Reinforced concrete marine structures are highly vulnerable to corrosion due to chloride ion attack; the severity of the
attack being dependent on, among other factors, the prevailing climatic condition. The aggressiveness of the warm
marine environment of Florida has led to the premature deterioration of numerous bridges and building along the
coastline.
This paper describes a methodology for structural assessment of concrete bridges while incorporating analysis
uncertainty. The procedure includes the use of visual, electrochemical and non-destructive methods in order to define
the cause and the level of concrete deterioration. A probabilistic mechanistic model is used to generate the distribution
of the time to corrosion initiation based on statistical models of the governing parameters obtained from field data. The
proposed methodology is applied to predict the time to corrosion initiation and predict the residual service life of the
reinforcing steel in the concrete girders of the Geiger Bridge in Key West, FL.
The development of techniques capable of evaluating deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is instrumental
to the advancement of techniques for the structural health monitoring (SHM) and service life estimate for constructed
facilities. One of the main causes leading to degradation of RC is the corrosion of the steel reinforcement. This process
can be modeled phenomenologically, while laboratory tests aimed at studying durability responses are typically
accelerated in order to provide useful results within a realistic period of time. To assess the condition of damage in RC, a
number of nondestructive methods have been recently studied. Acoustic emission (AE) is emerging as a nondestructive
tool to detect the onset and progression of deterioration mechanisms. In this paper, the development of accelerated
corrosion and continuous AE monitoring test set-up for RC specimens are presented. Relevant information are provided
with regard to the characteristics of the corrosion circuit, continuous measurement and acquisition of corrosion potential,
selection of AE sensors and AE parameter setting. The effectiveness of the setup in detecting and characterizing the
initiation and progression of the corrosion phenomenon is discussed on the basis of preliminary results from small-scale,
pre-cracked RC specimens, which are representative of areas near the clear cover in typical RC bridge members.
Durability is generally described as the ability of a material to maintain its physical and mechanical properties over time.
In reinforced concrete (RC) structures, concrete is the ideal material to protect the steel reinforcement given its high
alkalinity. In environments subjected to highly aggressive conditions, mostly due to the presence of chlorides, concrete
may lose its protective characteristics and allow for accelerated ageing. Concrete degradation and steel reinforcement
corrosion are phenomena closely connected. The aim of this research work is the characterization of the relationship
between steel reinforcement corrosion and concrete degradation under accelerated ageing in a 3% sodium chloride
solution. The method of linear polarization is used for identification of the corrosion rate of the steel bar. Additionally,
the values of concrete residual strength are obtained, and correlated to both the corrosion rate and width of concrete
cracks. Finally, the prediction of the concrete cover useful life is estimated.
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