ABSTRACT
Concrete bridge elements exposed to a marine environment can experience high maintenance costs and reduced service life due to corrosion. This is particularly true for piles in corrosive seawater (or brackish water) where an individual concrete pile can have a variety of exposure conditions including airborne chlorides, periodic wetting by splashing, regular wetting by tidal activity, and fully submerged. Galvanic jacketing systems have been successfully employed to address active corrosion on concrete piles in all exposure conditions. There are different variations of galvanic systems but generally speaking they incorporate zinc-based embedded anodes, stay-in-place forms and submerged bulk zinc anodes. Selecting the best galvanic jacket for the application will help to address corrosion-induced deterioration and will preserve and extend the service life of concrete piles in the marine environment.
