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CASE HISTORY
Corrosion Problems
Associated With
a FireproongCoated Structure
Exposed to a Marine
Environment
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FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
Severe cracks and delamination of the concrete with moderate-to-severe reinforcement corrosion,
with salt and humidity stains on the borders.
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FIGURE 4
Base of Rack S-2 completely cracked, with delamination of the concrete and moderately corroded
steel.
FIGURE 5
PHYSICOMECHANICAL
ELECTROCHEMICAL TESTS
Some of the factors considered when
selecting the elements to be studied included wind direction, drainage, and the
accumulation of water in certain areas of
Hollow-sounding concrete came crashing down when the area was struck with a hammer.
the plant. For the electrochemical evaluation, areas with no visible damage or
delamination were chosen to determine
whether there was active reinforcement
nation
of
the
concrete
cover.
Th
e
concrete
concrete with moderate-to-severe reincorrosion at the depth to which chlorine
area
with
little
damage
was
away
from
forcement corrosion, and humidity and
ions had penetrated. This helped detersites
where
salt
water
leaked.
salt stains along the borders. This meant
mine the scope of the repairs.
Evaluation
of
the
pipe
rack
supports
that any repair would require total elimi-
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TABLE 1
Location
Core
N1
N2
N3
N4
Sample
N6
N7
N8
N9
Column
2V2
2V3
2V3
1AC2
S-1
Slab
repaired
No slab
repaired
S-3
S-3
Side
South
North
North
North
East
2nd
level
2nd
level
North
South
Height/
Dist. (m)
0.60(A)
0.60(A)
0.60(A)
0.95(B)
0.45(B)
Thickness
(cm)
10.0
10.5
9.5
9.3
1.0
7.0
Carbonation
(cm)
0.1
0.6
0.8
0.1
0.1
0.3
3.0
0-0.5
1.46(B)
1.50(B)
9.0
10.0
4.0
10.0
(A)
(B)
and 0.926 A/cm2, respectively. These values indicated severe corrosion of the reinforcement. Casting concrete under these
conditions would accelerate corrosion of
the reinforcement in areas not repaired,
since the unrepaired areas were contaminated with chloride ions.
Carbonation in Core N-6, which was
far from the area where water accumulated, was found to a depth of 0.3 cm; this
was a negligible value, since the steel reinforcement in these slabs was located at
a greater depth (Table 1).
Conclusions
1) The repairs that were being carried
out did not meet the durability requirements for this type of environment.
2) The main source of the chlorides
that caused reinforcement corrosion in
the components of the structures, with or
without concrete cover, was the leakage
of seawater used as the cooling medium
for heat exchangers.
3) There were many drains. These were
either deteriorated or badly designed,
bringing seawater to the dierent plant
components. Also, the lack of sloping of
the reinforced concrete oor allowed the
water to accumulate on the slabs.
4) Most of the damage in the columns
was located on the eastern face, since that
face is exposed to the prevailing winds and
leaking water from the cooling system.
5) Most of the damage to the pipe
racks was caused by carbonation of the
concrete.
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Recommendations
1) The slabs should be replaced by
those that allow water runo.
2) All beams should be repaired by
completely replacing the concrete at the
reinforcement.
References
1. O.T. de Rincn, et al., Manual For Inspecting,
Evaluating and Diagnosing Corrosion in Reinforced
Concrete Structures, Ibero-American Program Science
and Technology for Development Subprogram 7 XV,
Corrosion/Enviromental Impact on Materials (Maracaibo,
Venezuela: CYTED, 2000).
2. P.B. Bamforth, Factors Influencing Chloride
Ingress into Marine Structures, Proceedings of Economic
and Durable Construction through Excellence (Dundee,
U.K., 1993).
3. P.B. Bamforth, Chloride Penetration and Service
Life, Proceedings of COST-509 Workshop: Corrosion
and Protection Metals in Contact with Concrete (Seville,
Spain, 1995).
4. K. Tuutti, Corrosion of Steel in Concrete CBI
Forskning Research, Swedish Cement and Concrete Research (Stockholm, Sweden, 1982).
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