Total Credits: 0.5 PDH
Arlington Memorial Bridge is a reinforced concrete spandrel arch bridge that connects Washington, DC and Virginia across the Potomac River. After over 85 years in service, the bridge started exhibiting signs of deterioration, including reinforcement corrosion. As part of a major rehabilitation effort to extend the bridge’s service life, targeted cathodic protection (CP) systems were installed in the arch cross-walls, floors, and under arches to mitigate and prevent corrosion. The implemented CP system consisted of galvanic and two-stage anodes to mitigate corrosion. Galvanic anodes were installed in the repair areas to prevent the ring anode affect and ensure a durable concrete repair. The two-stage anodes were installed in areas of concrete which were actively corroding without signs of concrete deterioration. The two-stage anodes initially deliver a charge to the reinforcement similar to an ICCP system to polarize the steel (Stage 1), after which they provide a maintenance amount of galvanic current sufficient to prevent corrosion (Stage2). Continuous monitoring of the two-stage anode performances showed their effectiveness in polarizing the steel and preventing corrosion activity. The Arlington Memorial Bridge rehabilitation shows that cathodic protection can be efficiently installed in a structure to provide a very effective and durable rehabilitation.
Shayan Yazdani, MS, EIT, Engineer III at Vector Corrosion Services Inc., is an Engineer in Training and has obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Materials Engineering & Science in Structures from the University of South Florida. Shayan has vast experience in data interpretation and analysis of corroding reinforced concrete structures and is heavily involved in the design and installation of cathodic protection systems. Shayan also has experience with repair techniques and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures, materials engineering, structural life prediction analysis and forensic engineering.