| dc.description.abstract | Early detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete is of great importance for safe operation of the concrete based infrastructure we rely on such as bridges and large buildings. Undetected corrosion in the steel reinforcements can prove costly, both in terms of repair costs and in the worst case scenario, loss of human lives as was recently seen in Genoa, Italy. New and improved inspection techniques can potentially drastically improve the detection rate, thus reducing costs, and even save lives. In this thesis a novel instrument, the Field Kelvin Probe (FKP), a handheld field instrument operating on the same principle as the original Kelvin Probe, has been evaluated for the first time with for the purpose of using it as a tool for inspection of reinforced concrete. Multiple test samples have been designed and constructed from scratch over the course of the project to evaluate the capabilities of the FKP, from the detection of embedded metal to detection of imitated corrosion in rebars. Using these test samples, it was shown that the FKP can locate the embedded steel and detect potential gradients matching those one would expect during active rebar corrosion, even beneath coated surfaces. A simple model was created to describe the results, with very good agreement between theory and experiments. The results presented in this thesis indicate that the FKP has the potential to be a powerful handheld no-contact inspection tool that could eventually become the trusted technique for inspection of reinforced concrete | en_US |
