At present several methods are available to predict the durability of reinforced concrete structures. In most cases, one dominant deterioration process such as carbonation or chloride penetration is taken into consideration. Experimental results as well as observations in practice show that this is not a realistic and certainly not a conservative approach. In order to test more realistically, RILEM TC 246-TDC, founded in 2011, has developed a method to determine the durability of concrete exposed to the combined action of chloride penetration and mechanical load. In this report, a test method is presented which allows determination of realistic diffusion coefficients for chloride ions in concrete under compressive or tensile stress. Comparative test results from five different laboratories showed that the combination of mechanical and environmental loads may be much more severe than a single environmental load without mechanical loading. Modelling and probabilistic analysis also showed that the obvious synergetic effects cannot be neglected in realistic service life prediction.@en

Cracks in reinforced concrete structures exposed to chlorides can impair significantly the durability. Local depassivation of the reinforcement in the crack is more likely due to the missing alkaline environment and/or due to the penetration of aggressive agents such as chlorides. Therefore, relevant standards require additional measures to prevent fast chloride ingress with regard to endangered, cracked structures. One innovate option to treat cracked concrete is the application of a crack filler material with self-healing properties. Such a material is a liquid repair system to be applied on cracked concrete surfaces and in which active bacteria produce limestone that reduces the permeability of cracks. The objective of the presented paper is on the one hand to develop a reproducible, practical corrosion test method to assess the self-healing filler material and on the other hand to show first results on the corrosion behaviour of the reinforcement through application of selfhealing filler material in cracked concrete. @en