Prediction of Deterioration
of Concrete Bridges
Corrosion of Reinforcement Due to
Chloride Ingress & Carbonation

By Gerardus Cornelis Maria Gaal
September 2004
Delft University Press
ISBN: 9040725004
161 pages, Illustrated, 6 ½" x 9 ½"
$59.50 Paper Original

---

This is a Ph.D. dissertation. The first reinforced concrete structures were built at the end of the 19th century. These structures were mostly sewers, floors, water tanks etc. In the early 20th century, when the first concrete bridges were built, the general idea was that concrete made with sufficient cement would prevent the reinforcement from corroding. In those days, it was assumed that an everlasting protective layer would prevent the reinforcement from corroding.

During the 1980s and 1990s, a strong increase of the need for maintenance for concrete bridges was observed in the United States and Great Britain. It was therefore not surprising that in the U.S. approximately 150-200 bridges, out of 600,000 bridges, suffer partial of full collapse each year. However, long before a bridge will collapse, parts of concrete may come off due to spalling.

These loose parts of concrete might already endanger passing traffic. In this thesis failure is therefore defined as the undesirable event of an intolerable amount of spalling. The scope of this thesis is limited to deterioration that results in damage to concrete bridges due to cracks and concrete spalling that are the result of corrosion of the steel reinforcement.

Contents include: Summary, Introduction, Deterioration of Concrete, Chloride Ingress and Carbonation; Theory and Modeling, Material Properties, Structural Parameters, Prediction of Deterioration of Dutch Highway Bridges, Conclusions and Recommendations.

Mathematics

Return to Coronet Books main page