The effect of corrosion inhibitors on the modelling of design lifetime of RC structures

Abstract

The presented work aims to study the influence of corrosion inhibitors properties on the design Lifetime of reinforced concrete (RC) structures exposed to carbonation and chlorides environments. The inhibitors analysed are herein designated added admixture corrosion inhibitors and migrating corrosion inhibitors. The implementation of the mathematical models was made using existing experimental data of 6 concrete mixes as regards carbonation diffusion (2 mixes) and chloride migration (4 mixes) as well as experimental results concerning the specific effect of corrosion inhibitors on RC samples. The estimation of the design Lifetime was carried out in face of criteria concerning the probability of failure, as regards corrosion for RC elements, through a probabilistic analysis using the Monte Carlo method. The modelling results show that the use of both inhibitors enhances significantly the performance of RC elements. Additionally, an alternative method using safety factors was carried out considering the required adjustments to account for the influence of corrosion inhibitors.