Chloride induced corrosion is
the main cause of distress of concrete structures exposed to the marine
environment.
This
deterioration mechanism is very fast and often leads to a
reduced service life. In this paper, results are presented of the condition
survey and the repair methodology of a concrete dockyard, localised in the west
coast of Portugal. The dock, with dimensions of 350 x 55 m, was built in
1974-75 and exhibits severe deterioration due to
reinforcement corrosion. Some
evidence of chemical attack on concrete has also been observed. Several tests
including concrete chloride content analysis, concrete resistivity, potential
mapping, corrosion rate measurements, petrographic analysis and scanning
electron microscopy have been performed to allow a careful diagnosis and a full
understanding of the deterioration process.