INVESTIGATION OF DURABILITY OF REINFORCEMENT CONCRETE IN SEVERE CORROSIVE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

The intensity of damage in concrete structures has a vital relationship to the position of concrete versus the sea water level. With regard to this concept, the environment of located structures near the coast (i.e. coastal structures) can be divided into four zones: marine atmospheric, splashing, tidal and submerged [1, 2]. A hydraulic model consists of a channel with 10 meters in length, 0.7 meters width, 1 meter depth and a wave maker machine capable of making regular waves with various heights and periods, has been designed and constructed in hydraulic laboratory of Sahand University of Technology to simulate the marine environment and conditions in this research study. The Oroomiyeh lake water was used to reproduce severe corrosive marine environment. Two water/ cement ratios (0.45 and 0.55) and two cement contents (350 and 400 kg/m3) were selected for reinforcement and plain concrete specimens. Furthermore, silica fume was used as supplementary cementing material. After standard curing, these specimens were kept in different conditions: submerged, tidal, splash, atmospheric and outdoors. A series of tests such as corrosion potential measurement, electrical resistivity and reinforcement corrosion intensity, chloride ion concentration and compressive strength were carried out at different ages of concrete. In this paper, the function of specimens, durability in different zones have been investigated and compared with one to the others.

Keywords:

reinforcement corrosion , chloride ion concentration , corrosion potential , splashing zone , atmospheric zone