Al Ain Museum

The Problem

The Al Ain Museum is the oldest museum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and an important part of the country’s cultural heritage. The historic structure exhibited signs of deterioration, including cracked plaster, concrete delamination and spalling, with structural distress affecting the north gate, boundary wall columns and capping beam. High levels of carbonation and chloride contamination also increased the risk of corrosion of the embedded reinforcing steel and further deterioration of the concrete.

The Solution

Vector Corrosion’s Middle East division was engaged by VSL to provide design, supervision and QA/QC services for the cathodic protection system.

A tailored corrosion mitigation strategy was developed using Galvashield® XPT anodes in the new foundations and Galvashield® Fusion T2X-HV anodes in the existing structures affected by high levels of carbonation and chloride contamination. The system was designed in accordance with the project requirements and specifications agreed with the the lead consultant and client to provide corrosion protection to the embedded reinforcing steel.

The entire corrosion protection system was connected to monitoring boxes, allowing system performance to be assessed and verified over time.

Installation of Galvashield® XPT

Installation of Fusion T2X-HV anodes

Connecting the cathodic protection system to the monitoring box.

Testing of the cathodic protection system, including measurement of anode current output to verify connection and system performance.

The Result

The installed cathodic protection system provides ongoing corrosion mitigation to the reinforcing steel, helping to reduce the risk of further corrosion-related deterioration and extend the service life of the repaired concrete elements.

Long-term monitoring provides a means of assessing system performance over time and confirming that the corrosion protection system continues to operate as intended. This supports the long-term durability of the rehabilitation works and helps preserve this important UAE heritage structure.