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Chloride ion penetration is an important parameter influencing the service life of a concrete structure, especially in aggressive environments. Severe chloride-induced corrosion of reinforced concretes has been reported in the southern part of Iran in the region of Oman Sea. In this paper, the effect of different environmental conditions of the Oman Sea on chloride penetration and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) and normal concrete (NC) is investigated. For this purpose, a number of prismatic specimens were exposed to various environmental conditions such as tide, submersion and atmospheric conditions. Surface chloride concentration and diffusion coefficient of SCC in these zones were calculated based on Fick's second law, at 28, 90 and 150 days and compared with NC. Based on the values obtained in this study, relationships are proposed for concrete permeability and surface chloride of self-compacting concrete (SCC) at different ages in different aggressive environments. By determining the corrosion time based on these relations, it is observed that for a given water-to-cement ratio, the self-compacting concrete (SCC) has higher durability compared to normal concrete (NC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper discusses the petrographic image analysis performed on core specimens that are extracted from a tunnel in the south west of Iran. During tunnel excavation, damages were observed in the inner sections of concrete segments. Due to field observations of damaged segments, environmental parameters and tunnel location, several damage scenarios were proposed. In order to assess damage mechanisms, 69 cores were extracted and a number of standard tests were carried out. Since chemical attacks alter microscopic properties of materials, petrographic image analysis was performed on five of the specimens to evaluate possible microscopic changes in concrete composition. The results show that petrographic image analysis is an efficient method to provide a profound insight into the effects of chemical attacks on concrete members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]