Based on construction dates and observed time to corrosion induced damage, the future need for repair of reinforced concrete motorway bridges in The Netherlands is predicted. Due to the age distribution and in particular the relatively short life of conventional repairs, the need for maintenance will increase steeply over the next few decades. It appears that a back log of postponed maintenance exists, which aggravates the problem. This steep rise may be mitigated by the application of various modern techniques for assessment, prevention, monitoring, and protection, that each have a good track record but are not widely used. Various factors that oppose the application of such innovations in the area of concrete maintenance are discussed.
The paper reports the results of numerical simulations carried out with FEM and aimed at evaluating the corrosion conditions of steel bars in concrete elements subjected to chlorides. Two case studies were analysed: a reinforced concrete element subjected to de-icing salt in the presence of a crack and a concrete tunnel in a chloridecontaminated, water saturated soil. Attention was focused on the selection of proper values of concrete resistivity and of the parameters suitable to describe the electrochemical behaviour of steel in the different conditions of exposure. The results allowed to quantify the effects of the galvanic coupling between active and passive areas on the corrosion rate of steel.
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