The deburial and scouring of concrete wind turbine and bridge foundations presents a risk to structural stability and safety. In this work, we present a novel, ceramic temperature-sensing patch which can detect whether sections of a foundation are buried or exposed to air. The sensor patches, applied to concrete specimens, were fabricated by loading a geopolymer with 0 - 60 wt% ground magnetite. The magnetite content allowed the patches to be heated using an induction coil, while temperature profiles were monitored via changes in patch electrical impedance. Sensor patches were left uncoated, or were coated in surface-water, soil and sand. Each material provided a unique thermal signature which, with simple signal processing, could be used to reliably detect whether the patch was buried.
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