New Technology Transfer Videos

The single greatest enemy of reinforced concrete bridges is the chloride ion from de-icing salts. Chloride ions in salt-contaminated water penetrate concrete which leads to corrosion of steel reinforcement. When steel corrodes, it expands, and the surrounding concrete breaks away. This translates into costly repair requirements with accompanying traffic delays and disruptions.

The need for de-icing material will not go away. While the Ontario Ministry of Transportation continues to investigate salt alternatives and better salt use practices, it is also examining new cost-effective materials and techniques in both concrete bridge construction and rehabilitation to combat the corrosion problem. Practical and effective results from these research projects may be incorporated into future specifications and standards.

These two new videos summarize some of the ministry's latest research and demonstration projects in these two areas.

New Generation Materials and Techniques in Concrete Bridge Construction

This video explores three potential R&D solutions to the problem of deterioration in concrete bridges:

• improve the quality of concrete to delay and slow down corrosion of the embedded reinforcing steel - investigating high performance concrete
• select a reinforcing material with natural resistance to corrosion in a chloride environment, yield strength at least equal to current reinforcing steel, and mechanical properties compatible with concrete - investigating stainless steel
• design the concrete deck slab of girder bridges so that it takes advantage of internal arching and eliminates conventional steel reinforcing material -investigating steel - reinforcement free deck slab

Running time: 7 minutes

Rehabilitation Techniques for Concrete Bridge Substructures

In this video, various new rehabilitation techniques and materials are demonstrated on corrosion damaged concrete bridges and substructures.

Salt corrosion is an electrochemical reaction. The introduction of an external anode can eliminate or reduce corrosion. Some of the methods under investigation are cathodic protection: impressed current system, sacrificial anode system; and electrochemical chloride extraction.

Deteriorating substructures can be structurally reinforced using various jacketing and wrapping techniques and materials. Some materials being tested are steel and advanced composite materials.

Running time: 8 minutes

To request a video on loan please contact:

Ontario Ministry of Transportation
Program Management Branch
301 St. Paul Street
St. Catharines, ON  L2R 7R4
Tel: 905-704-2641