9504108 Sagues This U.S.-Mexico award will support a research collaboration between Prof. Alberto Sagues of the University of South Florida (USF), and Prof. Pedro Castro Borges of the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV) in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, to work on corrosion problems of reinforcing steel in concrete. More specifically, the researchers intend to determine the causes and mechanism of carbonation of reinforced concrete structures, study the combined effects of carbonation and chloride ion contamination on corrosion of reinforcing steel, and investigate the mechanism of diffusion of chloride ions through concrete. The methodology will include a literature review update, concrete core sampling of structures on both sides of the Gulf of Mexico, examination of those cores to quantitatively determine rates of chloride ingress, and examination of field test specimens already in place. The work will benefit from existing related research programs on carbonation of concrete and lifetime prediction of concrete structures at USF, and investigations on corrosion of steel in concrete at CINVESTAV. This award is partly supported by the Division of Civil and Mechanical Structures of NSF. ***
