1 License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ The new DGZfP Specification B12 "Corrosion Monitoring of Reinforced Concrete Structures" Authors Jörg HARNISCH 1 , Christoph DAUBERSCHMIDT 2 , Gino EBELL 3 , Till Felix MAYER 4 1 FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, Münster, Germany 2 Munich University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany 3 Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM), Berlin, Germany 4 Ingenieurbüro Schiessl, Gehlen, Sodeikat, Munich, Germany Contact e-mail: j.harnisch@fh-muenster.de ABSTRACT: The corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures is one of the main threats to their durability. Based on the scientific achievements of the past decades, the knowledge about deterioration mechanisms and possible repair strategies for corrosion induced damages have found their way into practice. Nevertheless, no standards or guidelines concerning corrosion monitoring are available in Germany today. In order to make corrosion monitoring accessible to the engineer planning repair measures of corrosion damaged concrete structures, the new DGZfP-Specification B12 was developed by the DGZfP-subcommittee “Corrosion Detection” consisting of corrosion specialists originating from planning offices, universities and companies from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The specification was published in spring 2018. This paper presents the new specification by highlighting its structure as well as its intended fields of application. 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The penetration of chlorides into concrete components and the associated risk of chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcing steel or prestressing tendons poses a great damage potential for infrastructure and marine structures such as bridges, tunnels and multi-storey car parks. This is particularly the case for the large number of constructions erected in the 1960s and 1970s, as concrete covers at that time were comparatively small and for many of these structures the chloride ions have now reached critical concentrations at the reinforcement level after about 50 to 60 years of exposure. The rehabilitation of such constructions is often associated with demanding planning efforts, time and material-consuming repair measures which tend to be very expensive, see figure 1. In many cases this situation could have been prevented by an early detection of the corrosion risk and by taking appropriate countermeasures.