ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The global dimension of corrosion-related durability challenges for infrastructure worldwide requires more effort in research for reliable corrosion inspection and condition assessment. For maintaining infrastructure durability especially in the field of reinforced concrete structures this information about the current condition is essential for scheduling future inspection or if necessary repair measures. Main reasons of corrosion initiation in infrastructures are the application of de-icing salt during wintertime or chlorides from marine environment. If initiated, corrosion can lead to structural damage like cracking and spalling of the concrete cover. The half-cell potential measurement method is the only available non-destructive measurement method to detect on-going corrosion. The information gained during half-cell potential measurement can be translated into structural reliability using common probabilistic models for predicting the service life of existing structures. In the case of chloride induced corrosion these models predict probabilistically the time to corrosion initiation respectively the corrosion probability at the time of inspection. Major impact on the accuracy of the updated service life besides the probabilistic model itself has the reliability and the evaluation of the used inspection methods. This paper presents a case study for updating the service life condition of a large structure with the focus on how to evaluate the half-cell potential data appropriately.
