Service Life Assessment of Harbor Structures - Case studies of chloride ingress into concrete and sheet piling corrosion rates
type: CreativeWork
description: The two most used building materials in harbor structures are undoubtedly steel and concrete. These two materials are often combined in the structures of wharfs and quays where the steel sheet pile walls often have cap beams of reinforced concrete. The degradation processes of these structures must be taken into account both when designing new structures and when inspecting existing harbor structures with the purpose of determining their remaining service life. Since the environmental loads on these structures differ substantially depending on their location, both globally and locally, the degradation processes of the structures also differ. Assessment of these types of structures must therefore combine general knowledge about degradation processes with knowledge about the local conditions. This PhD-project has focused on degradation of steel and concrete structures in harbor environments. The purpose of the work has been to increase the understanding of the degradation processes in order to optimize the design of new structures in marine environment, and to make better predictions of the remaining service life for existing load carrying structures. The results presented in this thesis come from both laboratory studies and from field studies in three Swedish harbors together with a large inventory of earlier performed ultrasonic thickness measurements on sheet pile quays along the Swedish coast. The degradation of concrete structures in the marine environment mainly consists of corrosion of the reinforcement due to chloride ingress. When the chlorides have passed through the concrete cover and reached the reinforcement, the passivating protection of the rebars is lost and the corrosion processes starts. When designing new concrete structures in marine environments, the only ways to increase the length of the expected service life of reinforced concrete structures are to either increase the thickness of the concrete cover and/or to use high quality concrete with a lo…
abstract: The two most used building materials in harbor structures are undoubtedly steel and concrete. These two materials are often combined in the structures of wharfs and quays where the steel sheet pile walls often have cap beams of reinforced concrete. The degradation processes of these structures must be taken into account both when designing new structures and when inspecting existing harbor structures with the purpose of determining their remaining service life. Since the environmental loads on these structures differ substantially depending on their location, both globally and locally, the degradation processes of the structures also differ. Assessment of these types of structures must therefore combine general knowledge about degradation processes with knowledge about the local conditions. This PhD-project has focused on degradation of steel and concrete structures in harbor environments. The purpose of the work has been to increase the understanding of the degradation processes in order to optimize the design of new structures in marine environment, and to make better predictions of the remaining service life for existing load carrying structures. The results presented in this thesis come from both laboratory studies and from field studies in three Swedish harbors together with a large inventory of earlier performed ultrasonic thickness measurements on sheet pile quays along the Swedish coast. The degradation of concrete structures in the marine environment mainly consists of corrosion of the reinforcement due to chloride ingress. When the chlorides have passed through the concrete cover and reached the reinforcement, the passivating protection of the rebars is lost and the corrosion processes starts. When designing new concrete structures in marine environments, the only ways to increase the length of the expected service life of reinforced concrete structures are to either increase the thickness of the concrete cover and/or to use high quality concrete with a lo…
author: Wall, Henrik
language: eng
keywords: Materials Engineering, chloride ingress, sampling methods, corrosion rates, sheet piling, ultra-sonic measurements, service life, durability, quay structures, harbor structures
date published: 2013
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:59:49Z
provider: University of Lund
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Division of Building Materials, LTH, Lund University