Long-term durability of onshore coated concrete —chloride ion and carbonation effects

Enhancing service life of reinforced concrete (RC) structures located in marine environments is an issue of great interest for design engineers. The present research addresses the effect of surface coatings on service life of onshore RC structures. Long-term performance of concrete samples up to 88 months of exposure at natural marine environment was investigated. Two onshore exposure conditions, including soil and atmosphere and different types of concrete coatings were studied. Carbonation rates of up to 0.5 and 1.5 mm/year were observed at the first 88 months of exposure for soil and atmospheric samples, respectively. Surface chloride ion build-up and variation in chloride ion diffusion were monitored with respect to time, and service life was estimated. Based on the obtained results it is proposed to use the aliphatic acrylic and polyurethane coatings for enhancing the service life of concrete structures in the investigated exposure conditions.