Use of Portland Pozzolana Cement to Enhance the Service Life of Reinforced Concrete Exposed to Chloride Attack
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper discusses the improvement expected in the service life of reinforced concrete (RC) structural elements subjected to chloride-rich environments through the use of blended cement. Comparisons are made between concretes with ordinary portland cement (OPC) and fly ash-based portland pozzolana cement (PPC) at three water-to-cement ratios (, 0.47, and 0.37). Through a comprehensive experimental program, the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient () and corrosion current density () were evaluated for these concretes. The study reveals that (1) although service life depends on both initiation and propagation periods, the propagation period is less significant when the severity of the environment is high; and (2) the service life of an RC structure can double if PPC is used instead of OPC when chloride-induced corrosion is critical.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the help rendered by the staff of the Advanced Concrete Testing and Evaluation Laboratory (ACTEL) at the CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), Taramani, Chennai. This paper is being published with due permission of CSIR-SERC.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 11 • November 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 7, 2014
Accepted: Jan 28, 2015
Published online: Mar 20, 2015
Discussion open until: Aug 20, 2015
Published in print: Nov 1, 2015
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