Testing for the influence of the degree of water saturation of concrete upon chloride diffusivity

In order to estimate the impact of the degree of water saturation of concrete to chloride ion diffusion coefficient, the experimental setup allows to measure chloride diffusion coefficient through nonsaturated concrete specimens with controlled degree of water saturated. The different degrees of water saturation of concrete specimens were obtained, by using saturated solutions of NaCl and KCl controlling the relative humidity, then applied Rapid Cloride Permeability Test method to measure the cloride diffusion coefficient. The test results show that chloride diffusion coefficient depends strongly on the degree of water saturation of concrete. Beside, this relationship shows the non-linear relationship, in which, chloride diffusion coefficient reachs the maximum value in fully saturated concrete specimens. In the marine engineering and offshore engineering, under chloride environment condition, be cause of the combined effect of various destructive elements to the concrete structures, such as, the environtment temperature changes, the wet and dry circle period, the chloride penetration, and concrete carbonation degree, etc, impact on the durability of concrete structures. In which, the penetration of chloride ions is the main factor causes structural damages and durability deterioraion [1]. Therefore, research the pathways, influencing factors, and penetration process of the chloride ion into concrete structure, has an important value in both theoretical and practical significance.