Considerations on the effect of sample size for the critical chloride content in concrete

Title: Considerations on the effect of sample size for the critical chloride content in concrete
Author(s): U. Angst, B. Elsener, C. K. Larsen, Ø. Vennesland
Paper category : conference
Book title: 2nd International Symposium on Service Life Design for Infrastructures
Editor(s): K. van Breugel, Guang Ye, Yong Yuan
Print-ISBN: 978-2-35158-096-7
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-097-4
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2010
Pages: 569 - 576
Total Pages: 8
Nb references: 11
Language: English

Abstract: To perform reliable service life predictions of reinforced concrete structures, realistic values for the critical chloride content are needed. Both the large scatter existing in the literature and the need to acquire data for modern cement types show that the methods for measuring the critical chloride content must be improved. In the present work, the effect of the size of reinforced concrete samples is discussed. From a probabilistic viewpoint, sample size influences the number of potential sites for pitting initiation and, consequently, the measured chloride content at which corrosion initiates decreases with increasing rebar length.
On the other hand, it is shown that sample size is not as critical when considering early stages of pit growth. Moreover, some aspects of evaluating experimental results are pointed out.
Further research should rely on the fact that critical chloride content is a distributed variable and concentrate on finding the minimum specimen size related to the number of parallel samples required to give proper threshold values.

Online publication: 2011-04-20
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00