Acoustic emission technique for detection of corrosion-induced wire fracture

There is currently a need to evaluate the non-destructive techniques that are used to detect the fracture of stressed steel wires in grouted post-tensioned concrete bridges. Although continuous acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technique has been developed to detect wire breaks in unbonded tendons, it is not established as the on-site monitoring tools for grouted post-tensioned concrete bridges. In this study, AE measurements were conducted to detect corrosion-induced wire fractures inside a grouted post-tensioned beam. The test beam was drilled with 5mm drill bit to expose individual wires and a reservoir filled with corrosive solution of NaCl and NaOH was formed on the side of the beam. During the experiment, the corrosion site was anodically polarized to + 200mV using a potentiostat and it was continuously monitored and the data obtained were processed with an AE monitoring system. The outcome of this research shows that the continuous AE monitoring system successfully identified and located an individual corrosion-induced wire fracture in a fully grouted post-tensioned concrete beam.