CRITERIA FOR CATHODIC PROTECTION OF STEEL IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Abstract

THOUGH CATHODIC PROTECTION OF STEEL IN CONCRETE IS NORMALLY NOT REQUIRED, ITS APPLICATION TO REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES IS SOMETIMES JUSTIFIED TO PREVENT OR ARREST CORROSION IN HIGH CHLORIDE ENVIRONMENTS. IN SUCH CASES, THE PASSIVATING EFFECT OF PORTLAND CEMENT SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED, AND, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE EXPERIMENTS REPORTED IN THIS PAPER, THE CRITERIA FOR CATHODIC PROTECTION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE FOR BARE OR ORGANICALLY COATED STEEL STRUCTURES. /MP/