An Engineering Method of Analyzing the Dynamics of Mass Transfer during Concrete Corrosion Processes in Offshore Structures

Abstract

The environment of an underground structure is much more complex than the above-ground environment. Erosion processes are underway in soil and groundwater; groundwater seepage and soil pressure are also typical for underground environments. Alternating layers of dry and wet soil have a strong effect on concrete, and they reduce its durability. Corrosion of cement concretes is caused by the diffusion of free calcium hydroxide, located in the pores of concrete, from the volume of the cement stone to its surface, bordering on an aggressive environment, and the further transition of the substance through the phase boundary solid (concrete)–soil-aggressive environment (liquid). Due to the fact that all minerals in cement stone exist only in saturated or close-to-saturated solutions of calcium hydroxide, a decrease in the content of which in the pores of concrete as a result of mass transfer processes causes a change in the phase and thermodynamic equilibrium in the body of concrete and leads to the decomposition of highly basic compounds of cement stone and, consequently, to the deterioration of the mechanical properties of concrete (reduction in strength, modulus of elasticity, etc.). A mathematical model of mass transfer in a two-layer plate imitating the “reinforced concrete structure—layer of the soil–coastal marine area” system is proposed as a system of nonstationary partial derivative differential equations of the parabolic type with Newmann’s boundary conditions inside the building and at the interface between the soil and the marine environment and with conjugating boundary conditions at the interface between the concrete and the soil. When the boundary problem of mass conductivity in the “concrete–soil” system is solved, expressions are obtained to determine the dynamics of the concentration profiles of the target component (calcium ions) in the volumes of the concrete and soil. As a result, one can select the optimum composition of concrete, having high anticorrosion properties, to extend the durability of the concrete constructions of offshore marine structures.