The HPA of Corrosion Protection for Concrete Bridges had two major
objectives:
- To develop materials for preventing corrosion of embedded reinforcing steel
in new construction and hence minimize premature corrosion-induced concrete
deterioration in the future. To achieve this objective, promising approaches
such as adoption of sound construction designs, development and use of alternative
reinforcements, and use of corrosion inhibiting admixtures were investigated.
- To develop methodology for completely stopping or reducing the extent of
ongoing corrosion of reinforcing steel in chloride-contaminated concrete bridges
and hence reducing the costs in maintaining existing concrete bridges. To
achieve this objective, besides improvements made on the more conventional
approaches, durable anodes for the application of cathodic protection were
developed and improvements in the electrochemical chloride extraction are
being developed.
With the above objectives in mind, this research program has developed a number
of new materials and methods to construct and rehabilitate the existing structures
in a cost-effective manner that is consistent with the preservation of the environment.