14-07: Restoration of Concrete Cooling Towers Damaged by Reinforcing Steel

This paper describes the ongoing restoration of two reinforced concrete hyperbolic cooling towers that exhibited extensive deterioration due to corrosion of the embedded reinforcing steel. The cooling towers were constructed in 1983 and 1985 and are each 453 feet tall reinforced concrete shell structures. The restoration work included the removal and replacement of more than 200,000 square feet of concrete and the installation of an impressed current cathode protection (ICCP) system to protect the embedded reinforcing steel from corrosion. The cost of the restoration work is approximately $53 million.