Corrosion Potentials Of Lightweight Concrete Wrapped With Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP)

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of Fiber Reinforced Polymer wraps on corrosion protection of lightweight concrete. Many studies have been undertaken for normal density concrete, but there are very few studies regarding lightweight concrete and externally bonded FRP wraps. This experiment involved the use of an accelerated corrosion test to determine the corrosion protection that FRP would afford lightweight concrete, while making a comparison with a similarly proportioned normalweight mix. 42 cylinders were subject to a constant 12 V power from a DC Power Supply while being immersed in a 5% NaCl for a period of 50 days. Samples were removed from the tank after failure and analyzed for chloride content and rebar mass loss. Current measurements were taken daily. The results indicated that bothlightweight concrete and normalweight concrete greatly benefited from FRP wrapping in terms of increased time to failure and a reduction in rebar mass loss. Lightweight concrete generally performed better when wrapped with CFRP, whereas normalweight concrete generally performed better when wrapped with GFRP.