The risk of corrosion in structures due to carbonation using GIS tools

Abstract

Through the technology advancements of this time the ability to gather, process and distribute information has become a great deal more efficient by using tools like GIS. For civil engineers information is something that is not always available and this leads to expensive and time consuming experimentation from their part in order to be able to gain the information necessary that concerns buildings. Steel reinforcement corrosion is one of the things that need such experiments in order to be confirmed. This study will focus specifically on Cyprus and how corrosion is an important issue here. A description of the process of corrosion is given with focus on the carbonation of the concrete since it is considered the most common process for this particular case study. Chloride ion corrosion is also mentioned since it’s the leading factor of corrosion. The study takes into consideration various studies that relate factors that affect corrosion to the rate of corrosion, or other information that is critical to understand how corrosion is affected. The information gained is used to create a mathematical model to predict corrosion risk. The use of GIS is then introduced in conjunction with the mathematical model in order to find where it is most probable to come across corrosion problems. The study ends with a few conclusions about the use of GIS and how it can help the problem of identifying corrosion.