Indirect Galvanostatic Pulse in Wenner Configuration: Numerical Insights into Its Physical Aspect and Its Ability to Locate Highly Corroding Areas in Macrocell Corrosion of Steel in Concrete

Abstract

The use of indirect electrical techniques is gaining interest for monitoring the corrosion of steel in concrete as they do not require any connection to the rebar. In this paper, we provide insights into the physical aspects of the indirect galvanostatic pulse (GP) method in the Wenner configuration. Considering uniform corrosion, the instantaneous ohmic drop is decreased due to the presence of the rebar, which acts as a short-circuit. However, we observed that this phenomenon is independent of the electrochemical parameters of the Butler–Volmer equation. They are, however, responsible for the nonlinear decrease of the current that polarizes the rebar over time, especially for a passive rebar due to its high polarization resistance. This evolution of the resulting potential difference with time is explained by the increase of the potential difference related to concrete resistance and the global decrease of the potential difference related to the polarization resistance of the rebar. The indirect GP technique is then fundamentally different than the conventional one in three-electrode configuration, as here the steady-state potential is not only representative of polarization resistance but also of concrete resistance. Considering non-uniform corrosion, the presence of a small anodic area disturbs the current distribution in the material. This is essentially due to the different capability of anodic and cathodic areas to consume the impressed current, resulting in slowing down the evolution of the transient potential as compared to uniform corrosion. Hence, highly corroding areas have a greater effect on the transient potential than on the steady-state one. The use of this temporal evolution is thus recommended to qualitatively detect anodic areas. For the estimation of their length and position, which is one of the main current problematic issue when performing any measurement on reinforced concrete (RC) structures with conventional techniques, we suggest adjusting the probe spacing to modulate the sensitivity of the technique.