When faced with maintaining our current bridges, one of the key challenges is mitigating reinforcement corrosion in concrete, especially in aggressive environments (e.g. chloride ingress, carbonation). Conventional repair techniques often address symptoms but do not inhibit ongoing corrosion or extend service life effectively. This presentation will introduce new options, such as surface applied galvanic solutions, that offer new and innovative approaches to solve corrosion issues. This presentation will cover: (1) the underlying electrochemical principles and design criteria for galvanic anode protection in reinforced concrete structures; (2) real world case-study results (3) best practices in installation and maintenance; (4) lessons learned and potential challenges (e.g. concrete resistivity, anode spacing, connectivity) in real-world bridge rehabilitation projects. Each solution can offer a variety of benefits for the structure which includes fast, minimally invasive installation on existing structures, long design life (10 to 40 years) tailored to each project, flexibility in design to target local high-risk zones or provide global protection , as well as enabling performance monitoring and later replacement if needed. This presentation aims to inform practitioners, researchers, and infrastructure owners on how to enhance structural durability, reduce life-cycle costs, and extend service lives of aging bridge assets.
