure 2 show a model of magnetic field measurement to detect corrosion of steel

in concrete structure. The corrosion occurs at one part of the steel. The corroded
area is small compared to the non-corroded area. During the corrosion process,
the current flows from the corroded area to the non-corroded area of the steel.
However, the associated magnetic field due to the flowing current is very weak
since the corrosion current is usually very low.
To increase the magnetic field, the external current is supplied from the
counter electrode (CE) into the concrete structure. The current goes into the
corroded and non-corroded parts of the steel. The amount of current which goes
into each part differs according to the difference of the polarization curves, the
location and geometry of the corroded area. Magnetic field at point Q on the
concrete structure due to the impressed current and the corrosion current might be
measured, for instant using SQUID sensors.
By considering the associated magnetic component on the concrete structure
is due to the current that flows in the concrete domain and that flows in the steels,
the magnetic field at point Q on the surface of the concrete structure can be
calculated by using the law of Biot and Savart as follows:

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A. K. Ariffin, N. A. Nik Mohamed and S. Abdullah

µ o ⎡ i ( P ) d Ω ( P ) × r (Q , P )
4π ⎣⎢ Ω∫
B (Q ) = ⎢ 3
r (Q , P )
(9)
Nm⎛ I ( S ) dL ( S ) × r (Q , S ) ⎞ ⎤
+ ∑⎜ ∫ ⎟⎥
⎜ r ( Q , S )
3
⎟⎥
⎝
k =1 L mk
⎠⎦

where B is the magnetic flux density (in Tesla). i(P) is the current density at
point P in Ω. r is the vector of distance between source and observation points.
I(S) is the current that flows through a steel at point S.

Current
Suply

I SQUID
Magnetometer Controller
Dewar
Data
SQUID Acquisition
Concrete SQUID pickup
surface (Γn ) CE coils
Q
rPQ
Reinforcing P rPS
steel S

Corroded area (Γm1 )

Concrete(Ω) − φ 1= f m1 (i)

Noncorroded area(Γm2 )
φ=0
2

− φ 2 = f m2 (i)

FIGURE 2 Model of reinforced concrete corrosion

monitoring by magnetic field measurement.

INVERSE ANALYSIS USING NUMERICAL SIMULATION DATA

In the inverse analysis to identify corrosion of steel in concrete, the corrosion

profile C is estimated from some data of B on the concrete structure. C represents
numbers, locations and shapes of corrosion areas. The inverse analysis is carried
out by minimizing a cost-function, ε(C) in Equation (10), which is a residual
between measured and calculated values of B on the concrete structure,
2
⎛ ⎞
⎜ | B ( j; C ) | − | B ( j ) | ⎟
N
ε( C ) = ∑
j =1
⎜
⎜ B MAX
⎟
⎟
(10)
⎝ ⎠

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 BEM and Magnetic Field Measurement for Detection of Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete: An Overview

The Downhill simplex method can be used to minimizing ε( C) in Equation

(10) (Press et. al. 1992).
Ridha et. al. (2006 and 2005) has presented the effectiveness of the method
by using numerical simulation data. Preliminary numerical simulations were
carried out to obtain B on the surface of the concrete structure. In magnetic field
calculations, some assumptions were made for simplicity. Suppose that the steel
in the concrete specimen is as line and the size of the steel is very small
compared with the size of the entire concrete. Then, the ferromagnetic
contributions of the steel is neglected and assumed the magnetic permeability of
the concrete is the same as the magnetic permeability of the free space,
µo=4π×10-7 H/m.
Two polarization curves reported by Wheat et. al. (1986) were used to
represent the polarization curves of the corroded and non-corroded steel.
In BEM calculation, we assumed that the concrete was a semi-infinite
domain and the steel was discretized into line elements. The calculation results
of B are given in Table 1. In carrying out the inverse analysis, initially, it was
assumed that the location of the corroded area in x direction was unknown, and
only five values of B were available as given in Table 1.

TABLE 1. B at five locations on the concrete surface (Ridha 2006)

No X (m) B
(pTesla)
1 1.19 142
2 1.23 159
3 1.27 171
4 1.31 184
5 1.35 201

Figure 3 shows the convergence of the inverse analysis result for detection of
the corrosion location in concrete. In the figure, Ridha et. al. (2006) shows that
the estimated location of corrosion was X = 1.2859375 m (the exact location, i.e.
X=1.30 m).
The research conducting by Ridha et. al. (2006 and 2005) has shown the
effectiveness the method for identification of reinforced concrete corrosion.
However, there are still many limitations that have to overcome in refining the
method. Some assumptions that made earlier need to be reviewed again since it is
the properties of material such as ferromagnetic of steel and magnetic
permeability of concrete.
In addition, there are some possibilities to improve the accuracy in detection
of corrosion using BEM and magnetic measurement. The type of element used in
the analysis can be improved into higher order element i.e. two- and three-
dimensional element. The need to reduce time consumption during simulation
can be fulfilled by applied post- and pre-processor into the program.

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A. K. Ariffin, N. A. Nik Mohamed and S. Abdullah

FIGURE 3 The convergence of the inverse analysis result

for detection of the corrosion location in concrete (Ridha 2006).

CONCLUSIONS

A concept of inverse analysis by combining BEM and magnetic field

measurement was introduced to identify corrosion of steel in concrete structure.
An example that conducting by Ridha et. al. (2006) using numerical data shows
that the location of corrosion on the steel in the concrete can be effectively
detected corrosion on the concrete structure. However, there are still many
possibilities in refining the method to improve the accuracy and reduce
limitation.

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Broomfield, J. P. 1998. Corrosion of Steel in Concrete - Understanding,

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