FEA of the galvanostatic technique with guard ring in cracked concrete

Uncertainty of the polarized area of reinforcing steel is one of the major sources of error when measuring corrosion rate of steel in concrete. To overcome this problem, instruments equipped with the guard ring, aimed at limiting the polarized area, have been introduced and are available commercially. However, some limitations and disadvantages of the guard ring equipment have been reported. The function of this system on measuring the corrosion in sound concrete was analyzed experimentally and mathematically [1]. This paper explains the function the guard ring equipment in cracked concrete by using finite element analysis (FEA).