Title:
Durability of Reinforced Concrete in Aggressive Sabkha Environments
Author(s):
Omar Saeed Baghabra Alamoudi
Publication:
Materials Journal
Volume:
92
Issue:
3
Appears on pages(s):
236-245
Keywords:
aggressive environments; blended cements; microstructure; permeability; reinforcement corrosion; substructures; sulfate attack; weight (mass); Materials Research
DOI:
10.14359/1115
Date:
5/1/1995
Abstract:
This paper reports the results of a study conducted to evaluate the durability of 15 plain and blended cement concretes exposed to a typical salty Sabkha environment. The concrete mixtures were designed to assess the influence of C 3A content, water-to-cementitious materials ratio, and the type of supplementary cementing material, such as fly ash, silica fume, and blast furnace slag, on sulfate attack and reinforcement corrosion in the aggressive Sabkha environment. The sulfate attack was evaluated by visual inspection and weight change. The reinforcement corrosion was monitored by measuring corrosion potentials and polarization resistance at periodic intervals. Despite the high sulfate concentration in the test solution, which is classified as aggressive, results of this investigation indicated that sulfate attack was totally hindered in the Sabkha environment. Data on time to initiation of reinforcement corrosion and polarization resistance indicated that the main contributing factors for mitigating chloride-induced corrosion in Sabkha environments, in increasing order of importance, were: C 3A content of cement, water-to-cement ratio of plain cements, and incorporation of mineral admixtures. The most significant improvement was achieved when the water-to- cementitious materials ratio was synchronously reduced with the addition of silica fume.