CORROSION AUTOPSY OF A STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND BRIDGE DECK

An investigation was performed on a 12-year old salt-contaminated, reinforced concrete bridge deck that had to be replaced because of its deteriorated condition. In this investigation, the electrical half-cell potential measurements and effect of chlorides present seem to be related to some threshold amount that changes the steel from a passive to an active state. Beyond this point, the amount of salt present has little or no effect except as it might infleunce the area of corrosion involved. The chaining or soundind of the deck to locate delaminated concrete performed the function very well but did not necessarily locate the corroded steel. From the observation of the type of cracking, it appeared that the final mode of distress was concrete fatigue. An investigation of actual concrete cover disclosed that there was reinforcing steel corrosion at depths greater than 3 in. It was determined that estimating the pit depth of steel by visually estimating the thickness of rust is not a very useful inspection technique. In this highly slat-contaminated bridge deck, no relation was found between variations in the chloride content of the concrete and the relative severity of the corrosion of the steel. /Author/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1973/433/433-001.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309021634
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This article appeared in Highway Research Record Corrosion, Concrete, and Quality Control. Sponsored by Committee on Corrosion. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Stratfull, Richard F
• Discussers:
  • Erlin, Bernard
  • Hime, W G
• Conference:
  • 52nd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1973-1-22 to 1973-1-26
• Publication Date: 1973

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-11
• Monograph Title: Corrosion, concrete and quality control
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 433
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge decks; Chlorides; Corrosion; Distress; Fatigue (Mechanics); Reinforced concrete; Sodium chloride; Sodium chloride; Steel; Structural design
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163594
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309021634
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 13 1977 12:00AM