Title:
Cathodic Protection to Maritime Concrete Structures
Author(s):
Publication:
CIA
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Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
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DOI:
Date:
2/13/2011
Abstract:
Maritime concrete structures are located in aggressive environment where parts of the structure are exposed to microenvironments that are highly conducive for reinforcement corrosion. The resulting progressive damage, exhibited as concrete spalling, then becomes a major maintenance concern for the structure owners. Cathodic protection (CP), if adequately designed, installed and operated, is accepted world-wide to provide a long-term remedial solution to the deteriorated and damaged concrete structures. This paper briefly discuses the background to CP, where CP should and should not be applied, the recent developments in CP, and a CP case study. The structure selected for the CP case study is the Ulladulla Jetty at Ulladulla harbour, located approximately 200 km south of Sydney. The jetty consists of driven steel H-section piles; supporting cast in-situ reinforced concrete pile caps; cast in-situ reinforced concrete headstocks resting on the pile caps; precast concrete inner and edge beams which span between the headstocks; and a cast in-situ deck. The headstocks and the edge beams showed severe cracking, rust staining and spalling. Following extensive investigation and consideration of available repair options, a decision was taken to install an impressed current CP system to steel H-piles, pile caps, headstocks and edge beams, and to apply silane sealer to the inner beams. The installation and monitoring of on-going performance of the CP system are included in this paper.