Corrosion propagation phase in reinforced concrete facades

There is a rising national concern in Finland on increasing maintenance needs of the existing building stock. Active corrosion was studied as an extension to the service life of concrete facade panels in Nordic climate. The objective was to contribute to the knowledge on the corrosion propagation phase in these structures under actual long term weather exposure and to generate data for its modelling purposes. The project combined statistical analysis of a large database of condition investigation data to the more in-depth analysis of twelve case-study buildings and field measurement data on reinforcement corrosion. Corrosion rate was tied to weather parameters representing the geographical location of the buildings by a time series analysis with corresponding weather data. Although carbonation resistance remains as the primary factor in ensuring proper service life, it was found that the modelling of active corrosion may provide a considerable extension to it.