The objective of this study is to review, evaluate, and compare the existing research and practices on electrical resistivity as a nondestructive technique in evaluating chloride-induced deterioration of reinforced concrete elements in buildings and civil infrastructure systems. First, this paper summarizes the different measurement techniques for gathering electrical resistivity (ER) values on concrete. Second, comparison analyses are performed to review the correlation of ER to different parameters representing corrosive environment and activity of steel corrosion in concrete, such as degree of water saturation, chloride penetration and diffusivity, and corrosion rate. In addition, this research enumerates and individually discusses the different environmental and interference factors that are not related to the electrochemical process of steel corrosion in concrete but directly affect the ER measurements, including temperature, the presence of steel reinforcement, cracks and delamination defects, specimen geometry, and concrete composition. Lastly and most importantly, discussions are made to determine the current gap of knowledge, to improve the utilization of this method in field and laboratory measurements, and future research.
Keywords: corrosion of steel; electrical resistivity; nondestructive evaluation; reinforced concrete.