The Effectiveness Evaluation of Sacrificial Anode in Reinforced Concrete that has been Installed for One Year

Abstract

Generally, reinforcing steel in concrete is protected from corrosion. This happens because the cement content in the concrete has an alkaline effect. It can reduce the risk of corrosion, but the reinforcing steel may still corrode if exposed to a corrosive environment. One method of providing a high protection value against corrosion is the sacrificial anode cathodic protection system. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the sacrificial anode cathodic protection on reinforced concrete. Three types of specimens were used in the study. The specimens were (a) unconnected anode-cathode specimen, (b) connected anode-cathode (design 1), and (c) connected anode-cathode (design 2). The dimensions of the concrete specimen are 1000 mm in length, 100 mm in width, and 100 mm in height. Profometer 5+ was used to locate the reinforcing steel in the concrete. In this study, the condition of the protected criteria of reinforced concrete was achieved within 30 weeks in 2019 after wet-dry cycle treatment in 3.5% NaCl media, and thus, the specimen was exposed in an open air for one year. In 2020, all of the specimens were treated again with a wet-dry cycle for 3 weeks to measure the potential value of the reinforcing steel after a year. The measurement result of the corrosion potential value after one year showed that the specimen (c) had a potential value of -884.67 mV. While the specimen (b) had a potential value of -689 mV. These results show that the specimen (c) still within the protected criteria based on the NACE standard after one year of exposure, whereas the specimen (b) is no longer protected after one year of exposure.