Influence of Binder Composition and Concrete Pore Structure on Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Concrete

The influence of binder composition and pore structure of concrete on chloride diffusion coefficient in concrete were investigated by the natural immersion test, MIP test, SEM and EDS test, respectively. The experimental results showed that the effect of binder composition on chloride diffusion coefficient was the comprehensive result of concrete pore structure and binder hydration products, and the porosity and pore size distribution were the main factors that influence the changes of diffusion coefficient. The chloride diffusion coefficient decreased with increasing the curing temperature and the relative humidity. The hydration degree were promoted by improving curing temperatures, and then the porosity of concrete decreased and the proportion of gel pore and transitional pore increased, respectively. But the water evaporation decreased with increasing the relative humidity and then decreased porosity and increased the proportion of gel pore and transitional pore. Additionally, The chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete got the lower value when the appropriate replacement of fly ash in the ranges of 10%-20%, when the double-adding fly ash and slag content was 50%. The porosity increased and the ratio of C/S in C-S-H decreased with further increasing the fly ash content, which led to increase the chloride diffusion coefficient in concrete.

Meso-scale modeling of chloride diffusion in concrete with consideration of effects of time and temperature

A meso-scale truss network model was developed to predict chloride diffusion in concrete. The model regards concrete as a three-phase composite of mortar matrix, coarse aggregates, and the interfacial transition zone （ITZ） between the mortar matrix and the aggregates. The diffusion coefficient of chloride in the mortar and the ITZ can be analytically determined with only the water-to-cement ratio and volume fraction of fine aggregates. Fick＇s second law of diffusion was used as the governing equation for chloride diffusion in a homogenous medium （e.g., mortar）; it was discretized and applied to the truss network model. The solution procedure of the truss network model based on the diffusion law and the meso-scale composite structure of concrete is outlined. Additionally, the dependence of the diffusion coefficient of chloride in the mortar and the ITZ on exposure duration and temperature is taken into account to illustrate their effect on chloride diffusion coefficient. The numerical results show that the exposure duration and environmental temperature play important roles in the diffusion rate of chloride ions in concrete. It is also concluded that the meso-scale truss network model can be applied to chloride transport analysis of damaged （or cracked） concrete.

Time Dependent Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Concrete

In order to study how to correctly apply the two different time dependencies to service life prediction models, the definition of parameters in the time dependent equation using the long-term test method and the short-term test method, and its relationship were discussed. The experimental results show that, as the two time dependencies have different meanings, they have different manners when handled in service life prediction models. Time dependency of chloride diffusion coefficients in concrete was obtained by fitting experimental data. A large number of accurate experimental data were required to fit the formula of time dependency to ensure the accuracy of service life prediction model.

Effect of Carbonation and Drying-Wetting Cycles on Chloride Diffusion Behavior of Coral Aggregate Seawater Concrete

Based on seawater immersion,drying-wetting cycles,carbonation and drying-wetting cycles for coral aggregate sea-water concrete(CASC)with different strength grades,the effect of carbonation and drying-wetting cycles on chloride diffusion be-havior of CASC is studied.The results show that the free surface chloride concentration(Cs),free chloride diffusion coefficient(Df)and time-dependent index(m)of CASC in the drying-wetting cycles is obviously higher than that in seawater immersion.The Df and m of CASC of carbonation and drying-wetting cycles is higher than that in the drying-wetting cycles.Carbonation increases the Df and m of CASC,which is against CASC to resist chloride corrosion.The corrosion possibility of CASC structures in different ex-posed areas is as follows:splash zone(carbonation and drying-wetting cycles)>tidal zone(drying-wetting cycles)>underwater zone(seawater immersion).Besides,the chloride diffusion rate of C65-CASC is 17.8%-63.4%higher than that of C65-ordinary aggre-gate concrete(OAC)in seawater immersion(underwater zone).Therefore,anti-corrosion measures should be adopted to improve the service life of CASC structure in the oceanic environment.

Modelling of Time Dependency of Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Cement Paste

A computer-based model and method was presented to predict the time dependency of chloride diffusion coefficients in cement paste. The HYMOSTRUC3D model was applied to generate a 3D representative elementary volume （REV） of cement paste. In the simulation of microstructure, both of cement hydration and chloride binding were considered. With the simulated microstructure of cement paste, the finite element method was applied to simulate the diffusion process of chloride through the saturated cement paste. Based on the Fick’s first law, the chloride diffusion coefficient can be calculated. In this method, the influences of age and w/c ratio on the chloride diffusion coefficient were evaluated. The simulated chloride diffusivities with various w/c at different time were compared to experimental data obtained from the literature. The experimental results indicate that the chloride diffusion coefficient decreases with the increase of time and the decrease of w/c ratio. The trend of simulated relationship （diffusion coefficient vs time, diffusion coefficient vs w/c ratio） fits very well with the experiments.

Effects of Mineral Admixtures on Chloride Diffusion in Environment-Friendly Coral Aggregate Concrete

Coral materials can replace concrete aggregates and achieve material self sufficiency for reducing the construction costs of island projects.This paper studies the effects of different mineral admixtures on the properties of coral aggregate concrete(CAC).The chloride concentration of CAC after different erosion times is measured using the potentiometric method,and the porosity of the CAC is ca lculated using thermogravimetric and drying methods.The chloride concentration of the CAC presents a two-phases dis tribution.The peak chloride concentration fol-lowed a power function,increasing with the erosion time.The chloride diffusion coefficient of CAC is 7.9%-37.5%larger than that of ordinary aggregate concrete,and the addition of 15% fly ash and 5%silica fume can significantly reduce the chloride diffusion coefficient,with a maximum reduction of 45.0%.The porosity obtained via the thermogravimetric and drying methods is well correlated.The porosity has a strong negative correlation with the compressive strength and a strong positive correlation with the chloride diffusion coefficient.

Investigation in Mathematical Models of Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Concrete Exposed to Marine Environment

Degradation of RC （reinforced concrete） in maritime structures has become a worldwide problem due to its excessive costs of maintenance, repair and replacement in addition to its environmental impacts and safety issues. Degradation of both concrete and steel which is the main reason of reduction in the service life of RC structures strongly depends on the diffusion process of moisture and aggressive species. In this paper, the major and popular mathematical models of diffusion process in concrete are surveyed and investigated. Predominantly in these models, the coefficient of chloride diffusion into the concrete is assumed to be constant. Whereas, experimental records indicate that diffusion coefficient is a function of time. Subsequently, data analysis and comparisons between the existing analytical models for predicting the diffusion coefficient with the existing experimental database are carried out in this study. Clearly, these comparisons reveal that there are gaps between the existing mathematical models and previously recorded experimental results. Perhaps, these gaps may be interpreted as influence of the other affecting parameters on the diffusion coefficient such as temperature, aggregate size and relative humidity in addition to the water cement ratio. Accordingly, the existing mathematical models are not adequate enough to predict the diffusion coefficient precisely and further studies need to be performed.

Chloride diffusion in concrete with carbonated recycled coarse aggregates under biaxial compression

Chloride attack on concrete structures is affected by the complex stress state inside concrete,and the effect of recycled aggregates renders this process more complex.Enhancing the chloride resistance of recycled concrete in a complex environment via carbonization facilitates the popularization and application of recycled concrete and alleviates the greenhouse effect.In this study,the chloride ion diffusion and deformation properties of recycled concrete after carbonization are investigated using a chloride salt load-coupling device.The results obtained demonstrate that the chloride ion diffusivity of recycled concrete first decreases and then increases as the compressive load increases,which is consistent with the behavior of concrete,in that it first undergoes compressive deformation,followed by crack propagation.Carbonation enhances the performance of the recycled aggregates and reduces their porosity,thereby reducing the chloride diffusion coefficient of the recycled concrete under different compressive load combinations.The variation in the chloride ion diffusivity of the carbonized recycled aggregate concrete with the load is consistent with a theoretical formula.

Test and prediction of chloride diffusion in recycled aggregate concrete

Recycled aggregate concrete （RAC） specimens with different recycled zoarse aggregate replacement ratios by mass （R） are fully immersed in a 10% chloride solution for 235 days. Both free chloride concentration （CI） and total chloride concentration （Ct） are then measured employing a rapid chloride test （RCT） system. The Fick＇s second diffusion law is verified by the test data and used to predict chloride concentration distribution at different immersion periods. Addilionally, pore structures of the new and old mortar in RAC are tested by mercury intrusion porosimetrV （MIP）. It is found that bind- ing chloride concentration （Cb） linearly increases with Cf. In natural aggregate concrete （NAC）, Cf is obviously smaller than that in the RAC in the same testing environment and this is different from the test results of Ct and Cb. Furthermore, the effects of R on the chloride concentration of RAC become severe for specimens subjected to long immersion periods, which can be explained in terms of the pore structures of the new mortar and old adhesive mortar in RAC.

Multi-scale Modeling of the Effective Chloride Ion Diffusion Coefficient in Cement-based Composite Materials

N-layered spherical inclusions model was used to calculate the effective diffusion coefficient of chloride ion in cement-based materials by using multi-scale method and then to investigate the relationship between the diffusivity and the microstructure of cement-basted materials where the microstructure included the interfacial transition zone （ITZ） between the aggregates and the bulk cement pastes as well as the microstructure of the bulk cement paste itself. For the convenience of applications, the mortar and concrete were considered as a four-phase spherical model, consisting of cement continuous phase, dispersed aggregates phase, interface transition zone and their homogenized effective medium phase. A general effective medium equation was established to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the hardened cement paste by considering the microstructure. During calculation, the tortuosity （n） and constrictivity factors （Ds/Do） of pore in the hardened pastes are n^3.2, Ds/Do=l.Ox 10-4 respectively from the test data. The calculated results using the n-layered spherical inclusions model are in good agreement with the experimental results; The effective diffusion coefficient of ITZ is 12 times that of the bulk cement for mortar and 17 times for concrete due to the difference between particle size distribution and the volume fraction of aggregates in mortar and concrete.

Effect of Fly Ash on Frost-Resistance and Chloride Ions Diffusion Properties of Marine Concrete

It is necessary to pay more attention to the durability of concrete undergoing freeze-thaw cycles and seawater attack simultaneously.Investigated are the effects of water-binder ratio,fly ash（FA）contents and air-entraining agent on resistance to frost and chloride diffusion of marine concrete blended with FA in natural seawater.The results show that fly ash does not improve the frost resistance of concrete but can improve its resistance to chloride diffusion by addition of less than 30%.The resistance to frost and chloride diffusion of FA concrete can be improved with the decrease of water-binder ratio,and FA may improve both of them simultaneously only being mixed with air-entraining agent.A ratio（named as R）of the frost-resisting durability factor to chloride diffusion coefficient can be used to evaluate the durability of marine concrete.Scanning electron microscope（SEM）analyses are consistent with the evaluations by the value of R.

Cellular Automata-based Chloride Ion Diffusion Simulation of Concrete Bridges under Multi-factor Coupling Actions

In order to accurately simulate the diffusion of chloride ion in the existing concrete bridge and acquire the precise chloride ion concentration at given time, a cellular automata （CA）-based model is proposed. The process of chloride ion diffusion is analyzed by the CA-based method and a nonlinear solution of the Fick＇s second law is obtained. Considering the impact of various factors such as stress states, temporal and spatial variability of diffusion parameters and water-cement ratio on the process of chloride ion diffusion, the model of chloride ion diffusion under multi-factor coupling actions is presented. A chloride ion penetrating experiment reported in the literature is used to prove the effectiveness and reasonability of the present method, and a T-type beam is taken as an illustrative example to analyze the process of chloride ion diffusion in practical application. The results indicate that CA-based method can simulate the diffusion of chloride ion in the concrete structures with acceptable precision.

Convolutional Neural Network-Based Regression for Predicting the Chloride Ion Diffusion Coefficient of Concrete

The durability performance of reinforced concrete(RC)building structures is significantly affected by the corrosion of the steel reinforcement due to chloride penetration,thus,the chloride ion diffusion coefficient should be investigated through experiments or theoretical equations to assess the durability of an RC structure.This study aims to predict the chloride ion diffusion coefficient of concrete,a heterogeneous material.A convolutional neural network(CNN)-based regression model that learns the condition of the concrete surface through deep learning,is developed to efficiently obtain the chloride ion diffusion coefficient.For the model implementation to determine the chloride ion diffusion coefficient,concrete mixes with w/c ratios of 0.33,0.40,0.46,0.50,0.62,and 0.68,are cured for 28 days;subsequently,the surface image data of the specimens are collected.Finally,the proposed model predicts the chloride ion diffusion coefficient using the concrete surface image data and exhibits an error of approximately 1.5E−12 m^(2)/s.The results suggest the applicability of proposed model to the field of facility maintenance for estimating the chloride ion diffusion coefficient of concrete using images.

Probabilistic Assessment of Reinforcing Steel Depassivation in Concrete under Aggressive Chloride Environments Based on Natural Exposure Data

The probability distributions of the critical threshold chloride concentration Ccr, the chloride diffusion coefficient D, and the surface chloride concentration Cs are determined based on the collected natural exposure data, and the probability estimation of reinforcement depassivation in concrete is presented using Monte-Carlo simulation. From sensitivity analysis of mean value for ccr, cs, and D on the depassivation probability of reinforcement, it is found that ccr, cs, and D respectively has the greatest, smaller, and the lowest effect on the probability of depassivation. Finally the effect of stress state of concrete on the reinforcement depassivation probability is analyzed. It is found that the influence of stress state becomes apparent as exposure time increases.

Non-steady State Chloride Migration and Binding in Cracked Self-compacting Concrete

We adopted a notch method to study the influence of crack width （macro level） on chloride transport and binding of cracked concrete under a non-steady state migration test. The results show that migration coefficient of cracked concrete increases with increasing crack width up to a critical value （0.43 mm）, for the whole concrete or the area close to crack; the increase of migration coefficient could be independent from crack parameter when a critical crack width is reached. For chloride binding, Langmuir isotherms of cracked concrete samples exhibit the similar decreasing trend as crack width increases from 0.27 to 1.96 mm. The increased current value could be responsible for the trend based on the hypothesis of electric force.

Chloride diffusivity in flexural cracked Portland cement concrete and fly ash concrete beams

In order to examine the effect of load-induced transverse cracks on the chloride penetration in flexural concrete beams, two different concretes, Portland cement concrete(PCC) and fly ash concrete(FAC), were tested with various crack widths. Total 14 reinforced concrete(RC) beams, ten of which were self-anchored in a three-point bending mode, were immersed into a 5% NaCl solution with the condition of dry-wet cycles. Then, the free chloride ion contents were determined by rapid chloride testing(RCT) method. Based on the proposed analytical models of chloride penetration in sound and cracked concrete subjected to dry-wet cycles, the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient and chloride diffusivity of concrete were discussed. It can be found that the performance of chloride diffusivity in both concretes will be improved with the increase of crack width, and that the influence of convection action will also be augmented. Based on the two samples obtained in sound concrete after 15 and 30 cycles, the time-exponent, m, for chloride diffusion coefficient was determined to be 0.58, 0.42, 0.62 and 0.77 for PCC1, PCC2, FAC1 and FAC2 specimens, respectively. Finally, two influencing factors of fly ash content and crack width on chloride diffusivity were obtained by regression analysis of test data, and it can be seen that factors kf and kw can be expressed with quadratic polynomial functions of fly ash content, f, and crack width, w, respectively.

Effect of Chloride Type on Penetration of Chloride Ions in Concrete

The influence of chloride type on the diffusivity of chloride ions in concrete was studied by experiment. The result shows that the glectric resistance of concrete and the chloride diffusion coefficient are influenced by chloride type. For the same water/cement ratio (W/C), the diffusion coefficient D in KCl solution is larger than that in NaCl solution; however, the concrete resistance in KCl solution is smaller than that in NaCl solution. The experimental result is analyzed with theory of diffusion.

Three-Dimensional Multi-Phase Microscopic Simulation of Service Life of Recycled Large Aggregate Self-Compacting Concrete

Recycled large aggregate self-compacting concrete (RLA-SCC) within multiple weak areas. These weak areas have poor resistance to chloride ion erosion, which affects the service life of RLA-SCC in the marine environment. A three-dimensional multi-phase mesoscopic numerical model of RLA-SCC was established to simulate the chloride ions transportation in concrete. Experiments of RLA-SCC immersing in chloride solution were carried out to verify the simulation results. The effects of recycled large aggregate (RLA) content and RLA particle size on the service life of concrete were explored. The results indicate that the mesoscopic numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. At the same depth, the closer to the surface of the RLA, the greater the chloride ion concentration. The service life of RLA-SCC in marine environment decreases with the increase of RLA content. Compared with the service life of 20% content, the service life of 25% and 30% content decreased by 20% and 42% respectively. Increasing the particle size of RLA can effectively improve the service life of RLA-SCC in chloride environment. Compared with the service life of 50 mm particle size, the service life of 70 mm and 90 mm increased by 61% and 163%, respectively. .

Durability of sea-sand containing concrete:Effects of chloride ion penetration

This paper describes an orthogonal experiment on the effect of water/cement ratio,water consumption per cubic meter,curing time,and type of sand on the response＂resistance to chloride ion penetration＂.A sea-sand containing concrete was used for the trials.An analysis of chloride ion diffusion coefficients at different factor levels was performed.A predictive model of chloride ion diffusion in concrete is developed through regression analysis.The experimental results show that when the water/cement ratio varies from 0.45 to 0.60,and the water consumption per cubic meter varies from 185 to 215 kg,and the curing time varies from 30 to 180 d then the size of the effects fall in the order（most significant first）： curing time,type of sand,water consumption per cubic meter,and water/cement ratio.Chloride ion penetration is reduced,and better durability of the concrete is observed,with longer curing times,less water consumption per cubic meter,and a smaller water/cement ratio.

The Transport Properties of Concrete under the Simultaneous Coupling of Fatigue Load and Environment Factors

A set of coupling experimental instrument was designed to study the transport properties of chloride ion in concrete under simultaneous coupling action of fatigue load and environmental factors. Firstly the water-saturated performance of modem concrete was investigated, then diffusion performance of chloride ion under different stress levels and different temperature were studied respectively; meanwhile, the time- dependent behavior of the chloride ion diffusion in concrete was also researched. The results showed that the saturation degree of concrete can reach as high as 99%. Besides, diffusion coefficient of chloride ion increased with increasing of the stress level and temperature, and when the stress level and temperature are at 0.6 and 60 ℃ respectively, the diffusion coefficient is 6.3 ×10 -14 m2/s, moreover the diffusion coefficient of chloride ion in concrete decreased with time under the simultaneous coupling action of fatigue load and environment factors.