Concrete and Steel Type Influence on Probabilistic Corrosion Service Life

The deterioration of bridge decks due to chloride-induced corrosion remains a major proportion of the high rehabilitation costs of bridges in the U.S. The ingress of chloride through the cover concrete may be modeled as a Fickian diffusion process. A validated chloride-induced corrosion service-life model that incorporated the probabilistic nature of chloride ingress, steel cover depths, surface chloride concentrations, and chloride corrosion initiation concentrations was used as the service-life analyses tool. Model input values were determined for the survey of 26 bridge decks and supplemented by the literature. Service lives were modeled for the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York as increasing chloride exposures. The influence of low-permeability concrete (LPC); alternate steel types; and galvanized, microcomposite-chromium, and stainless steel on the time-to-rehabilitation was investigated. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]