INVESTIGATION OF THE REINFORCED CONCRETE DURABILITY IN SEVERE CORROSIVE MARINE ENVIRONMENT ACCORDING TO ITS POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SEA LEVEL

The intensity of damage in concrete structures has a vital relationship to the position of concrete respect to sea level. A hydraulic model consists of a channel and a wave maker machine capable of making regular waves with various heights and periods, has been designed and constructed in hydraulic laboratory to simulate the marine environment and conditions in this research study. The Oroomiyeh lake water and controlling the temperature of channel in 30-35 °c range were used to reproduce severe corrosive marine environment. Different water/ cement ratios and different cement contents were selected for reinforcement and plain concrete specimens. Furthermore, silica fume was used as supplementary cementing material. After standard curing, these specimens were kept in different conditions: submerged, tidal, splash, atmospheric and outdoors. A series of tests such as corrosion potential measurement, electrical resistivity and reinforcement corrosion intensity, chloride ion concentration and compressive strength were carried out at different ages. In this paper, specimens, durability in different zones have been investigated. Results show that in view of corrosion the splashing zone has the worst conditions and in submerged condition, because of thin air, although corrosion potential of reinforcement is high, the rate of corrosion intensity is low.