Concrete can degrade through a number of ways including carbonation, sulphate and chloride attack.
Essentially carbonation degrades concrete through carbon dioxide attack whilst chloride attack is from salts.
Designing a solution to the concrete cancer is carried out via the following process,
-Carry out visual,chemical and destructive testing on site to identify the type, cause and extent of the concrete corrosion.
-Collate results in a report giving advice on the following,
*Visually outline to the client the extent of the corrosion.
*Detail which repair materials and methods would be used to address the concrete cancer.
*Outline what the client will need to do in terms of ongoing maintenance once the concrete is repaired.
*Budget pricing can be carried out.
Testing on the structure could include some or all of the following methods,
*Delamination testing.
*Visual survey.
*Chloride testing and mapping.
*Carbonation testing and mapping.
*Cover meter survey.
*Concrete strength testing via destructive testing (cores) or non destructive Schmidt hammer.
*Location of reinforcement.
*Concrete resistivity.
*Determination of thickness of the concrete.