ABSTRACT
In the Dutch research, the observed cause of failure on the basis of which the structures have been repaired consisted of more than 50% of a too low cover thickness. In all these cases, this was accompanied with corrosion of the reinforcement. The corrosion was in half of the cases initiated by carbonation. Also other defects such as aggregate clusters, shrinkage cracks and other types of cracks resulted in corrosion. In the European research, cause and effect have been presented as one population. Similar interpretations as for the Dutch case therefore cannot be made. However, in more than half of the cases also corrosion of the reinforcement was observed but in only approximately 10% a too low cover thickness is reported. Tilly & Jacobs (2007) remarked that this low percentage is unlikely. They speculated that it might be a consequence of a lack of recognition of this construction error.
