Non-Destructive Corrosion Inspection of Reinforced Concrete Using Ground-Penetrating Radar: A Review

Reduced maintenance costs of concrete structures can be ensured by efficient and comprehensive condition assessment. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been widely used in the condition assessment of reinforced concrete structures and it provides completely non-destructive results in real-time. It is mainly used for locating reinforcement and determining concrete cover thickness. More recently, research has focused on the possibility of using GPR for reinforcement corrosion assessment. In this paper, an overview of the application of GPR in corrosion assessment of concrete is presented. A literature search and study selection methodology were used to identify the relevant studies. First, the laboratory studies are shown. After that, the studies for the application on real structures are presented. The results have shown that the laboratory studies have not fully illuminated the influence of the corrosion process on the GPR signal. Also, no clear relationship was reported between the results of the laboratory studies and the on-site inspection. Although the GPR has a long history in the condition assessment of structures, it needs more laboratory investigations to clarify the influence of the corrosion process on the GPR signal.

Automated summary

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is widely used in the corrosion assessment of concrete structures, focusing on reinforcement corrosion. However, laboratory studies have not fully revealed the impact of corrosion process on GPR signal, and there is no clear relationship between laboratory results and on-site inspection. Further laboratory investigations are needed to clarify the influence of corrosion process on GPR signal in structure assessment.