ABSTRACT
The biggest durability problem with structures comprised of reinforced concrete is corrosion of the steel reinforcement. In reinforced concrete structures examined when the contaminated concrete cover is removed after many years’ exposure, the underlying rebar often shows differing corrosion products depending on the rebar’s spatial orientation. In the last few decades electrochemical treatments such as electrochemical chloride removal and impressed current cathodic protection of reinforced concrete structures have become increasingly commonplace and are being routinely installed on many projects around the world. Most reinforced concrete structures are exposed to a changing environment. High quality concretes onset of serious, damaging corrosion is considerably later in time than its initiation. When steel reinforcement is added to the concrete it can fundamentally change the behaviour of the concrete in that ions are moved not just by concentration diffusion but also by electromigration and by advection.
