Study of the effect of Water-Cement Ratio and Metakaolin on Corrosion of Concrete Reinforcements in Splash Zone in Persian Gulf Region

Marin environments such as Qheshm Island, are the most destructive environments for reinforced concrete structures. Concrete quality is one of the important factors in corrosion. Nowadays use of pozzolanic materials is one of the methods to improve the concrete qualities. In this study, by placing specimens with different water to cement ratios and different amounts of Metakaolin in splash zone and measuring the rate of corrosion and half-cell potential using GalvaPulse method, the effect of these factors on corrosion of reinforcements during 32 month is evaluated. The test results indicate that the specimen with lower water to cement ratio has lower likelihood of corrosion. Increasing the water to cement ratio from 0.35 to 0.45, decreases the time-to-corrosion to 50%. Using Metakaolin also reduces the rate of corrosion.