Evaluation of chloride ions penetration in concrete mortar in combined sulfate- chloride solutions by three methods; visual investigation, penetration profile and innovative rapid chloride migration test

Groundwater and seawater usually contain both chloride and sulfate ions. These two salts destroy concrete reinforcement by rebar corrosion and making expansion respectively. In order to investigate the influence of sulphate ions on chloride penetration in mortar, visual method, penetration profile and rapid chloride migration test results are compared with each other. According to the results until the age of 208 days, Sulfate ions lead to decrease the chloride penetration in control samples and a little increase in silica fume samples. Regarding to Trass Samples, an intermediate state is occurred; low sulfate content solution decreases and high sulphate content solution increases chloride penetration into these samples. According to different results of RCMT and common penetration tests in combined solutions, behavior of control samples is not predictable by RCMT method. However, visual investigation and profile penetration method demonstrate a similar trend in aspect of comparison. This research shows that the absolute penetration depth is catched by visual method does not have enough accuracy.