Deterioration of Concrete Caused by Complex Attack in Sewage Treatment Plant Environment
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26, Issue 1
Abstract
One of the most severe exposure conditions for concrete structures is a sewage environment where various kinds of chemical and biological aggressive ions exist. These substances react with concrete through different mechanisms and lead to the deterioration of concrete and corrosion of the reinforcement. Most of the publications have focused on a biogenic sulfuric acid attack on concrete exposed to sewage, and not many authors have considered other aggressive phenomena, such as chloride diffusion and carbonation in a sewage environment. In this paper, the level of damage in concrete structures of a sewage treatment plant was assessed by a comprehensive set of experiments. The test results showed that a complex attack occurred in poorly constructed structures, which deteriorated concrete and caused cement paste decomposition, efflorescence formation, spalling of concrete, the occurrence of cracks, and considerable chloride penetration in concrete resulting in the corrosion of the reinforcement.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Ahwaz Water and Wastewater Company for its financial support. We are grateful for the technical support of the Construction Materials Institute (CMI) experts, particularly Mr. M. Khanzadeh Moradllo.
References
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (1997a). “Standard practice for selecting proportions for normal, heavyweight, and mass concrete.” ACI 211, Farmington Hills, MI.
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (1997b). “Guide for the design and construction of fixed offshore concrete structures.” ACI 357R-84, Farmington Hills, MI.
Angst, U., Elsener, B., Larsen, C. K., and Vennesland, Ø. (2009). “Critical chloride content in reinforced concrete—A review.” Cem. Concr. Res., 39(12), 1122–1138.
ASTM. (2003a). “Standard test method for obtaining and testing drilled cores and sawed beams of concrete.” C42, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2003b). “Standard test methods for chemical analysis of hydraulic cement1.” C114, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2003c). “Standard test methods for chemical analysis of hydraulic cement.” C867-91, West Conshohocken, PA.
Barnard, J. L. (1967). “Corrosion of sewers.” Rep. No. 250, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Building Research Inst., Pretoria, South Africa.
Bonakdar, A., and Mobasher, B. (2010). “Multiparameter study of external sulfate attack in blended cement materials.” Constr. Build. Mater., 24(1), 61–70.
British Standards Institution (BSI). (1983). “Method for determination of water absorption.” BS 1881-122, London.
Chang, C. F., and Chen, J. W. (2006). “The experimental investigation of concrete carbonation depth.” Cem. Concr. Res., 36(9), 1760–1767.
Clifton, J. R., and Ponnersheim, J. M. (1994). “Sulfate attack of cementitious materials: Volumetric relations and expansions.” IR 5390, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.
Collerpardi, M., Marcialis, A., and Turiziani, R. (1972). “Penetration of chloride ions into cement pastes and concretes.” J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 55(10), 534–535.
Daczko, A., Johnson, D., and Arney, S. (1997). “Decreasing concrete sewer pipe degradation using admixtures.” Mater. Perform. J., 10(1), 51–56.
Fookes, P. G. (1995). “Concrete in hot, dry and salty environments.” Concrete, 29(1), 34–39.
Haile, T., Nakhla, G., Allouche, E., and Vaidya, S. (2010). “Evaluation of the bactericidal characteristics of nano-copper oxide or functionalized zeolite coating for biocorrosion control in concrete sewer pipes.” Corros. Sci., 52(1), 45–53.
Haque, M. N., and Al-Khaiat, H. (1997). “Carbonation of concrete structures in hot dry coastal regions.” Cem. Concr. Compos., 19(2), 123–129.
Hewayde, E. H., Nakhla, G. F., Allouche, E. N., and Mohan, P. K. (2007). “Beneficial impact of coatings on biological generation of sulfide in concrete sewer pipes.” Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 3(3), 267–277.
Islander, R. L., Devinny, J. S., Mansfeld, F., Postyn, A., and Shih, H. (1991). “Microbial ecology of crown corrosion in sewers.” J. Environ. Eng., 117(6), 751–770.
Johannesson, B., and Utgenannt, P. (2001). “Microstructural changes caused by carbonation of cement mortar.” Cem. Concr. Res., 31(6), 925–931.
Kelly, D. P. (1982). “Biochemistry of the chemolithotrophic oxidation of inorganic sulphur.” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B, 298(1093), 499–528.
Leelalerkiet, V., Kyung, J., Ohtsu, M., and Yokotab, M. (2004). “Analysis of half-cell potential measurement for corrosion of reinforced concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 18(3), 155–162.
Leemann, A., Lothenbach, B., and Hoffmann, C. (2010). “Biologically induced concrete deterioration in a wastewater treatment plant assessed by combining microstructural analysis with thermodynamic modeling.” Cem. Concr. Res., 40(8), 1157–1164.
Lo, Y., and Lee, H. M. (2002). “Curing effects on carbonation of concrete using a phenolphthalein indicator and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.” Build. Environ., 37(5), 507–514.
Mehta, P. K. (1992). “Sulfate attack on concrete—A critical review.” Materials science of concrete, J. Skalny, ed., Vol. III, American Ceramic Society, Westerville, OH, 105–130.
Mehta, P. K., and Monteiro, P. J. M. (2006). Concrete microstructure, properties and materials, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Mindess, S., Young, J. F., and Darwin, D. (2003). Concrete, 2nd Ed., Pearson Education, Old Tappan, NJ.
Mohammed, T. U., and Hamada, H. (2001). “A discussion of the paper ‘Chloride threshold values to depassivate reinforcing bars embedded in a standardized OPC mortar.’ by C. Alonso, C., Andrade, M. Castellote, and P. Castro.” Cem. Concr. Res., 31(5), 835–838.
Moradi, F., Shekarchi, M., Dousti, A., and Mobasher, B. (2010). “Investigation of corrosion damage and repair system in a concrete jetty structure.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 24(4), 294–301.
Mori, T., Nonaka, T., Tazaki, K., Koga, M., Hikosaka, Y., and Noda, S. (1992). “Interactions of nutrients, moisture, and pH on microbial corrosion of concrete sewer pipes.” Water Res., 26(1), 29–37.
Oh, B. H., and Jang, S. Y. (2007). “Effects of material and environmental parameters on chloride penetration profiles in concrete structures.” Cem. Concr. Res., 37(1), 47–53.
Page, C. L. (1975). “Mechanism of corrosion protection in reinforced concrete marine structure.” Nature, 258(5535), 514–515.
Papadakis, V. G., Vayenas, C. G., and Fardis, M. N. (1991). “Fundamental modeling and experimental investigation of concrete carbonation.” ACI Mater. J., 88(4), 363–373.
Pargar, F., Layssi, H., and Shekarchi, M. (2007). “Investigation of chloride threshold value in an old concrete structure.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Concrete Under Severe Conditions: Environment and Loading, Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC), Paris, 361–366.
Parker, C. D. (1945). “The corrosion of concrete I. The isolation of species of bacterium associated with the corrosion of concrete exposed to atmosphere containing hydrogen sulphide.” Aust. Exp. Biol. Med. Sci., 23(2), 81–90.
Ramezanianpour, A., Parhizkar, T., and Rahmani, H. (2004). “Damages of concrete in acidic environment and providing suitable solution for reduction of deteriorations.” Proc., 1st National Congress of Civil Engineering, Tehran, Iran.
RILEM. (1988). “CPC-18 Measurement of hardened concrete carbonation depth.” Mater. Struct., 21(6), 453–455.
Sanjuán, M. A., and Moragues, A. (1997). “Polypropylene-fibre-reinforced mortar mixes: Optimization to control plastic shrinkage.” Compos. Sci. Technol., 57(6), 655–660.
Shekarchi, M., Moradi-Marani, F., Pargar, F. (2011). “Corrosion damage of a reinforced concrete jetty structure in the Persian Gulf: A case study.” Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 7(9), 701–713.
Silva, M. S., and Rosowsky, D. V. (2008). “Biodeterioration of construction materials: State of the art and future challenges.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 20(5), 352–365.
Tay, D. C. K., and Tam, C. T. (1996). “In situ investigation of the strength of deteriorated concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 10(1), 17–26.
Thistlethwayte, D. K. B. (1972). The control of sulphides in sewage systems, Butterworths, Sydney, Australia.
Torri, K., and Kawamura, M. (1994). “Effects of fly ash and silica fume on the resistance of mortar to sulfuric acid and sulfate attack,” Cem. Concr. Res., 24(2), 361–370.
Tumidajski, P. J., Chan, G. W., and Philipose, K. E. (1995). “An effective diffusivity for sulfate transport into concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 25(6), 1159–1163.
U.S. EPA. (1991). “Hydrogen sulfide corrosion in wastewater collection and treatment system.” EPA/09-91-0101, Washington, DC, 36–42.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26 • Issue 1 • February 2012
Pages: 124 - 134
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 27, 2010
Accepted: Nov 18, 2010
Published online: Nov 20, 2010
Published in print: Feb 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.