Importance of Corrosion Control in Civil Engineering

Importance of Corrosion Control in Civil Engineering

Introduction

One of the main motives behind any field of science or engineering is ultimately its employment for the benefit of mankind, which is often profit in most cases. To survive in increasingly competitive market with high pressures on the selling prices, cutting costs remain the primary objective to maintain or increase the profitability of any industry. Corrosion and civil engineering are intensely related to each other. This paper concentrates on the impact of corrosion on civil engineering.

Corrosion in itself is not considered of much importance, but the failures caused by the corrosion and severe consequences are of substantial significance. It is the phenomenon that involved the reaction between metals and their alloys with the external environment, which leads to their destruction. Corrosion of metal structures is a major problem faced by the civil engineering field and the estimation of corrosion losses for the United States amounts to approximately three percent of the GNP.

Discussion

Corrosion is considered as the worst enemy of civil structures. It has become a liability of civil engineers to construct durable structures which do not prove to be a liability in the future and corrosion management of such structures should be fool-proof. The most severe and widespread factor which causes the wear and tear of civil structures is the steel corrosion which causes the member of the structure to impair and leads to progressive weakening of the entire structure. There are various and varied consequences of corrosion and many of those include the expensive solutions which often occur due to destruction of small metal part. Corrosion reduces the mechanical properties, and the cross-sectional area of the structure and the expansion of the corrosion products cause the swelling and cracking of the structure. Corrosion is also responsible for ...