Development of a method for obtaining Nyquist plots identical to those of the three-electrode AC impedance method in concrete-embedded rebar without requiring electrical continuity

Abstract

AbstractCorrosion of steel bars is one cause of deterioration in reinforced concrete structures. The state of corrosion of rebar in concrete structures can be measured using the AC impedance method. The typical three-electrode AC impedance method requires electrical continuity between the rebar and the measurement device, which may be inconvenient because the structure requires to be partly damaged by processes such as drilling. The present study proposes a method to obtain the same impedance spectra as the three-electrode method by modifying the electrode configuration of the four-electrode method. The procedures for such a measurement are as follows: first, place the counter electrode and the measurement reference electrode at the measurement point; place another counter electrode at a sufficient distance from the measurement point; place another reference electrode at a sufficient distance from both the measurement point and the applied counter electrode; and connect WE_I to the applied counter electrode, WE_V to the reference electrode, CE to the applied counter electrode, and RE to the applied counter electrode, and measure the impedance. In this paper, the physical experiments and the numerical experiments demonstrate the validity of the above method. Under the conditions of this physical experiment (concrete W/C = 54.2%, cover 50 mm), the distance between the measurement point and the application counter electrode was required to be about 1.3 m. The distance between the measurement point and the reference matching electrode was also required to be about 1.3 m. Graphical abstract