Chloride penetration is among the main causes of corrosion initiation in reinforced concrete (RC) structures producing premature degradations. Weather and exposure conditions directly affect chloride ingress mechanisms and therefore the operational service life and safety of RC structures. Consequently, comprehensive chloride ingress models are useful tools to estimate corrosion initiation risks and minimize maintenance costs for RC structures placed under chloride-contaminated environments. This paper first presents a coupled thermo-hydro-chemical model for predicting chloride penetration into concrete that accounts for realistic weather conditions. This complete numerical model takes into account multiple factors affecting chloride ingress such as diffusion, convection, chloride binding, ionic interaction, and concrete aging. Since the complete model could be computationally expensive for long-term assessment, this study also proposes model simplifications in order to reduce the computational cost. Long-term chloride assessments of complete and reduced models are compared for three locations in France (Brest, Strasbourg and Nice) characterized by different weather and exposure conditions (tidal zone, de-icing salts and salt spray). The comparative study indicates that the reduced model is computationally efficient and accurate for long-term chloride ingress modeling in comparison to the complete one. Given that long-term assessment requires larger climate databases, this research also studies how climate models may affect chloride ingress assessment. The results indicate that the selection of climate models as well as the considered training periods introduce significant errors for mid-and long-term chloride ingress assessment.
In this paper, a physical model of chloride ingress concretes is proposed. The originality of the model lies in its consideration of electrical double layer (EDL) phenomenon in unsaturated concrete. The EDL is occurring at the interface between pore walls and pore solution. The work is performed by solving the multispecies ionic transport equations coupled with those of humidity. To show the effect of slag and fly ash, several concretes were considered. The chloride profile was simulated. The results show that chloride concentration increase for EDL negative more than EDL positive. The EDL effect is reduced in unsaturated concrete due to discontinuity of liquid phase. Finally, it is also shown that the concrete containing slag develops and EDL more important than those manufactured with fly ash.
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