A Polynomial Chaos Approach for Uncertainty Analysis of Chloride-Induced Corrosion in Concrete Structures

Abstract

Chloride-induced corrosion has been identified as one of the main causes of deterioration of concrete structures, such as highway bridges, etc. The development of a performance-based approach is critical to ensure adequate safety, serviceability and durability of concrete structures, built in chloride-laden environments, as well as to help identify appropriate maintenance strategies to extend their service life. This paper presents a polynomial chaos response surface approach for the probabilistic modeling of chloride-induced corrosion of carbon steel reinforcement in concrete structures that takes into account the uncertainties in the parameters that govern the physical models of chloride ingress into concrete and corrosion of carbon steel, including concrete diffusivity, concrete cover depth, surface chloride concentration and threshold chloride level for onset of corrosion. A case study of highway bridge deck was used to illustrate the applicability, accuracy and computational efficiency when compared to crude Monte Carlo simulation.