Improved Electrochemical Determinations of Chloride-Induced Steel Corrosion in Concrete

Abstract

A significant amount of infrastructure is located in a marine environment or in environments where high levels of chloride are present. Current specification methods are generally lacking in regard to predicting service life of reinforced concrete (RC) structures in aggressive environments and qualitative judgments are typically used to make predictions concerning service life. Much research has focused on prediction of chloride diffusion coefficients where more quantitative links to service life can be established. The problem with such techniques is that assumptions of the chloride threshold level for steel depassivation must be made, and this introduces generally unacceptable levels of uncertainty for asset owners. One approach appears to lie in improving the understanding of the electrochemical behavior of steel in concrete such that more accurate predictions of service life can be derived in the future. Work presented in this paper relates to the analysis of a significant amount of data on electrochemical corrosion rates of steel in concrete.