Mechanical impedance-based technique for steel structural corrosion damage detection

• An electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique based on mechanical impedance was proposed.
• The structural mechanical impedance (SMI) was theoretically derived from the EMI model.
• An experiment of monitoring corrosion damage progression on a steel beam was implemented.
• The sensitivity of SMI was investigated qualitatively and quantitatively.

The electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique has gained acceptance for structural health monitoring, due to its merits of model-free, high frequency detection and fast response features. This paper presents an innovative mechanical impedance-based technique to monitor the development of corrosion damage on steel structure, which is different from the traditional admittance (inverse of impedance)-based EMI technique. Firstly, structural mechanical impedance (SMI) which directly manifests the structural properties is theoretically deprived. Secondly, by measuring the raw admittance signature, the sensitivity of SMI is investigated in the experiment of steel structural corrosion damage conducted within 117 days. Finally, the corrosion damage quantification is also discussed by calculating the root mean square deviation (RMSD) index. The results indicate that structural mechanical impedance is sensitive to corrosion damage but the detecting range is limited. The real part of SMI can be adopted for an effective indicator of steel structural corrosion damage. The proposed technique is found to be effective in steel structural corrosion damage detection.