Dresdner Grundwasserforschungszentrum

Abstract Corrosion related measurements on reinforced concrete structures are often easy to apply, and many guidelines indicate that a straight and formal handling of the received data is possible. But practical experience advises to be careful, since similar data readings can be caused by very different, even contradicting situations and hence require an individual, distinguished assessment. For example, negative potential values may be caused either by true, chloride induced corrosion or just by extremely wet concrete – without any possibility of active rebar corrosion. For avoiding wrong interpretations and improper repair strategies, the recommended approach is to obtain various, different parameters, including a sound visual and acoustical inspection, and to compare them thoroughly on a common, plausible pattern. The paper gives some examples where usual survey approaches basing on potential mapping and chloride sampling only would have resulted in either not recognizing the extent of corrosion problems properly or in concluding on severe problems that in fact do not exist.

There is evidence in the literature that the ratio of mass of sorbent (M) to volume of solution (V) affects the results of batch tests with soils and sediments. This restricts the use of such data to conditions with the same M/V ratio they were derived with, unless its influence is corrected. To find a correction, we conducted batch tests with soil and zinc solution using four M/V ratios. For each ratio, the experiments produced a different relationship between the mass of zinc sorbed per unit mass of soil (a s) and the zinc concentration in the solution after shaking and removal of the solid phase (C det), which is usually taken as the equilibrium concentration (C eq). A theoretical analysis revealed that the M/V effect can be accounted for by dividing C det by the M/V ratio, if it is caused by the presence of a “third phase”. The relationship between a s and C det×V/M is the same for all ratios then.

Abstract. Flood risk analysis and management plans mostly neglect groundwater flooding, i.e. high groundwater levels. However, rising groundwater may cause considerable damage to buildings and infrastructure. To improve the knowledge about groundwater flooding and support risk management, a survey was undertaken in the city of Dresden (Saxony, Germany), resulting in 605 completed interviews with private households endangered by high groundwater levels. The reported relatively low flood impact and damage of groundwater floods in comparison with mixed floods was reflected by its scarce perception: Hardly anybody thinks about the risk of groundwater flooding. The interviewees thought that public authorities and not themselves, should be mainly responsible for preparedness and emergency response. Up to now, people do not include groundwater risk in their decision processes on self protection. The implementation of precautionary measures does not differ between households with groundwater or with mixed flood experience. However, less households undertake emergency measures when expecting a groundwater flood only. The state of preparedness should be further improved via an intensified risk communication about groundwater flooding by the authorities. Conditions to reach the endangered population are good, since 70% of the interviewed people are willing to inform themselves about groundwater floods. Recommendations for an improved risk communication are given.

The stent to be examined (Wiktor-Stent, Medtronic ESTC, Kerkrade, NL) was mounted into a closed-loop tubular-system and perfused with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). As controls the tubular-system without stent (as non-thrombogenic control) and secondly the tube filled with glassbeads (as thrombogenic control) were evaluated. A decrease in the number of singularly circulating thrombocytes correlated well with an increases in circulating platelet aggregates. The increasing activation of thrombocytes was demonstrated by immunolabelling of surface structures (CD 62) which become prominent on activation of thrombocytes. The increase in case of the non-thrombogenic controls is thought to be due to the action of the roller-pump. This increase was coincident with an increase in immunologically labelled GPIIb/IIIa receptors and well correlated with an increase in platelet activation as demonstrated by the elevated CD 62 label. In spite of the use of anticoagulation principles in the perfusion model, thrombin was generated (measured by the TAT-complex) in all three cases and the completed coagulation (measured by the occurrence of fibrin D-dimers) also happened. The amount of D-dimers was small, however, in the cases of non-thrombogenic controls and of tubes equipped with stents. Only after the contact of PRP with tubes filled with glass-beads a significant increase in D-dimers followed. In conclusion the implantation of a stent led to an activation, adherence and aggregation of thrombocytes to a somewhat greater extent as in the control-system. It has, however, a much less thrombogenic surface than glass-beads.