• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.345-350
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• 2001

Reinforced concrete is, in general, known as a high durability material due to a strong alkalinity of cement. Probable concrete cracks could incur steel corrosion of RC structures and then could easily deteriorate the concrete durability, which can be fully secured by a systematic quality control for the construction of concrete structures. For the corrosion protection of reinforcing steels in concrete, however, current design specifications of concrete cover depth do not in-depth consider the effect of the cracks as well as the chloride content of RC structures. Therefore, appropriate provisions for concrete cover depth should be coded by considering the influence of concrete cracks on the corrosion of reinforcing steels. The objective of this research is to investigate pertinent cover depth, which can prohibit rebar corrosion, on the basis of experimental corrosion measurements of reinforcing steels on crack characteristics such as the width, depth and frequency of concrete cracks.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.253-261
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• 2015

Deterioration of reinforced concrete structures in corrosive environment is tend to be accelerated due to ingress of aggressive ion such as chloride ion. Chloride-induced corrosion is affected by various factors such as cover concrete qualities, width of existing cracks, and cover depth of concrete. However, the allowable crack width of RC structure in design code does not consider the concrete material properties and conditions of construction except the cover depth. In this paper, an equation for allowable crack width is proposed to consider the cover concrete quality, crack width, and cover depth. Crack width, cover depth, and water-cement ratio of concrete are selected as influencing factors on corrosion of reinforcement for rapid chloride tests. From test results, the relationships between the factors and corrosion are derived. Finally, the equation for allowable crack width is derived in terms of concrete compressive strength and cover depth. The presented equation is verified by comparative calculations with design code variables.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.157-164
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• 2012

In first experiment series, this paper is devoted for examining progress of reinforcement corrosion due to carbonation in concrete and to quantify uncarbonation depth to protect reinforcement from corroding. The tolerance of cover depth should be considered in order to prevent carbonation-induced corrosion. From the relationship between the weight loss of reinforcement and corrosion current density for a given time, therefore, the tolerance of cover depth to prevent carbonation-induced corrosion is computed. It is observed that corrosion occurs when the distance between carbonation front and reinforcement surface (uncarbonated depth) is smaller than 5 mm.As a secondary purpose of this study, it is investigated to examine the interaction between carbonation and chloride penetration and their effects on concrete. This was examined experimentally under various boundary conditions. For concrete under the double condition, the risk of deterioration due to carbonation was not severe. However, it was found that the carbonation of concrete could significantly accelerate chloride penetration. As a result, chloride penetration in combination with carbonation is a serious cause of deterioration of concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.711-719
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• 2017

This study investigates the effects of reinforcing bar diameter and cover depth on the shrinkage behavior of restrained ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) slabs. For this, twelve large-sized UHPFRC slabs with three different rebar diameters ($d_b=9.5$, 15.9, and 22.2 mm) and four different cover depths (h=5, 10, 20, and 30 mm) were fabricated. In addition, a large-sized UHPFRC slab without steel rebar was fabricated for evaluating degree of restraint. Test results revealed that the uses of steel rebar with a large diameter, leading to a larger reinforcement ratio, and a low cover depth are unfavorable regarding the restrained shrinkage performance of UHPFRC slabs, since a larger rebar diameter and a lower cover depth result in a higher degree of restraint. The shrinkage strain near the exposed surface was high because of water evaporation. However, below a depth of 18 mm, the shrinkage strain was seldom influenced by the cover depth; this was because of the very dense microstructure of UHPFRC. Finally, owing to their superior tensile strength, all UHPFRC slabs with steel rebars tested in this study showed no shrinkage cracks until 30 days.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2017

The paper concerns concrete carbonation, the phenomena that occurs in every type of climate, especially in urban-industrial areas. In European Standards, including Eurocode (EC) for concrete structures the demanded durability of construction located in the conditions of the carbonation threat is mainly assured by the selection of suitable thickness of reinforcement cover. According to EC0 and EC2, the thickness of the cover in the particular class of exposure depends on the structural class/category and concrete compressive strength class which is determined by cement content and water-cement ratio (thus the quantitative composition) but it is not differentiated for various cements, nor additives (i.e., qualitative composition), nor technological types of concrete. As a consequence the selected thickness of concrete cover is in fact a far estimation - sometimes too exaggerated (too safe or too risky). The paper presents the elaborated "self-terminated carbonation model" that includes abovementioned factors and enables to indicate the maximal possible depth of carbonation. This is possible because presented model is a hyperbolic function of carbonation depth in time (the other models published in the literature use the parabolic function that theoretically assume the infinite increase of carbonation depth value). The paper discusses the presented model in comparison to other models published in the literature, moreover it contains the algorithm of concrete cover design with use of the model as well as an example of calculation of the cover thickness.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.25-35
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• 2012

PURPOSES : Hollows are easily made, and bearing capacity can be lowered near underground structures because sublayers of pavement settle for a long time due to difficult compaction at the position. If loadings are applied in this condition, distresses may occur in pavement and, as the result, its lifespan can decrease due to the stress larger than that expected in design phase. Although reinforced slab is installed on side of box culvert to minimize the distresses, length of the reinforced slab is fixed as 6m in Korea without any theoretical consideration. The purpose of this paper is investigating the behavior of concrete pavement according to the cover depth of the box culvert ad the length of the reinforced slab. METHODS : The distresses of concrete pavement slabs were investigated and cover depth was surveyed at position where the box culverts were located in expressways. The concrete pavements including the box culverts were modeled by finite element method and their behaviors according to the soil cover depth were analyzed. Wheel loading was applied after considering self weight of the pavement and temperature gradient of the concrete pavement slab at Yeojoo, Gyeonggi where a test road was located. After installing pavement joint at various positions, behavior of the pavement was analyzed by changing the soil cover depth and length of the reinforced slab. RESULTS : As the result, the tensile stress developed in the pavement slab according to the joint position, cover depth, and reinforced slab length was figured out. CONCLUSIONS : More reasonable and economic design of the concrete pavement including the box culvert is expected by the research results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.102-109
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• 2015

In this study, on the basis of the results of the field survey and the theoretical consideration for Korean Standard Specification for concrete durability and maintenance, the following conclusions are derived. From the survey, the prediction equation of carbonation depth for the southwest region in Korea is experimentally proposed, $y_p=5.865{\sqrt{t}}$, which predicts about 60mm of the carbonation depth for the concrete structures of 100 years, a 1st class of target endurance period, under a combined deterioration environment like a marine environment. Considering that the marginal value for a carbonation depth limitation under very severely marine environment is 25mm, in accordance with the Specification, it is found that the predicting carbonation depth for the concrete cover depths, 100mm and 60mm are 63mm and 29.4mm, respectively. In conclusion, according to the equation and the Specification, it is strongly required that the reinforced concrete structures with the cover depth under 100mm have to make a protection from combined deterioration factors by any methods like a surface coating, an increment of cover depth or an application of a special concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.517-525
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• 2021

More underground structures are increasingly being constructed such as box culverts for electric power transmission, and the life extension of these structures is very important. It is well known that the steel embedded in concrete is usually invulnerable to corrosion because the high alkalinity of the pore solution in concrete generates a thin protective oxide layer on the surface of the steel. Recent observations in the field and experimental evidence have shown that even steel in concrete can be corroded through the carbonation reaction of cover concrete. Carbonation-induced corrosion in concrete may often occur in a high carbon dioxide environment. In this study, the risk of carbonation of underground box culverts in Korea was evaluated by measuring the car¬bonation rate and concrete cover depth in the field. Then, the carbonation-free service life for the cover depth of the steel was calcu¬lated with in situ information and Monte Carlo simulation. Additionally, an accelerated carbonation test for a cracked beam specimen was performed, and the effect of a crack on the service life of a box culvert was numerically investigated with Monte Carlo simulation based on experimental results.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.297-306
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• 2017

The concrete median barrier used currently in South Korea was developed the impact level of SB5-B(270kJ). However, the impact level of SB6(420kJ) should be considered in many placed with the increased accident of heavy vehicles. In order to increase the impact resistance of newly developed concrete median barrier, the computer simulation was conducted before real field test. For the accurate behavior of concrete, the parameter, such as impact vehicle, concrete cover depth and deterioration, was important. In this paper, a parametric study was conducted depending on vehicle curb weight, concrete cover depth and level of deterioration. The impact resistance of concrete median barrier was severely changed depending on vehicle curb weight and concrete cover depth. Furthermore, the impact resistance of concrete median barrier was also decreased due to deterioration of concrete, therefore the repair and rehabilitation should be conducted for damaged concrete depending on deterioration level. Therefore, vehicle curb weight, cover depth of concrete structures and deterioration level of concrete should be carefully considered for conducting analysis of concrete structure to vehicle collision.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.26-29
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• 2017

This paper represents the experimental investigation of chloride penetration into plain concretes and reinforced concretes. The main objective of this work is to study the main influencing parameters affecting corrosion of steel in concrete. Plain cement concrete and reinforced cement concrete with different water-cement ratios and different cover depth were subjected to ponding test. Ponding of specimens were done for different periods into 10% NaCl solution. Depth of penetration of chloride solution into specimens was measured after ponding. Specimens were crushed and reinforcements were washed using $HNO_3$ solution and weight loss due to corrosion was calculated accordingly. There was a linear relationship between depth of penetration and water-cement ratio. It was also observed that, corrosion of reinforcing steel increases with chloride ponding period and with water-cement ratio. Corrosion of steel in concrete can be minimized by providing good quality concrete and sufficient concrete cover over the reinforcing bars. Water-cement ratio has to be low enough to slow down the penetration of chloride salts into concrete.