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Long term correlation between concrete cracking and corrosion in natural marine micro-environments

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Abstract

Concrete cracking due to corrosion of the reinforcing steel has been widely studied since the 70´s of the last century. Efforts have also been made to predict remaining service life based on available results of concrete cracking from accelerated corrosion procedures. Although accelerated experiments have been an important tool for this task, natural environment results are still needed to validate findings. A long-term correlation between concrete cracking and corrosion from two natural marine micro-environments is presented in this investigation. As expected, water/cement (w/c) ratio was the relevant variable for concrete performance in the two tropical micro-environments. An experimental correlation for natural corrosion between visible appearance of cracks at the surface of concrete (CWMAX) and loss of metal (XAVER) of naturally exposed reinforced concrete cylinders with r0 as nominal diameter of reinforcing bar: CWMAX ~ 18.4 xAVER/r0 was found. In addition, an empirical correlation was obtained from metal XAVER and maximum pit depths (PITMAX): PITMAX ~ 9.2 XAVER, corroborating empirical calculations form previous investigations with estimates of PITMAX ~ 10 XAVER.

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Abbreviations

w/c ratio:

Water/cement ratio

ΔW Grav :

Gravimetric loss of reinforcement at the end of the experimental period

L effec :

Rebar effective length showing corrosion during autopsy

PITMAX :

Maximum pit depth measured during autopsy

E corr :

Corrosion potential

i corr :

Corrosion rate

i A corr :

Cumulative corrosion rate

SCE:

Saturated calomel electrode

CSE:

Copper sulfate electrode

X CRIT or X AVER :

Critical or Average corrosion radius loss

r 0 :

Nominal diameter of reinforcing bar

Rp:

Polarization resistance

Rs:

Ohmic drop due to concrete´s solutions resistance

ZRA:

Zero resistance ammeter potenciostat/galvanostat

B :

Tafel constant

CWMAX :

Maximum surface crack width

ACW:

Average crack width

m1 or m2:

Slope 1 or Slope 2

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the partial funding of their Institutions, Tecnologico de Monterrey, CINVESTAV-Merida, and CONACyT for the analysis and preparation of the present manuscript. Also to J. A. Cabrera-Madrid for assistance with part of the data collection. The points of view expressed here are those of the authors but not necessarily from their Institutions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Unidad Mérida, Antigua Carretera a Progreso, Km 6, 97310, Mérida, Yucatán, México

    Pedro Castro-Borges & Mercedes Guadalupe Balancán-Zapata

  2. School of Engineering and Science, Tecnologico de Monterrey, 500 Epigmenio González, San Pablo, 76130, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro, México

    Andrés Antonio Torres-Acosta

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  1. Pedro Castro-Borges
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Correspondence to Pedro Castro-Borges.

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Castro-Borges, P., Torres-Acosta, A.A. & Balancán-Zapata, M.G. Long term correlation between concrete cracking and corrosion in natural marine micro-environments. Mater Struct 54, 233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-021-01821-8

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