Proceedings of the 4th IMT-GT Conference on Mathematics, Statistics and Applications (ICMSA)

Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh-Indonesia

BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD BY USING MAGNETIC FIELD

FOR CORROSION ANALYSIS

Syarizal Fonna1, M. Ridha2, and A.K. Ariffin1

1
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600
Selangor DE, Malaysia
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Syiah Kuala University, Darussalam
Banda Aceh Indonesia

Abstract. The diagnosing of reinforced concrete corrosion structure using conventional technique such as potential
mapping technique has been extensively used in the field. However, the method still has limitation that is less accuracy
to identify the corrosion of steel in concrete. This study is conducted on corrosion sensing using magnetic field
generated by corrosion current. The potential in concrete domain is modeled using Laplace’s equation. The magnetic
flux density is calculated by using the law of Biot and Savart and by taking into account the current that flows in the
concrete domain and that in the steel in concrete. Boundary element method was applied to solve the Laplace’s
equation to obtain the potential in the whole surface concrete domain. The study shows that the boundary element
method successfully solved the Laplace’s equation in order to obtain potential value on domain surface. However,
some limitations still need to overcome due to the less sensitive of existing equipment for measuring potential value.
Thus, the method can be extended to calculate magnetic field data that will be used for evaluating reinforced concrete
corrosion.

Keywords: potential; magnetic field, reinforced concrete corrosion; BEM

1 Introduction

It is important to detect corrosion of the steels in concrete structure since the corrosion of steels in concrete is a
major cause of premature deteriorations and failures of the reinforced concrete structures. Also it is important to
maintain a long life of the structures and reduce the cost of maintenances (Broomfield 1998, Anonymous 2002).
The use of numerical method such as boundary element method (BEM) (Brebbia 1992) becomes popular
among researchers and corrosion engineer for modeling and solving various corrosion problems (Ridha 2002,
Adey et al. 1992, Aoki et al.1998, and DeGiorgi 1997).
The potential on the concrete surface is usually used to predict or evaluate the corrosion on the steel surface
in concrete structure, such as haft-cell potential mapping technique (Anonymous 2000, and Ping Gu et al. 1998).
The half-cell potential mapping has been used widely for evaluating and monitoring the reinforced concrete
corrosion. However, it still have some limitation to precisely detect a small corrosion area or corrosion on
deeper layer of the steel in the concrete structure. The limitation is due to the existing equipments is still less
sensitive (about tens mV) and need a direct contact between the probe and the object.
The corrosion current has an associated magnetic component. The intensities of the associated magnetic
fields should be very low since the corrosion currents are small (about some μA/cm2). Such fields could be
measured by using the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), which is an extremely sensitive
magnetic field sensor. The SQUID sensors have been reported to be able to measure the magnetic fields with a
sensitivity of 0.3 pT/Hz1/2 at 10 Hz and the measurement using SQUID can be performed without the direct
contact of the probe to the object. (Jenks et. al. 1999, 1997, Wikswo 1996, Bellingham et. al. 1986, and Li et. al.
1988). Therefore, the corrosion analysis of reinforced concrete using magnetic field data become challenge
among researchers.
In this paper, the use of magnetic field on boundary element simulation for corrosion monitoring was
introduced. An example using simulation data has been performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the
proposed method.

203
2 The Electrochemistry of Corrosion

Several anodic (oxidation) and cathodic (reduction) reactions occur simultaneously on the steel surface during
the electrochemical corrosion process (Fontana 1986). Iron is oxidized to the iron ion at the anode, releasing
electrons.

Fe → Fe 2+ + 2e (1)

At the cathode, the electrons combine with oxygen and moisture to form hydroxide ions.

1
O 2 + H 2 O + 2e → 2OH − (2)
2

The total corrosion rate is the self-corrosion rate plus the galvanic corrosion rate. The self-corrosion rate
can be neglected since it is generally much lower than the galvanic corrosion rate.
The corrosion rate is proportional to the density of current across the surface of an anode, so the analysis of
corrosion problem can be reduced to computing the electro-galvanic field due to multiple anodic/cathodic
interactions.

3 Modeling of Corrosion in Concrete

The potential field in the concrete domain (Ω) can be modeled mathematically by the Laplace's equation:

∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ
∇ 2φ = + + =0 in Ω (3)
∂x 2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2

The fundamental solutions for Equation (3) are given by:

1
φ* = for 3D case (4)
4πr

where φ is unknown potential at any point and φ* is known fundamental solution at any point.

Γ2
Γ1 i = i0
φ = φ0

Γm2
Γm1
φ = - fc(i)
φ = - fa (i)
cathode
anode
Figure 1. Boundary condition for potential problem.

The associated boundary conditions to Equation (3) are given as followings (Figure 1):

i=0 on Γn (5)

i = iCE on ΓCE (6)

204
 − φ a = f a (i) on Γm1 (7)

− φ c = f c (i) on Γm2 (8)

where fa(i) and fc(i) are the non-linear functions representing the experimentally determined polarization
curves for corroded and non-corroded areas on the steel in concrete, respectively.
The minus signs on the right hand sides of Equation (7) and (8) are due to the fact that the potential in the
electrolyte near the metal surface, φ, is equal to minus value of potential difference between the metal and the
reference electrode, such as saturated calomel electrode, SCE. It is noted that the potential φ is defined with
referring to the metal and has the inverse sign of the employed usually in the corrosion science. The potential
within the steels has been imposed as the reference potential (i.e. zero volts) for the numerical calculations.
The well-known ‘Greens Second Identity’, Equation (9), is used to move the problem from within the
domain to its boundary.

⎛ ∂φ * * ∂φ ⎞
∫Ω φ∇ φ − φ ∇ φ Ω = ∫Γ ⎜⎜⎝φ ∂n − φ ∂n ⎟⎟⎠dΓ
2 * * 2
( ) d (9)

∂
where n is unit outward normal and is derivative in the direction of normal. Equation (9) shows the
∂n
advantage of the boundary element method that reduction the problem dimension by one.
The standard boundary element procedures lead to:

⎧φ s ⎫ ⎧ io ⎫
⎪ ⎪
κ [H ]⎨ − f (i a ) ⎬ − [G ]⎪⎨ i a ⎪
⎬ = 0 (10)
⎪ − f (i ) ⎪ ⎪i ⎪
⎩ c ⎭ ⎩ c ⎭

where the detail expression of matrices [H] and [G] are given in references (Brebbia 1980), and the
subscripts s, a, c and m represent the quantities on Γn, Γm1 and Γm2, respectively. The system of non-linear
algebraic equation in Equation (10) can be solved by the iterative procedures, e.g. the Newton-Raphson method.
An experimental verification of the boundary element solution is shown in reference (Aoki et. al. 1998).
Hence, the potential φ and current density i on the overall surface of the concrete and steel can be determined
(Aoki et. al. 1998).

4 Magnetic Field Calculation on the Concrete Surface

Figure 2 show a model of magnetic field measurement to detect corrosion of steel in concrete structure. The
corrosion occurs at one part of the steel. The corroded area is small compared to the non-corroded area. During
the corrosion process, the current flows from the corroded area to the non-corroded area of the steel. However,
the associated magnetic field due to the flowing current is very weak since the corrosion current is usually very
low.
To increase the magnetic field, the external current is supplied from the counter electrode (CE) into the
concrete structure. The current goes into the corroded and non-corroded parts of the steel. The amount of current
which goes into each part differs according to the difference of the polarization curves, the location and
geometry of the corroded area. Magnetic field at point Q on the concrete structure due to the impressed current
and the corrosion current might be measured, for instant using SQUID sensors.
By considering the associated magnetic component on the concrete structure is due to the current that flows
in the concrete domain and that flows in the steels, the magnetic field at point Q on the surface of the concrete
structure can be calculated by using the law of Biot and Savart as follows:

205
 μo ⎡ i ( P ) d Ω ( P ) × r (Q , P )
B (Q ) = ⎢∫
4π ⎢⎣ Ω r (Q , P )
3

(11)
⎛ I ( S ) dL ( S ) × r (Q , S ) ⎞ ⎤
Nm
+∑⎜ ∫ ⎟⎥
⎜ r (Q , S )
3
⎟⎥
⎝
k =1 L mk
⎠⎦

where B is the magnetic flux density (in Tesla). i(P) is the current density at point P in Ω. r is the vector
of distance between source and observation points. I(S) is the current that flows through a steel at point S. Lmk
is the length of the k-th steel. Nm is the number of steels in concrete.

SQUID Data
controller acquisition

SQUID sensor system

Counter electrode (CE)

●Q Concrete surface (Γn)

rPQ

rPS
P B
icor
S Steel

Corroded area (Γm1) Concrete (Ω)

Non-corroded area (Γm2)

Figure 2. Model of reinforced concrete corrosion monitoring by magnetic field measurement.

The current density, i(P), is determined using the following equation.

i( P) = −κ grad [φ (P )] (12)

where i=ixi+iyj+izk, φ(P) is the internal potential at point P in domain.

The current that flows through a steel at point S is calculated by:

I ( S ) = −∑ (i j A j )
m
(13)
j =1

where ij current density on the cylindrical surface of the j-th element and obtained by BEM. Aj is the
surface area of the j-th element of the steel.
By knowing the current density at any point in the concrete domain, Equation (12), and the current density
flow in the steel, Equation (13), the Equation (11) can be solved. Hence, the magnetic field on the concrete
surface can be obtained.

206
5 Numerical Simulation and Discussion

To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, an example of reinforced concrete corrosion case was
analyze using BEM in order to obtain the potential and the magnetic field on the concrete surface.
Suppose a model of concrete specimen is with a single reinforcing steels, where κ of the concrete was 7x10-3
1/Ω.m. The steel, 6 mm in diameter and 0.6 m in length, was cast in the concrete in the depth of 50 mm along x-
axis direction. The steel was fixed at x = (1.0 to 1.6) m, and y = 0.51 m. A small corrosion area, 20 mm in
length, was located on the steel at x = 1.31 m. A direct current, I = 0.1 mA, was impressed into the concrete
structure from CE at location of (x, y, z) = (0.51, 0.51, 0.00) m. Two polarization curves in the example case in
the reference (Ridha et. al. 2001), were used to represent the polarization curves of the corroded and non-
corroded steel.

By solving Laplace’s equation using BEM under the prescribed boundary condition, Equation (5)-(8), the
potential on the concrete surface of the model was shown as Figure 3. Meanwhile, the magnetic field
distribution on the concrete surface for the same condition obtained by solving Equation (11) was gave as
Figure 4. It is clear that BEM successfully solve the Laplace’s equation in order to obtain potential distribution
on the concrete surface. However, from Figure 3, the potential distribution does not slightly indicate the effect
of corrosion that occurred on steels. On the other hand, the existing equipments for measuring the potential is
less sensitive (about tens m-Volt). It can lead the same result as Figure 3. Thus, the observer might deduce that
there is no corrosion occurs on steel in the concrete structure.

Figure 3. The potential distribution on the concrete surface obtained by BEM.

Figure 4. The magnetic field distribution on the concrete surface.

For the same specimen setup and condition, the magnetic fields distribution on the concrete surface gives
the appearance of the corrosion effect. The magnetic fields distribution does not the same (flat) for all over the
regions. However, the figure still does not indicate the location of corrosion. Therefore, it need further study,
such as inverse analysis, to detect the location of corrosion by using magnetic fields distribution on the concrete
surface.

6 Conclusions
This paper explore on corrosion sensing using magnetic field generated by corrosion current. The Laplace’s
equation is used to model the potential in concrete domain. The magnetic flux density is calculated by using the
207
law of Biot and Savart. Boundary element method was applied to solve the Laplace’s equation. The study shows
that the boundary element method successfully solved the Laplace’s equation in order to obtain potential value
on domain surface. However, some limitations still need to overcome due to the less sensitive of existing
equipment for measuring potential value. The method was extended to calculate magnetic field data that used
for evaluating reinforced concrete corrosion. Further study needed to applied magnetic fields data in order to
detect or evaluate the reinforced concrete corrosion, such as using inverse analysis.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank ExxonMobil that sponsored the project under PKT 2/2008 Project.

References

Adey, R.A. & Niku, S.M. 1992. Computer Modeling of Corrosion Using the Boundary Element Method, Computer
Modeling in Corrosion, ASTM STP 1154, pp. 248-264

Anonymous 2002. Cost of Corrosion Study Unveiled, A Supplement to Material Performance, NACE Int’l, July 2002: 2-5.

Anonymous 2000, Half-Cell Potential Surveys of Reinforced Concrete Structures, Concrete, July/August, pp. 43-45.

Aoki, S., Amaya, K. & Miyasaka, M., 1998. Boundary Element Analysis on Corrosion Problems, Shokabo, Tokyo.

Bellingham, J.G., MacVicar, M.L.A., Nisenoff, M., and Searson, P.C. 1986, Detection of Magnetic Field Generated by
Electrochemical Corrosion, J of Electrochemical Society, Vol 133: 1753.

Brebbia, C.A. & Domiguez, J. 1992. Boundary Elements – An Introductory Course, 2nd ed., Computational Mechanics
Publication.

Brebia, C.A. 1980. The Boundary Element Technique in Engineering, Newnes-Butterworths, London.

Broomfield, J. P. 1998. Corrosion of Steel in Concrete - Understanding, Investigation and Repair, E & FN Spon, London.

DeGiorgi, V.G., 1997. A Review of Computational Analysis of Ship Cathodic Protection System, Boundary Element XIX,
Eds. By M. Marchetti, C.A. Brebia, and M.H. Aliabadi, Compt. Mechanics Publication, pp.829-838

Fontana, M.G. 1986, Corrosion Engineering, 3rd Eds., McGraw-Hill International, Tokyo.

Jenks, W.G., Sadeghi, S.S.H., and J.P. Wikswo Jr., J.P. 1999, SQUIDs for Nondestructive Evaluation, J. Physics D: Applied
Physics, Vol 30: 293.

Jenks W.G., Thomas, I.M., and J.P. Wikswo Jr., J.P. 1997, SQUIDS, Encyclopedia of Applied Physics, Vol 19(3): 457.

Li, D., Ma, Y., Flanagan, W.F., and J.P. Wikswo Jr., J.P., 1998 Detection of Hidden Corrosion of Aircraft Aluminum Alloys
by Magnetometry Using a Super-conducting Quantum Interference Device, Corrosion, Vol 53(2): 93-98.

Ping Gu and Beaudoin, J.J. 1998, Obtaining Effective Half-Cell Potential Measuremens in Reinforced Concrete Structures,
Construction Technology Update No. 18.

Ridha, M., 2002. Inverse Analysis Methods for Identifying Corrosion of Reinforced Concrete Using Boundary Element
Method, Doctoral Thesis, Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Ridha, M, Amaya, K. and Aoki, S. 2005. Boundary Element Simulation for Identification of Steel Corrosion in Concrete
Using Magnetic Field measurement. Corrosion Science Section, NACE International, 61: 784-791.

Ridha, M, Amaya, K. and Aoki, S. 2001. Multistep Genetic Algorithm for Detecting Corrosion of Reinforcing Steels in
Concrete. The Journal of Science and Engineering: Corrosion. Vol. 57. No. 9 : 794-801.

Wheat, H.G. & Eliezer, Z. 1985. Some Electrochemical Aspects of Corrosion of Steel in Concrete, Corrosion, 41(11): 640-
645.

Wikswo Jr., J.P., 1996, The Magnetic Inverse Problem for NDE, in SQUIDs Sensors: Fundamental, Fabrication and
Application, eds H. Weinstock, Kluwer Academic Publishe, Nederland: 629.

208