Testing of Chloride Exposed Reinforced Concrete and Potential Misrepresentation of Service Performance

Exposure testing of concrete block or slab specimens by cyclic chloride ponding has been widely utilized for ranking or qualifying different reinforcements and concrete mix designs and for projecting service performance. However, experimental issues such as inadequate bar end isolation, ponding bath leakage, and inappropriate specimen design and testing methodology can result in data that misrepresent long-term service performance. Further, the fact that most testing protocols use cyclic chloride solution ponding can lead to erroneous ranking of different corrosion resistant reinforcements, specifically because surface chloride concentration becomes elevated compared to that for actual service. The present paper discusses these issues and provides options whereby accelerated test data that more correctly rank different corrosion resistant reinforcements and more realistically represent service performance can be realized.