Structural Durability Monitoring of a Newly Built High-Piled Wharf in a Harbor with Anode Ladder Sensor

Abstract

Structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructure has received significant public attention in recent years. However, there is currently little research on the durability-monitoring technology of high-piled wharfs in coastal ports. The benefits of anode ladder sensors are their small size, good durability and long life. Based on the properties of high-piled wharfs in coastal ports and the benefits of anode ladder sensors, the structural durability monitoring (SDM) system for a high-piled wharf in the Tianjin Port of China is devised and deployed partly using the anode-ladder sensor. The system can monitor the structural durability of reinforced concrete, which provides a state-ofthe- art mean to monitor the steel corrosion conditions for the wharf. In total, 2 anode ladders are installed in the reinforced concrete components of the back platform and front platform. After the installation of some components in the wharf construction site, the good signal that each sensor measures demonstrates the suitability of the sensor setup methods, and it is proper for the full-scale, continuous, autonomous SDM deployment for the high-piled wharf in the costal port. The South 27# Wharf SDM system is a typical engineering application case of wharf structures in costal ports. This deployment demonstrates the strong potential of SDM to monitor the corrosion state of large-scale coastal wharf structures. This study can provide a reference to the long-term durability-monitoring system deployment for high-piled wharf in coastal ports.