Open Access

ARTICLE

Computational Framework for Durability Design and Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Structures Exposed to Chloride Environment

Gang Lin¹, Yinghua Liu^1,2, Zhihai Xiang¹

1 Department of Engineering Mechanics, AML, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2 Corresponding author, Tel: +86-10-62773751; fax:+86-10-62781824; Email:liu@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2009, 47(3), 217-252. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2009.047.217

Abstract

Deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to chloride ingress followed by reinforcement corrosion is a serious problem all over the world, therefore prediction of chloride profiles is a key element in evaluating durability and integrity of RC structures exposed to chloride environment. In the present paper, an integrated finite element-based computational framework is developed for predicting service life of RC structures exposed to chloride environment, which takes environment temperature and humidity fluctuations, diffusion and convection, chloride binding, as well as the decay of durability of structures caused by coupled deterioration processes into account. The decay of RC structures due to environment loadings and service loadings is considered in a coupled thermo-hygro-mechanical model. Based on the conservation of energy and mass, the governing equations of heat transfer, moisture transport and chloride ingress into partially saturated concrete are described particularly. Employing the Galerkin finite element method for the spatial discretization and a finite difference time-stepping scheme for the temporal discretization, a fully implicit algorithm is developed for the numerical solutions of the governing equations. The computational framework is implemented and validated by comparing numerical results with analytical solutions and experimental observations. Further numerical simulations have been carried out for quantitative durability design and assessment of RC structures exposed to chloride environment.

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Keywords

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