The primary cause of corrosion in transportation structures is due to chlorides which are applied to bridge decks as deicing salts. The direct cost of corrosion damage to the country's infrastructure is approximately $8.3 billion per year. One of the most common corrosion abatement methods in the United States is the barrier protection implemented through the application of fusion bonded epoxy coatings. The purpose of this study was to investigate various coating and exposure parameters to determine their effects on the corrosion of reinforcing steel. The parameters investigated were: chloride content at the bar depth, coated bar corroded area, corrosion product color under the coating, epoxy coating adhesion, coating color, coating damage (holidays and holes), coating thickness, TGA, DSC and EDS analysis and SEM coating cracking investigation. This was accomplished by testing new coated bar specimens as well as specimens extracted from 27 bridge decks located in Virginia. This study demonstrated the following: The extracted ECR coating samples presented extensive cracking compared to the new ECR samples in which the coating cracking was limited to only one sample. The DSC results showed that both the extracted samples as well as new samples are not fully cured during the manufacturing process. The coating degree of curing data also showed that the bars are insufficiently and unevenly heated prior to the application of the powder coating. Additionally, the samples investigated presented significant permanent adhesion loss with little or no epoxy coating residue present on the bar surface, while the EDS analysis showed that once adhesion is lost, corrosion will proceed unimpeded under the coating even in the absence of chlorides. The parameters that presented a direct correlation with the observed corrosion activity were the number of holidays and the number of damaged areas per unit length of bar. This indicates that the passivation of the bare steel exposed to the concrete pore solution at the breaches in the epoxy coating is not the same as a bare bar under similar exposure conditions allowing it instead to corrode at lower concrete chloride concentration levels than bare bars. The results also show a distinct loss of quality control in the handling and possibly storage of new coated bars. The new ECR samples had significantly higher damage density than the samples extracted from concrete even though the coating is damaged during the placement of the concrete, while there was no change in the number of holidays and cure condition. Finally, the data presented further evidence that while limited, the non-destructive corrosion assessment methods available for bare steel reinforced structures may also be used on ECR reinforced structures. In particular, the corrosion rate measurements correlated reasonably well with the chloride concentrations at bar level. This indicates that while the chlorides may not influence the corrosion activity under the coating, they do influence the corrosion activity at breaches in the coating. / Ph. D.

The corrosion protection service life extension provided by epoxy-coated reinforcement (ECR) was determined by comparing ECR and bare bar from 10 bridge decks built between 1981 and 1995. The objective was to determine the corrosion protection service life time extension provided by ECR field specimens with various degrees of coating adhesion: disbonded, partially disbonded, and wholly bonded coatings. The size and length distributions of cracks in Virginia bridge decks were investigated to assess the frequency and severity of cracks. Correlation of cracks with chloride penetration was used to characterize the influence of cracking on deck deterioration. Cracks influence the rate of chloride penetration, but the frequency and width distributions of cracks indicate that cracks are not likely to shorten the overall service life of most bridge decks in Virginia. Altogether, 141 drilled cores, 102 mm (4 inches) in diameter, were employed in this study. For each of the decks built with ECR, 10 to 12 cores were drilled through a top reinforcing bar adjacent to the previous study core locations. In addition, approximately 3 cores were drilled through a top reinforcing bar at a surface crack location. Laboratory testing involved nondestructive monitoring using advanced electrochemical techniques to periodically assess the corrosion state of the steel bars during cyclic exposure to chloride-rich solution over 22 months of treatment. Time of corrosion initiation and time of cracking (where applicable), as well as chloride content of the concrete before and after treatment, were used in the analysis. Less than 25 percent of all Virginia bridge decks built under specifications in place since 1981 is projected to corrode sufficiently to require rehabilitation within 100 years, regardless of bar type. The corrosion service life extension attributable to ECR in bridge decks was found to be approximately 5 years beyond that of bare steel. / Ph. D.

The diploma thesis describes the influence of humid conditions on the curing of epoxy resins by multifunctional amines. The aim of the experimental part was the identification of degradation products and their quantification, as well as the determination of the influence of humid conditions on the degree of hardening, modulus of elasticity, and flexural strength. Another goal was to optimize the formulation of the reactive mixture for the preparation of epoxy resin with lower susceptibility to carbamate bloom. The degradation products were evaluated by determining the mechanical properties by bending test according to the standard ČSN EN 179-1. The degree of hardening was monitored through temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC). Degradation products were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and quantified by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The morphology of the surface layer was monitored by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The dependence of the relative humidity of the environment on the curing process of the epoxy resin and its resulting mechanical properties was determined. Based on the analyzes, a modification of the formulation for the suppression of spurious carbamate during the curing of the epoxy matrix was designed and experimentally verified.

As the CTC (transposed continuously conductor) is widely accepted as the cable used in transformers, mechanical analysis of CTC under different load cases is in need. This paper introduces a new method of creating detailed CTC models automatically in Comsol Multiphysics and the models are applied for conducting FEA (Finite Element Analysis) for different load cases of practical importance. The numerical analysis is verified by comparing the FEA results and the analytical results for the response of the CTC. The difference between the FEA of simplified models (bare straight strands conductor models) and detailed models (transposed strand conductor models), is also evaluated. Finally, the detailed model with an epoxy coating is evaluated. The detailed CTC model is found to be more compliant when subjected to radial bending compared to the simplified model, but it is stiffer than the simplified model when subjected to an axial bending load. In torsion, the detailed CTC models have much lower torsional rigidity than the simplified models. The epoxy coating makes the whole structure much more compliant and largely decreases the torsional rigidity of the CTC structure. The research shows that the difference between the simplified model and the detailed model is not negligible in many load cases. However, for an analysis that does not strictly require accuracy when doing axial loading analysis, the simplified model is a good option since it is easier to model, computationally cheaper, and the result is close to the detailed model result. In other cases, the detailed model is to be preferred. / CTC-kablar som används i högspänningstransformatorer utsätts under drift för olika typer av mekaniska laster och det finns ett behov att kunna analysera mekaniska egenskaper vid olika typer av lastfall. I denna rapport introduceras en ny metod för att automatiskt skapa detaljerade modeller av CTC i Comsol Multiphysics. Dessa modeller används sedan för analys med finita element-metoden (FEM) av några praktiskt viktiga belastningsfall. Den numeriska analysen verifieras genom att jämföra FE-resultaten med analytiska resultat för enkla idealiserade balkgeometrier. Vidare analyseras skillnaden mellan FEA för de förenklade modellerna och geometriskt detaljerade modeller CTC både med och utan isolerande epoxiskikt kring ledarna. Den detaljerade CTC-modellen visade sig vara mindre styv, jämfört med den förenklade modellen, när den utsätts för radiell böjning, men styvare när den utsattes för en axiell böjning, där radiell och axiell avser riktningarna CTC har i en högspänningstransformator. I torsion har de detaljerade CTC-modellerna mycket lägre vridstyvhet än de förenklade modellerna. Epoxibeläggningen gör hela strukturen mycket mer kompliant och minskar till stor del torsionsstyvheten hos CTC strukturerna. Vidare visar resultaten att skillnaden mellan den förenklade modellen och den detaljerade modellen inte är försumbar i många belastningsfall. Men för en analys som inte strikt kräver noggrannhet när man utför axiell belastningsanalys, är den förenklade modellen ett bra alternativ eftersom den är avsevärt lättare att modellera, beräkningarna är mycket snabbare och resultaten ligger nära de för den detaljerade modellen. I andra fall är den detaljerade modellen att föredra.

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