This work presents two-year results of the project: “Effect of the environment on reinforcement durability”, which is investigating the influence of the meteorological and contamination parameters of the marine, coastal-marine and urban environments on the performance of reinforced concrete, measuring the electrochemical parameters (corrosion rate and corrosion potential). To that effect, concrete specimens, with and without reinforcement, were prepared for electrochemical and physical/mechanical/chemical tests using the existing materials in each participating country, following premises that enabled the preparation of similar concrete samples. Two water/cement (w/c) ratios (0.45 and 0.65) were selected, where the concrete with w/c = 0.45 had to have a minimum cement content of 400 Kg/m3 and the one with w/c = 0.65 a minimum compressive strength of 210 Kg/cm2. Portland I cement was used and the aggregate was a crushed siliceous type with a 13-mm Maximum Nominal Size (MNS) and siliceous sand. The specimens were exposed to the marine environments making a total of 21 test stations distributed among eleven countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Portugal and Venezuela). The environment was evaluated using ISO Standard 9223 and the concrete was characterized by measuring compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, total and effective porosity, chloride permeability according to ASTM standards, as well as the effective porosity and resistance to water absorption using the Fagerlund method.

After a one-year exposure, the results of the corrosion potentiality and probability analysis of the reinforcement in the different test stations show that, for marine atmospheres, the most aggressive environment is at the Cabo Raso station in Portugal, inducing the greatest steel-corrosion probability, and the least aggressive is the one at Valparaíso in Chile. For carbonation, it was determined that the concrete prepared in Venezuela is the one that has the greatest probability of carbonation-induced corrosion of the reinforcement, with the test site at Cali, Colombia being the one that would induce least corrosion. These results are comparable with the ones found by using electrochemical measurements, after a two-year exposure.

Subject
Time of wetness, Marine environments, Diffusion, Rebar, Atmosphere, Probability, Carbonation, Cement, Maritime, Reinforced concrete, Chlorides, Concrete, Reinforcement
Keywords:
Reinforced Concrete, Environmental factors, Atmospheric Corrosion, Chloride-Ion Diffusion
© 2006 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2006
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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