Corrosion Assessment of RC Deck in a Jetty Structure Damaged by Chloride Attack

The long-term behavior of concrete structures has shown that their main cause of distress is reinforcement corrosion. One of the most punishing exposure conditions for concrete is a marine environment such as that found in the Persian Gulf. Reinforcement corrosion from diffusion of chloride ions is the main mechanism for deterioration under such conditions; it is found that chloride penetration and chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion rates can be very high, often leading to a reduced service life. This paper presents results of a study performed on a 40-year-old RC jetty structure in the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Zone, Persian Gulf region that had suffered extensive deterioration from chloride-induced corrosion. Based on visual inspection as well as in situ and laboratory tests, it was strongly evident that the structure had not been designed and built under sufficient qualitative specifications.