Experimental Assessment of Rebar Corrosion in Concrete Slab Using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is a major cause of structural damage that requires repair or replacement. Early detection of steel corrosion can limit the extent of necessary repairs or replacements and costs associated with the rehabilitation works. The ground penetrating radar (GPR) method has been found to be a useful method for evaluating reinforcement corrosion in existing concrete structures. In this paper, GPR was utilized to assess corrosion of steel reinforcement in a concrete slab. A technique for accelerating reinforcement bar corrosion using direct current (DC) power supply with 5% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution was used to induce corrosion to embedded reinforcement bars (rebars) in this concrete slab. A 2 GHz GPR was used to assess the corrosion of the rebars. The analysis of the results of the GPR data obtained shows that corrosion of the rebars could be effectively localized and assessed.