Vertical distribution of marine aerosol salinity in a Brazilian coastal area – The influence of wind speed and the impact on chloride accumulation into concrete

This paper analyses the influence of height from the ground on the vertical distribution of marine aerosol salinity for altitudes under the major influence of surf produced aerosol. Results show that the rate of chloride deposition on wet candle decreases drastically when the altitude increases and this relationship can be represented by an exponential decay function, which is influenced by wind regime. A new model is proposed to represent this phenomenon, which is based on the simultaneous influence of the height from the ground and of the wind speeds higher than 3.0 m/s weighted by their residence times. The impact of the salinity decrease with altitude on chloride accumulation into concrete is significant and this should be considered when analysing the performance of vertical concrete structures.The authors thank CNPq – Brazil (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) for supporting part of this research, the Brazilian Institute of Meteorology for providing the climatic data and Eduardo Torroja Construction Research Institute – IETcc (Spain) for the reciprocal collaboration with the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba