Detecting and localizing corrosion induced damage in reinforced concrete structures based on modal data

Abstract

Reinforced concrete structures degrade over time, among others due to corrosion. This degradation process is not uniform along the structure. Monitoring and inspections can be used to detect damage and update a deterioration model of the structure. In this work, a model-based method is used to identify damage through the calibration of a FEM model based on modal characteristics. The model calibration is performed by means of a Bayesian method, using MCMC to sample the posterior distributions of model parameters for the time-dependent degradation of material properties. The calibrated model can then be used for a more accurate prediction of the remaining service life. Furthermore, it enables to be implemented in a pre-posterior analysis framework to determine the VoI of the monitoring and inspection program for comparison of different monitoring and inspection strategies.