ISEC 09


A PERSPECTIVE ON SEAWATER/FRP REINFORCEMENT IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES

ADEL YOUNIS, USAMA EBEAD, ANTONIO NANNI


Abstract

Predictions show that more than half of the world population will lack sufficient freshwater by 2025. Yet, the construction industry uses a considerable amount of freshwater to produce concrete. To save resources of fresh water, using seawater seems to be a valid potential alternative that can replace freshwater for mixing concrete. This paper presents a short review performed on existing literature related to the usage of seawater in concrete structures. As a summary of the work presented: (a) It is noticeable that the current literature, generally, reports little or no negative effect of seawater on the characteristics of plain concrete, both in the short and in the long term; (b) steel corrosion caused by the presence of chloride appears to be the sole reason for not accepting the use of seawater in concrete preparation; (c) Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) is discussed as a promising alternative to steel for seawater-concrete reinforcement, owing to their light weight, high tensile strength, and adequate corrosion resistance; and (d) A future outlook for using seawater accompanied by FRP reinforcement in concrete structures is discussed in terms of achieving sustainability goals.

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