INTRODUCTION:

It is estimated that approx. 50% of the expenditure in the

construction industry are spent on repair, maintenance and
remediation of the existing structures.


coastal and offshore sea structures are exposed to the
simultaneous action of a number of physical and chemical
deterioration processes, which provide an excellent opportunity to
understand the complexity of concrete durability problems in
practice.

oceans make up 80 percent of the surface of the earth; therefore,
a large number of structures are exposed to seawater either
directly or indirectly.
The prevailing environment in and in the vicinity of an
ocean or sea. Coastal areas, which can be
characterized to have a marine climate, reach normally
some 10km from the coastline, due to wind-blown salt
mist. However, at special occasions, e.g. during severe
storms, the area influenced by the marine climate can
be over 100 Km from the coastline.

MARINE ENVIRONMENT:
MARINE
ENVIMENT
DIVISION
SUBMERGED
ZONE
TIDAL
ZONE
SPLASH
ZONE
ABOVE
GROUND
ZONE
MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)

Submerged Zone. The submerged zone is below the surface of the
water. The surface of a concrete structure in this zone is constantly
exposed to water.


Tidal zone. The Tidal zone is limited by the extend of the tidal
actions. The surface of the concrete structure in this zone is cyclical
exposed to seawater.
MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)

Splash zone. The splash zone is limited by the extent of splash
from breaking waves, above the tidal zone. The surface of a
concrete structure in this zone is randomly exposed to
seawater.


Atmospheric zone. The atmospheric zone is limited by the
extent of spray from breaking waves, above the splash zone.
The surface of a concrete structure in this zone is randomly
exposed to spray from breaking waves.
MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)
SUBMERGED ZONE:
Reinforced concrete structures that are partially or fully submerged
in seawater are especially prone to reinforcing steel corrosion due
to a variety of reasons. These include high chloride concentration
levels from the seawater; wet/dry cycling of the concrete, high
moisture content and oxygen availability.
TIDAL ZONE:
The tidal zone is characterized by periodical wetting and drying,
and possible freeze/thaw-actions. The surfaces in the tidal zones,
are mostly wet; with a limited access of oxygen. The extension of
tidal zone varies between 0 m up to 15 m.
MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)

SPLASH ZONE:
The splash zone is characterized by a randomly wetting and drying,
depending on the wave-actions.

The extension of the splash zone depends on the wave-heights and
how well protected the structure in question is. It is also dependent
on the variations in tidal water.


MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)

The corrosion rate below water level is limited by
low oxygen availability, and conversely lower
chloride and moisture content limit the corrosion
rate above high tide.
Corrosion is most severe within the splash and
tidal zones where alternate wetting and drying
result in high chloride and oxygen content.
MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Contd.)
From long-term studies of Portland cement mortars and
concretes exposed to seawater, the evidence of
magnesium ion attack is well established by the presence of
white deposits of Mg(OH)
2
, also called brucite , and
magnesium silicate hydrate.

In seawater, well-cured concretes containing large amounts of
slag or pozzolana in cement usually outperform reference
concrete containing only Portland cement partly because the
former contain less uncombined calcium hydroxide after
curing.


DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE

Since seawater analyses seldom include the dissolved
CO
2
content, the potential for loss of concrete mass by
leaching away of calcium from hydrated cement paste
due to carbonic acid attack is often overlooked.

According to Feld in 1955, after 21 years of use, the
concrete piles and pile caps of the James River Bridge
at Newport News, Virginia, required a $ 1.4 million
repair and replacement job which involved 70 percent
of the 2500 piles.
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)
Similarly, 750 precast concrete piles driven in 1932 near Ocean
City, New Jersey had to be repaired in 1957 after 25 years of
service; some of the piles had been reduced from the original
550 mm diameter to 300 mm.

In both cases, the loss of material was associated with higher
than normal concentrations of dissolved CO2 present in the
seawater.


The presence of thaumasite (calcium silicocarbonate),
hydrocalumite (calcium carboaluminate hydrate), and
aragonite (calcium carbonate) have been reported in
cement pastes derived from deteriorated concretes
exposed to seawater for long periods.
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)

ACTION OF CO
2
:

a) Ca(OH)
2
+ CO
2
+ H
2
O CaCO
3
+ 2 H
2
O
Precipitate

aragonite Calcite
[COATING]
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)
ACTION OF SULFATE: MgSO
4

b) Mg
2+
Ca
2+
substitution

MgSO
4
+Ca(OH)
2
CaSO
4
+ Mg(OH)
2

soluble Solid secondary Precipitate
[LEACHING] gypsum [COATING]
[EXPANSION]


c) Action of secondary gypsum
CaSO
4
+ C
3
A + 32 H
2
O C
3
A.3CaSO
4
.32 H
2
O
ettringite
[EXPANSION]
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)
ACTION OF CHLORIDE: MgCl
2

d) Mg
2+
Ca
2+
substitution

MgCl
2
+ Ca(OH)
2
CaCl
2
+ Mg(OH)
2
Soluble precipitate
[LEACHING] [COATING]
e) Action of CaCl
2
CaCl
2
+ C
3
A + 10H
2
O C
3
A.CaCl
2
.10H
2
O
Chloro aluminate
[EXPANSION]
SO
3
C
3
A.3CaSO
4
.32H
2
O
ettringite
[EXPANSION]
CO
2
+ SiO
2
CaCO
3
.CaSO
4
.CaSiO
3
.15H
2
O
thaumasite
[EXPANSION]
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE (Contd.)
CONCLUSIONS:
The marine environments can be distinguished as:
1) The submerged zone
2) The tidal zone
3) The Splash Zone, and
4) The atmospheric zone

Investigations of reinforced concrete structure have shown that,
generally, concrete fully immersed in seawater suffered only a little or
no deterioration; concrete exposed to salts in air or water spray suffered
some deterioration, especially when permeable; and concrete subject to
tidal action suffered the most.







CONCLUSIONS (Contd.)


The presence of thaumasite, hydrocalumite and
aragonite have been reported in cement pastes
derived from deteriorated concretes exposed to
seawater for long periods.

Major deterioration was observed in the samples
having greater thaumisite.