• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2014

The structures of reinforced concrete has been extensively increased with rapid development of industrial society. Futhermore, these reinforced concretes are easy to expose to severe corrosive environments such as sea water, contaminated water, acid rain and seashore etc.. Thus, corrosion problem of inner steel bar embedded in concrete is very important in terms of safety and economical point of view. In this study, multiple mortar test specimen(W/C:0.4) with six types having different cover thickness each other was prepared and was immerged in seawater solution for five years to evaluate the effect of cover thickness and immersion years to corrosion property of embedded steel bar. And the polarization characteristics of these embedded steel bars was investigated using electrochemical methods such as measuring corrosion potential, cathodic polarization curve, and cyclic voltammogram. At the beginning of immersion, the corrosion potentials exhibited increasingly nobler values with increasing cover thickness. However, after immersed for 5 years, the thicker cover of thickness, the corrosion potentials shifted in the negative direction, and the relationship between corrosion potential and cover thickness was not in good agreement with each other. Therefore, it is considered that the thinner cover of thickness, corrosive products deposited on the surface of the embedded steel bar plays the role as a resistance polarization which is resulted in decreasing the corrosion rate as well as shifting the corrosion potential in the positive direction. As a result, it seemed that the evaluation which corrosion possibility of the reinforced steel would be estimated by only measuring the corrosion potential may not be a completely desirable method. Therefore, it is suggested that we should take into account various parameters, including cover thickness, passed aged years as well as corrosion potential for more accurate assessment of corrosion possibility of reinforced steel which is exposed to partially or fully in marine environment for long years.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2016

This paper presents electrochemical corrosion behaviors of cement mortar specimens in the high salinity condition. Chloride ion is known as the most detrimental parameter to cause the corrosion in reinforced concrete. Increasing the concrete cover thickness is one of the corrosion protection methods against chloride ion; so, this study mainly focuses on the effects of mortar cover thickness on corrosion protection. In specimens, rebar, which was a height of 200 mm and a diameter of 10 mm, was installed at the center of the small size form. Later on, mortar was injected into the form, and 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mm of the different mortar cover thicknesses were selected. Potential measurements, linear polarization resistance tests, and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed for specimens that were exposed to seawater. These results were compared with visual inspection results of rebar. The results show that an increase in the cover thickness contributes to corrosion protection. In addition, the result of electrochemical corrosion tests generally agreed with that of an autopsy visual inspection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.11c
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• pp.129-141
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• 1999

This paper presents the results of plate load test and dynamic load test performed to evaluate the performance of geocell where it is used to reinforce soft subgrade for high-speed railroad. Efficacy of geocell was observed in increase in bearing capacity of subgrade and reduction of thickness of reinforced sub-ballast. Plate load tests were carried out at four different places with varying foundation soil strength as a function of number of geocell layer, type of filler material, thickness of cover soil, and the presence of non-woven geotextile. Dynamic load tests were performed in a laboratory. The test soil chamber consists of, from the bottom, 50 cm thick clayey soil, one layer of geocell filled with crushed stone, 10 cm thick crushed stone cover, reinforced sub-ballast of varying thickness, 35 cm thick ballast. This configuration was determined based on the results of numerical analysis and plate load tests. For each set of the dynamic load tests, loads were applied more than 80,000 times. One layer of geocell underlying a 10 cm thick cover soil led to an increase in bearing capacity three to four times compared to a crushed stone layer of the same thickness substituted for the geocell and cover soil layer. Given the test conditions, the thickness of reinforced sub-ballast can be reduced by approximately 35 cm with the presence of geocell.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2009

Concrete carbonation is a cause of problems in concrete structures, so it needs to be estimated. And concrete cover is designed to protect structures from this damaging. Usually the cover thickness is considered based on the limit states design codes in which the important target is the reliability safety index. However, it is not clear that whether the safety index determined is optimal or not with respect to the cost. The codes are mainly proceeded quantitatively (i.e. making a safe structure) while the economic aspects are only considered qualitatively. So the reliability-based design considering life cycle cost (LCC) is called for, and here the focus is on the advanced analysis solution to optimize the reliability safety regarding LCC.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1057-1064
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• 2004

Silk, polyester, cotton, and wool fabrics were embroidered with varying stitch length of 3mm, 5mm, and 10mm to examine the difference in fabric shrinkage in terms of sewing direction, fabric thickness, cover factor, stitch length, and fiber type. Warp, filling, and bias direction of sewing resulted in no difference in fabric shrinkage. Within the samples with same stitch length, there was less fabric shrinkage in fabrics with higher fabric thickness or higher cover factor. There was larger shrinkage when sewn with longer stitch length. Comparing fabrics with different fiber types but similar fabric thickness, silk and polyester fabrics showed the smallest fabric shrinkage and wool fabrics showed the largest shrinkage. It is shown that similar fabric shrinkage between silk and polyester is due to the similarity in cover factor.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.1 s.85
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• pp.157-166
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• 2005

This article involves architecting prototype-fuzzy expert system for designing the nominal cover thickness by means of fuzzy inference for quantitatively representing the environment affecting factor to reinforced concrete in chloride-induced corrosion environment. In this work, nominal cover thickness to reinforcement in concrete was determined by the sum of minimum cover thickness and tolerance to that defined from skill level, constructability and the significance of member. Several variables defining the quality of concrete and environment affecting factor (EAF) including relative humidity, temperature, cyclic wet and dry, and the distance from coast were treated as fuzzy variables. To qualify EAF the environment conditions of cycle degree of wet-dry, relative humidity, distance from coast and temperature were used as input variables. To determine the nominal cover thickness a qualified EAF, concrete grade, and water-cement ratio were used. The membership functions of each fuzzy variable were generated from the engineering knowledge and intuition based on some references as well as some international codes of practice.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.607-614
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• 2015

To provide the clear images from the direct light on electrical board and display devices, anti glare treatment of display cover glass is needed. In this study, the effects of surface treatment temperature, concentration, and etching solution coating thickness of the gel phase on optical elements control such as gloss, haze of reflected light and transmittance, were investigated. Cover glasses were treated at different coating thickness and additive concentration. The optical properties were examined using spectrophotometer, gloss and haze meter. The surface morphology and roughness were measured by the optical microscope and Ra measuring instrument. The etching rate and surface morphologies were dramatically affected by the concentration of acid additive in the viscous gel because of re-crystallization of components in the etching solution, hydrogel formation and coagulant after coating on glass substrate. In our experimental range, cover glass which is surface-treated with various optical properties as well as the morphology uniformity was obtained; in particular, optical properties could be controlled by etching solution coating thickness of the gel phase and the concentration of additive. The gloss was depended on the surface roughness and it showed the linear relationship between optical transmittance and haze of reflected light, respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.693-700
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• 2017

Concrete cover cracking due to the corrosion of steel reinforcing bars is one of the main causes of deterioration in Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. The oxidation level of the bars causes varying levels of expansion. The rebar expansions could lead to through-thickness cracking of the concrete cover, where depending on the cracking characteristics, the service life of the structures would be affected. In this paper, the effect of geometrical and material parameters, i.e., concrete cover thickness, reinforcing bar diameter, and concrete tensile strength, on the required pressure for concrete cover cracking due to corrosion has been investigated through detailed numerical simulations. ABAQUS finite element software is employed as a modeling platform where the concrete cracking is simulated by means of eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM). The accuracy of the numerical simulations is verified by comparing the numerical results with experimental data obtained from the literature. Using a previously proposed empirical equation and the numerical model, the time from corrosion initiation to the cover cracking is predicted and then compared to the respective experimental data. Finally, a parametric study is undertaken to determine the optimum ratio of the rebar diameter to the reinforcing bars spacing in order to avoid concrete cover delamination.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.131-141
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to propose a development length equation for GFRP bars. A total of 104 modified pullout tests were completed while the test variables were embedment length (15, 30, $45d_b$), net cover thickness ($0.5{\sim}2.0d_b$), top-cast bar effect, different GFRP bar types (K2KR, K3KR and AsUS), and bar diameters (10, 13, 16 mm). Average bond stresses were determined based on modified pullout test results. Two variable linear regression analysis was performed of the average bond stresses. Utilizing 5% fractile concept, a conservative development length design equation was derived. The design equation derived in this study was compared to the ACI 440 committee equation. The cross-comparison revealed that the current equation resulted in shorter development lengths than those determined by the ACI 440 equation when the net cover thickness was large (greater than $1.0d_b$). On the other hand, when the net cover thickness was small (equal to or less than $1.0d_b$), the development lengths required by the current equation were larger than those by the ACI equation. The bond stresses were significantly influenced by the cover thicknesses. The current equation results in development lengths that are more economical when the cover thickness is large, and more conservative lengths when the cover thickness is small than the ACI 440 committee equation.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete structures have found wide usage in land and maritime applications. However, the corrosion of reinforced concrete has been recognized as a serious problem from economic and safety standpoints. In previous studies, the corrosion behavior of the inner steel bar embedded in mortar (W/C: 0.4, 0.5) was investigated using electrochemical methods. In this study, multiple mortar test specimens (W/C: 0.6) with six different cover thicknesses were prepared and immersed in flowing seawater for five years. Subsequently, equations related to the cover thickness, period of immersion, and corrosion characteristics of the embedded steel bar were evaluated using electrochemical methods. Prior to immersion, the corrosion potentials indicated an increase with increasing cover thickness, and after five years, all corrosion potentials demonstrated a trend in the positive direction irrespective of the cover thickness. However, the relationships between the corrosion potential and cover thickness were not in complete agreement. Furthermore, after five years, all of the corrosion potentials indicated values that were nobler compared to those obtained prior to immersion, and their corrosion current densities also decreased compared to their values obtained prior to immersion. It was considered that the embedded steel bar was easily corroded because of the aggression of water, dissolved oxygen, and chloride ions; a higher W/C ratio also assisted the corrosion process. The corrosive products deposited on the surface of the steel bar for five years cast a resistance polarizing effect shifting the corrosion potential in the nobler direction. Consequently, it was considered that the W/C ratio of 0.6 showed nearly same results as those of W/C of 0.4 and 0.5. Therefore, the corrosion potential as well as various parameters such as the cover thickness, period of immersion, and W/C ratio must be considered at once for a more accurate evaluation of the corrosion property of reinforced steel exposed to marine environment for a long period.