Marine exposure environments and marine exposure sites

This chapter presents a broad view of the different marine exposure environments around the world with respect to their severity to concrete structures. It begins by discussing the factors affecting the severity of marine environments followed by a discussion on the classification of marine environments, in general, with respect to their geographical locations, and how this affects their severity to concrete structures. Even though designers may appreciate the importance of marine environments, little attention is placed on the specific zones within a marine environment – tidal, splash, airborne and submerged. A brief discussion highlighting the need for a holistic approach to quantifying the severity of a marine environment is presented. Examples of marine exposure environments around the world together with past practical lessons with respect to the performance of concrete structures are presented. The chapter concludes by briefly discussing the areas in which, in the view of the authors, future research and design efforts should focus.