Characterization of chloride penetration in hydraulic concrete structures exposed to different heads of seawater: Using hydraulic pressure tank

Hydraulic Concrete Structures (HCS) must be in good condition during their service, so many studies have been carried out over the last few decades to predict the robustness of their structures. Due to the porous nature of these structures, the chlorides, which are present in seawater, are penetrated and corroding their reinforcing iron. Moreover, these structures are often cracked and become more vulnerable to degradation. Based on the principles of modelling and simulating, there is a difficult issue of similitude the high water head and interaction with HCS, so a new laboratory method called Hydraulic Pressure Tank (HPT) has been submitted for purposes of simulate dozens meters of water heads and its penetration into aforementioned structures. Experimental specimens were used to test this method and to compare them with numerical results. The experimental results, obtained using this new test, agreed fairly with the results obtained from numerical solutions.