Temperature Impact on the Assessment of Reinforcement Corrosion Risk in Concrete by Galvanostatic Pulse Method

Abstract

The electrochemical galvanostatic pulse method (GPM) is used for the evaluation of the degree of corrosion risk of reinforcement in concrete. This non-destructive method enables determining the corrosion promoting conditions through the measurements of reinforcement stationary potential and concrete cover resistivity, and determining the probability of reinforcement corrosion in the tested areas. This method also allows for the estimation of the reinforcement corrosion activity and the prediction of the development of the corrosion process on the basis of corrosion current density measurements. The ambient temperature (and the temperature of the examined element) can significantly affect the values of the measured parameters due to electrochemical character of the processes as well as specific measurement technique. Differences in the obtained results can lead to a wrong interpretation of reinforcement corrosion risk degree in concrete. The article attempts to assess the effect of temperature on the measured parameters while using the galvanostatic pulse method. The GP-5000 GalvaPulseTM set was used. The results of this study confirmed the impact of temperature changes on the values of three measured parameters (reinforcement stationary potential, concrete cover resistivity, and corrosion current density) and contributed to catching the trend of these changes.