Electrochemical Characteristics of Zn-mesh Cathodic Protection Systems in Concrete in Natural Seawater at Elevated Temperature

The corrosion of steel in concrete is significant in marine environment. Salt damage is one of the most detrimental causes to concrete bridges and port structures. Especially, the splash and tidal zones around water line are comparatively important in terms of safety and life-time point of view. During the last several decades, cathodic protection (cp) has been commonly accepted as an effective technique for corrosion control in concrete structures. Zn-mesh sacrificial anode has been recently developed and started to apply to the bridge column cp in marine condition. The detailed parameters regarding Zn-mesh cp technique, however, have not well understood so far. This study is to investigate how much Zn-mesh cp influences along the concrete column at elevated temperature. About 100 cm column specimens with eight of 10 cm segment rebars have been used to measure the variation of cp potential with the distance from Zn-mesh anode at both $10^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$ in natural seawater. The cp potential change and current diminishment along the column specimens have been discussed for the optimum design of cp by Zn-mesh sacrificial anode.