Impedance based service life assessment of corroded structures with Cross correlation analysis

Electro mechanical impedance technique has garnered major significance in structural health monitoring field by integrating with information and sensing technology. Technical advancements in automated smart devices improved the diagnostic evaluation of this monitoring method by incorporating piezoelectric materials. The optimistic coupling property of these materials enhanced the life span of structural members by detecting damages at incipient stage. The intervention of piezoelectric transducers has created potential applications for impedance approach in assessing the structural performance with high feasibility. The present work aims at estimating the service life of simply supported smart beam using piezoelectric sensors in Abaqus Simulia software. Corrosion is deployed at a uniform rate in reinforced concrete beam with impressed current flow and the loss in diameter of rebar is calculated using Faraday’s electrochemical equation. With frequency domain based impedance technique numerical analysis is conducted on the modeled beams by exciting the sensor with an external harmonic force and the output electric responses of different piezoelectric locations are captured. The steady state dynamic responses for different cases are compared and quantified with a statistical damage algorithm in MATLAB. The resulted cross correlation indices are analyzed to prevent further deterioration of the corroded beams by setting a limit value. The proposed simulation technology is capable of estimating the residual life span of damage structures with cross correlation analysis.