Development of corrosion hazard maps for reinforced concrete bridges

Abstract

AbstractInfrastructures in coastal areas are often prone to several hazards, and thus the elaboration of effective risk management plans in such zones are possible if all relevant threats are considered and analyzed. In this context, the assessment of the corrosion hazard attributable to airborne chlorides is of utmost importance since the resulting deterioration phenomena can heavily jeopardize both reliability and resilience of the infrastructures. Therefore, this contribution aims at proposing the preliminary version of a possible framework for the elaboration of corrosion hazard maps at regional scale for coastal areas, with focus on reinforced concrete bridges. The proposed approach encompasses three main steps. First, the relevant stock of infrastructures vulnerable to chloride‐induced corrosion is identified and quantified. This requires the collection of relevant features, such as construction type, position, and age. Environmental conditions are examined next, including data about sea waves and salinity, wind, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and chloride deposition rate. Finally, the corrosion hazard is estimated in probabilistic sense. The proposed methodology is presented together with the preliminary results obtained from a relevant case study.