Reinforcement corrosion and transport of water and chloride ions in shrinkage-compensating cement concretes

The transport properties obtained from the accelerated tests on the concrete mixtures that contain shrinkage-compensating cement have indicated that addressing the issue of shrinkage may come with the expense of increased permeability. This raised a fundamental question concerning the long-term durability of reinforced concrete structures made with this type of cement. In the absence of similar studies, a comprehensive experimental testing program was devised in the current study to understand the vulnerability of steel bars embedded in shrinkage-compensating cement concretes exposed to corrosive environments. This included a long-term corrosion monitoring of reinforced concrete specimens made with different dosages of shrinkage-compensating cement. In addition to finding the corrosion rate of embedded steel bars, air permeability, capillary absorption, and chloride diffusion tests were conducted to determine the transport properties of the concretes made with this type of cement. The experimental test results were then further supported and explained using mercury intrusion porosimetry analyses.