A Model for Chloride Penetration in Concrete

The major durability problem facing concrete structures in cold and marine regions is the corrosion of the reinforcing steel, mainly caused by chloride penetration, which results in the loss of structural integrity or even bearing capacity and subsequently collapse. A method for predicting the chloride ingress into concrete structures, which is the first and main phase of chloride induced reinforcement corrosion,is developed. It couples the problems of heat transfer, moisture transport, chloride diffusion and convection.The model is based on a multiscale two dimensional nonlinear time dependent finite element method. The model is capable of reproducing, with good precision, available test data.