The use of appropriately designed high performance concrete is an effective way of minimizing the rate of chloride ingress and thus delaying the onset of corrosion in structures constructed in a chloride-exposed environment. To prove its effectiveness for chloride penetration resistance, a rapid test is needed to evaluate HPC mixtures, as well as for quality control of field concrete. A rapid migration test has been examined as part of a FHWA contract for these purposes. This test is capable of providing results on HPC cylinders or cores within 3 to 7 days. This new test answers some of the criticisms of the current rapid test method: AASHTO T277/ASTM C1202. The rapid migration test is less affected by the presence of conductive ions (e.g. corrosion inhibitors) than the RCPT, the applied voltage is generally lower so there is no temperature increase during testing, and the actual ingress of chloride ions (depth of penetration) is evaluated. In addition, the test result can be used to calculate diffusion coefficients as inputs to service-life and life-cycle cost models. In this paper, results from the RMT and RCPT are compared with long-term bulk diffusion measurements.
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