Chloride Penetration into Concrete

Reinforced concrete structures may be exposed to an aggressive environment. In this case combined mechanical and environmental actions may act simultaneously and their synergetic influences have to be taken into consideration. In this contribution results of tests on two different types of concrete and mortars are presented and discussed. Capillary absorption of not carbonated and carbonated concrete has been determined. The influence of mechanical load on capillary suction has been studied separately. A moderate compressive load reduces the coefficient of capillary suction, while capillary suction is enhanced by higher mechanical loads as micro-cracks are formed. Chloride diffusion has been measured by means of the diffusion cell test. The diffusion coefficient observed in carbonated concrete is roughly speaking one order of magnitude higher than the value measured on not carbonated concrete.