Wireless corrosion monitoring system based on an interdigital capacitive corrosion sensor

Abstract

The corrosion of reinforcing steel bars in concrete is the main factor affecting the durability of reinforced concrete structures. The traditional capacitance method has many limitations in detecting the corrosion of the bars, such as low sensitivity, short lifespan and small test range. Therefore, an interdigital capacitive corrosion sensor is designed based on the capacitive method, and a wireless corrosion monitoring system for reinforcing steel bars in concrete is established based on the ZigBee wireless sensor network technology. The data processing unit, wireless communication unit, data acquisition unit, voltage conversion unit and serial communication unit are designed for terminal nodes and the coordinator node in the system. Moreover, a host computer interface is developed with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, which can realise real-time display and query of monitoring information. The experimental results show that the system can effectively monitor the corrosion of reinforcing steel bars in concrete, which can provide a reliable basis for timely and effective maintenance.