Rapid innovation in interdisciplinary technology emphasized the data acquisition system to evaluate the structural integrity by combining with advance sensing techniques. These smart sensors with impedance methodology has shown an excellent potential in assessing the structural health condition and provided an alternative to many sophisticated Non destructive monitoring systems. The sensitivity of electro mechanical impedance technique in detecting local incipient damages is enhanced with piezoelectric mechanism of lead zirconate titanate materials and with conductance signatures these materials can determine the dynamic variations in structural properties more effectively. In the present work numerical finite element analysis is conducted on simply supported RCC beam in Abaqus software with reinforcement subjected to corrosion in five stages with different reduction rates and coupled with piezoelectric transducers along the length to implement the impedance strategy. These surface bonded piezoelectric patches are electrically excited with an external voltage under specific frequency range to conduct linear perturbation harmonic analysis and the output conductance responses of healthy and corroded beams from different sensor locations are captured and compared. The peak shifting nature of signature pattern will serve as an indicator to diagnose the corrosion severity and propagation in structural components. The simulation results of proposed impedance technique showed the feasibility of employing piezoelectric materials to identify corrosion activity in structural members with electromechanical conductivity signatures.

Electro mechanical impedance technique has garnered major significance in structural health monitoring field by integrating with information and sensing technology. Technical advancements in automated smart devices improved the diagnostic evaluation of this monitoring method by incorporating piezoelectric materials. The optimistic coupling property of these materials enhanced the life span of structural members by detecting damages at incipient stage. The intervention of piezoelectric transducers has created potential applications for impedance approach in assessing the structural performance with high feasibility. The present work aims at estimating the service life of simply supported smart beam using piezoelectric sensors in Abaqus Simulia software. Corrosion is deployed at a uniform rate in reinforced concrete beam with impressed current flow and the loss in diameter of rebar is calculated using Faraday’s electrochemical equation. With frequency domain based impedance technique numerical analysis is conducted on the modeled beams by exciting the sensor with an external harmonic force and the output electric responses of different piezoelectric locations are captured. The steady state dynamic responses for different cases are compared and quantified with a statistical damage algorithm in MATLAB. The resulted cross correlation indices are analyzed to prevent further deterioration of the corroded beams by setting a limit value. The proposed simulation technology is capable of estimating the residual life span of damage structures with cross correlation analysis.