Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Diffusive Coarse Aggregates on Reinforcing Steel Corrosion Initiation

Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Diffusive Coarse Aggregates on Reinforcing Steel Corrosion Initiation

ABSTRACT
The exposure time at which a threshold Cl^- concentration, C_t, is initially achieved at the reinforcement depth in concrete such that passivity is compromised and active corrosion initiates, T_i, is an important service life determinant for reinforced concrete structures. Composite component of concrete materials results in no consensus in the literature of a value for C_t, as reported concentrations extend over one order of magnitude, which was contributed to multi-parameter interaction.   However, there is; and it has become increasingly apparent that C_t is distributed even for apparently identical specimens.  In a companion paper, models for randomly arranged non-diffusive coarse aggregate (CA) particles in concrete cover were generated for different aggregate types (particle size and size distribution), CA cover depth, the ratio of chloride threshold to surface chloride and the effect of these factors on the corrosion initiation of reinforcing steel was investigated as a function of C_t by finite element analysis. In present work, the effect of CA with finite diffusivity on corrosion initiation is addressed and the results are discussed with that presented in previous paper.