ABSTRACT
Reinforced concrete is an excellent material for cost-effective construction of structures. The material is capable of achieving the required strengths and, with care, the necessary durability. The reserve within this statement is due to recent evidence that reinforced concrete is vulnerable to damage from the environment. This increased vulnerability is believed to result from changes in the manufacture of Portland cement concrete. The indications are that these changes, aimed at developing higher strengths, have decreased the beneficial ageing effects found with older concrete. To reduce the risk of substantial deterioration within the planned lifetime of the structure, designers are now including other durability enhancements such as cement replacements, cathodic protection (CP) and coated reinforcement, to name but a few. The designer is free to incorporate one or more of these techniques according to the degree of deterioration risk considered acceptable. In this chapter the technique of CP will be reviewed with particular emphasis on the use of mixedmetal-oxide (MMO) anodes and their use in providing additional protection to new reinforced concrete structures.
