The corrosion of steel in concrete is one of the main factors causing the deterioration and damage of reinforced concrete structures where chloride diffusion or carbonation is likely, leading to the reduction of load capacity and service life of these structures. There are a number of techniques that have been developed to assist with this problem. O f these, cathodic protection has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective methods for the prevention and protection of steel from corrosion.

More recently, carbon fibre composites have increasingly used to impart additional strength to existing reinforced concrete structures, including those suffering from corroded reinforcement. However, there has been a lack of research into the combined use of carbon fibre composites for both strengthening and the provision of cathodic protection (CP). This research investigates the requirements and limitations of operating carbon fibre based systems as both methods of strengthening reinforced concrete structures while simultaneously controlling the corrosion of the reinforcement through the application of CP by utilising the carbon fibre (CF) as an impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) anode.