Abstract
Abstract Reinforcement corrosion is a concern in the structural engineering domain, since it triggers several pathological manifestations, reducing the structural service life. Chloride diffusion has been considered one of main causes of reinforcements' corrosion in reinforced concrete. Corrosion starts when the chloride concentration at the reinforcements interface reaches the threshold content, leading to depassivation, whose assessment of its time of starts is a major challenge. This study applied the transient Boundary Element Method (BEM) approach for modelling chloride diffusion in concrete pores. The subregion BEM technique effectively represented the cracks inherent to the material domain, and environmental effects were also considered. Because of the inherent randomness of the problem, the service life was evaluated within the probabilistic context; therefore, Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) assessed the probabilistic corrosion time initiation. Three applications demonstrated the accuracy and robustness of the model, in which the numerical results achieved by BEM were compared against numerical, analytical, and experimental responses from the literature. The probabilistic modelling substantially reduced the structural service life when the cracks length was longer than half of concrete cover thickness in highly aggressive environments.
Highlights
Structural durability is a concern in the engineering domain, in civil engineering, which largely employs reinforced concrete (RC) structures
The service life concept frequently assesses the durability of RC structures and comprehends the time span for adequate material and structural performance [1]
Pathological manifestations such as cover cracking, leaching, spalling, and reinforcement corrosion substantially reduce the durability of RC structures - the latter is the main mechanism, affecting approximately 58% of such structures and leading to 1% to 5% economic loss in the gross domestic product [2]–[5]
Summary
Structural durability is a concern in the engineering domain, in civil engineering, which largely employs reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Because RC is a porous-cracked composite material often exposed to environmental actions, the prediction of service life is a complex task and requires the development of robust and accurate frameworks despite the time span values suggested by design codes Pathological manifestations such as cover cracking, leaching, spalling, and reinforcement corrosion substantially reduce the durability of RC structures - the latter is the main mechanism, affecting approximately 58% of such structures and leading to 1% to 5% economic loss in the gross domestic product [2]–[5]. Discretisation is at the body’s boundary and no domain mesh is needed The latter aspect enables an accurate assessment of internal fields, which is attractive in diffusion problems with geometric details such as cracks, and relevant in durability assessments, which require a precise determination of the chloride concentration at the concrete/reinforcements interface. The third application described the probabilistic modelling for tidal zones and highly aggressive environments
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