Examination on Required Cover Depth to Prevent Reinforcement Corrosion Risk in Concrete

In first experiment series, this paper is devoted for examining progress of reinforcement corrosion due to carbonation in concrete and to quantify uncarbonation depth to protect reinforcement from corroding. The tolerance of cover depth should be considered in order to prevent carbonation-induced corrosion. From the relationship between the weight loss of reinforcement and corrosion current density for a given time, therefore, the tolerance of cover depth to prevent carbonation-induced corrosion is computed. It is observed that corrosion occurs when the distance between carbonation front and reinforcement surface (uncarbonated depth) is smaller than 5 mm.As a secondary purpose of this study, it is investigated to examine the interaction between carbonation and chloride penetration and their effects on concrete. This was examined experimentally under various boundary conditions. For concrete under the double condition, the risk of deterioration due to carbonation was not severe. However, it was found that the carbonation of concrete could significantly accelerate chloride penetration. As a result, chloride penetration in combination with carbonation is a serious cause of deterioration of concrete.