Abstract
Existing theory and models do not well-predict the onset of chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion compared with observations and practical experience for actual concrete structures. Despite very high levels of chlorides early corrosion (initiation) may occur but this usually stops or becomes very slow. Serious corrosion does not commence until there is extensive loss of concrete calcium hydroxide through leaching to the environment. This is accelerated by the presence of chlorides. Evidence from actual concrete structures shows that this is a very slow process, with little loss even after 75–85 years. The reasons for this are described. The observations and inferences are considered to require a complete re-appraisal of the conventional ideas and concepts associated with ‘chloride-induced’ reinforcement corrosion.
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Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the following support: the Australian Research Council for some part of the work, the Civil Engineering laboratories at the University of Newcastle, in particular Ian Jeans and Goran Simundic, and Dr Torill Pape and Dr Igor Chaves and (the late) Dr Dick van der Molen for suggesting the use of sulphate-reducing cement.
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Melchers, R.E. (2021). Changing Our Understanding of Reinforcement Corrosion in Marine Concrete Structures. In: Wang, C.M., Dao, V., Kitipornchai, S. (eds) EASEC16. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 101. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8079-6_4
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