Modeling the Diffusion of Chloride Ion in Concrete Using Cellular Automaton

Abstract

The diffusion of chloride ions is one of the main factors that arouses steel corrosion in concrete. In this paper, a two-dimension cellular automaton (CA) model was developed to simulate the diffusion process of chloride ions in concrete. The evolution rules of the proposed CA model were validated by comparing with the Fick’s second laws (FSL), and the distinctions between the CA model and the FSL were discussed pertaining to calculation methods and substantive characteristics of chloride ion penetration in concrete. Further, an improved CA model is proposed, called the JPCA model, which considers the jump probabilities of chloride ions varying with diffusion times and depths. The numerical simulations demonstrate that the computation results on the basis of the JPCA model are closer to the experimental data than those derived from the FSL. The JPCA model proposed in this paper provides a new way to study concrete suffering from chloride ion penetration.