ESTIMATION OF MARINE SALTS BEHAVIOR AROUND THE BRIDGE STRUCTURES

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to investigate estimation of marine salts behaviour around the bridge structures. The development of chloride penetration models is essential for the assessment of the service life of concrete structures exposed to marine environment. Simple models are derived from Fick’s 2nd law of diffusion are at present the best way to predict chloride penetration in practical situations. However these models need to be calibrated with experimental results. This study presents an experimental study where the parameters used in the penetration model where calibrated to allow the prediction of long term chloride content in concrete. The results showed that the concrete cover and concrete quality requirements stated in the present codes need to be increased so that an acceptable service life can be achieved.