Chloride penetration in concrete under wave impact action

Abstract

In this paper, a washing-machine shaped experimental device is presented to investigate the effect of marine environments on the penetration of chlorides in concrete. The proposed experiment is used to simulate different flow speeds and wave patterns surrounding the concrete and examine their effects on the penetration of chlorides in the concrete. The obtained experimental results show that there is significant difference in chloride profiles between the specimens exposed to marine environment with flow and wave actions and those immersed in stationary solution. The difference is found to increase with exposure time, suggesting the importance to consider the marine environment when predicting the long-term durability of concrete exposed in marine environment.