Criteria for cathodic protection of steel in concrete in the context of Arabian Gulf environment

This study attempts to formulate and quantify various relevant considerations which influence the effective cathodic protection of corroding reinforcing steel in concrete structures in the Gulf environment. The parameters included in the research program are: chloride content, temperature, reactive aggregates, depth of reinforcement in a two mat system and secondary effects. It was found that the instant off, shift and decay potentials as well as the current density needed for adequate protection of steel are dependent on the chloride gradient as well as the chloride content in concrete. A 60;In a two mat reinforcement system, the top mat was significantly overprotected when the bottom mat was just adequately protected from the anode source located above the top mat. The top mat suffers overprotection to an extent which would cause an unacceptable 30 percent reduction in the steel-concrete bond in a period of about 8 years. However, the bond reduction for a practical cathodic protection current density of 1-3 ma/ft...