Interpretation of chloride profiles from concrete exposed to tropical marine environments

The chlorides from the sea and marine breeze are the main source for corrosion in marine environments, and their profiles in concrete are commonly modeled and used for prediction purposes. However, no reliable results may be obtained if the action of environmental agents, such as the relative humidity (RH), temperature, winds, rains and drying periods, on such profiles are not well known through several periods of time. Although these limitations are recognized in several works, there are very few field and isolated data in the literature to explain and support, according to different exposure conditions and periods of time, the shape and meaning of the chloride profiles. Any prediction model could acquire more reliability only after knowing and incorporating such information. This work presents concentration profiles, which were obtained from concretes exposed to different microclimates, and discusses their behavior and meaning according to the environmental parameters, concrete duality and several periods of time. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.