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. 2011;11(11):10798-819.
doi: 10.3390/s111110798. Epub 2011 Nov 16.

Brillouin corrosion expansion sensors for steel reinforced concrete structures using a fiber optic coil winding method

Xuefeng Zhao  1 , Peng Gong, Guofu Qiao, Jie Lu, Xingjun Lv, Jinping Ou
Affiliations

Brillouin corrosion expansion sensors for steel reinforced concrete structures using a fiber optic coil winding method

Xuefeng Zhao et al. Sensors (Basel). 2011.

Abstract

In this paper, a novel kind of method to monitor corrosion expansion of steel rebars in steel reinforced concrete structures named fiber optic coil winding method is proposed, discussed and tested. It is based on the fiber optical Brillouin sensing technique. Firstly, a strain calibration experiment is designed and conducted to obtain the strain coefficient of single mode fiber optics. Results have shown that there is a good linear relationship between Brillouin frequency and applied strain. Then, three kinds of novel fiber optical Brillouin corrosion expansion sensors with different fiber optic coil winding packaging schemes are designed. Sensors were embedded into concrete specimens to monitor expansion strain caused by steel rebar corrosion, and their performance was studied in a designed electrochemical corrosion acceleration experiment. Experimental results have shown that expansion strain along the fiber optic coil winding area can be detected and measured by the three kinds of sensors with different measurement range during development the corrosion. With the assumption of uniform corrosion, diameters of corrosion steel rebars were obtained using calculated average strains. A maximum expansion strain of 6,738 με was monitored. Furthermore, the uniform corrosion analysis model was established and the evaluation formula to evaluate mass loss rate of steel rebar under a given corrosion rust expansion rate was derived. The research has shown that three kinds of Brillouin sensors can be used to monitor the steel rebar corrosion expansion of reinforced concrete structures with good sensitivity, accuracy and monitoring range, and can be applied to monitor different levels of corrosion. By means of this kind of monitoring technique, quantitative corrosion expansion monitoring can be carried out, with the virtues of long durability, real-time monitoring and quasi-distribution monitoring.

Keywords: Brillouin sensor; corrosion sensor; fiber optic; fiber optic coil; steel reinforced concrete structure; structural health monitoring.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic diagram of reinforcing steel corrosion in concrete as an electrochemical process.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Setup of the strain calibration experiments.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
The corrosion process in the reinforced concrete; (a) without corrosion; (b) little amount of corrosion; (c) corrosion made concrete broken.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Basic packaging structure of the Brillouin corrosion expansion sensor.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Packaging structure of BCES-I.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Packaging structure of BCES-II.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Packaging structure of BCES-III.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Schematic diagram of the electrochemical corrosion acceleration experiment system.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Concrete specimens with embedded sensors.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Fiber optic circuit of the corrosion monitoring experiments.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Brillouin frequency results of Load cycle 1 with sensing length of 1 m.
Figure 12.
Figure 12.
(a) Strain sensitivity result of sensor with length of 1 m; (b) Strain sensitivity result of sensor with length of 2 m.
Figure 13.
Figure 13.
The expansion strain results of S.1 (I) and S.2 (I).
Figure 14.
Figure 14.
The average strains of sensor S.1 (I) and S.2 (I).
Figure 15.
Figure 15.
Steel rebar diameter monitored of sensor S.1 (I) and S.2 (I).
Figure 16.
Figure 16.
The crack on specimen No.1.
Figure 17.
Figure 17.
(a) The steel corrosion of S.1 (I) in the specimen No. 1; (b) The steel corrosion of S.2 (I) in the specimen No. 2.
Figure 18.
Figure 18.
Corrosion expansion strain results of S.3 (II) in experiment two.
Figure 19.
Figure 19.
The average expansion strain result of S.3 (II).
Figure 20.
Figure 20.
Monitored diameter of sensor S.3 (II).
Figure 21.
Figure 21.
(a) the large cracks of specimen No.3; (b) Corrosion of the steel bar in specimen No.3.
Figure 22.
Figure 22.
Corrosion strain results of S.4 (III).
Figure 23.
Figure 23.
Average strain monitored of sensor S.4 (III).
Figure 24.
Figure 24.
(a) The large cracks of the specimen No.4; (b) Corrosion of the steel rebar in specimen No.4.
Figure 25.
Figure 25.
Mass loss rate results of S.1 (I) and S.2 (I).
Figure 26.
Figure 26.
Mass loss rate results of S.3 (II).
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References

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