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The effects of cyclic fluid pressure on time-dependent corrosion behaviour of offshore concrete caused by chloride ions

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Dandan Sun
Dandan Sun
Zhenjie Cao at Beijing Jiaotong University
Zhenjie Cao
Changfu Huang
Changfu Huang
Changfu Huang
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Chenfeng Ye
Chenfeng Ye
Chenfeng Ye
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The durability of the offshore reinforced concrete (RC) structures is influenced significantly by the chloride-induced corrosion on the reinforcement. In the present study, a numerical model was developed to access the transport behaviour of chloride within the concrete under cyclic fluid pressure induced by the rise and fall of the wave. The proposed chloride reactive transport model parameters were identified by performing a series of chloride diffusion tests. Results show that the concentration of free chloride in concrete is governed by the concentration of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) on concrete pore surface and its binding affinity. In addition, it was determined that there should be an optimal aggregate volume fraction which gives the highest durability of the offshore RC structures. While aggregates limit the penetration of chloride into concrete, the increase in the interfacial transition zone of concrete could enhance the diffusion of chloride ions. Furthermore, the cyclic fluid pressure significantly increases the long-term uptake of chloride ions and reduces the time to reach its corrosion initiation threshold.
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Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials (2022) 27:489–504
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11043-022-09556-x
The effects of cyclic fluid pressure on time-dependent
corrosion behaviour of offshore concrete caused by chloride
ions
Dandan Sun1,2 ·Zhenjie Cao2·Changfu Huang2·Chenfeng Ye3·Kai Wu1·
Lihai Zhang4
Received: 5 April 2022 / Accepted: 10 May 2022 / Published online: 30 May 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022
Abstract
The durability of the offshore reinforced concrete (RC) structures is influenced significantly
by the chloride-induced corrosion on the reinforcement. In the present study, a numerical
model was developed to access the transport behaviour of chloride within the concrete un-
der cyclic fluid pressure induced by the rise and fall of the wave. The proposed chloride
reactive transport model parameters were identified by performing a series of chloride dif-
fusion tests. Results show that the concentration of free chloride in concrete is governed by
the concentration of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) on concrete pore surface and its bind-
ing affinity. In addition, it was determined that there should be an optimal aggregate volume
fraction which gives the highest durability of the offshore RC structures. While aggregates
limit the penetration of chloride into concrete, the increase in the interfacial transition zone
of concrete could enhance the diffusion of chloride ions. Furthermore, the cyclic fluid pres-
sure significantly increases the long-term uptake of chloride ions and reduces the time to
reach its corrosion initiation threshold.
Keywords Offshore concrete structure ·Chloride ions ·C-S-H ·Cyclic fluid pressure ·
Reactive transport
1Introduction
Reinforcement corrosion is one of the critical factors that influence the durability of an
offshore reinforced concrete (RC) structure (Angst et al. 2009; Feldman et al. 1994; Martın-
K. Wu
wukai@tongji.edu.cn;sddmaterial@foxmail.com
1Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials (Tongji University), Ministry of
Education; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804,
China
2Technology Center, China Railway 15 Bureau Group CO., Ltd., Shanghai 200040, China
3Research and Development Center of Transportation Industry of New Material Technologies
Application for Highway Construction and Maintenance of Offshore Areas, Fuzhou 212413, China
4Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010,
Australia
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Fig. 2 outlines the schematic interaction between penetrated ions and hydrated compounds in concrete, with a focus on time-dependent porosity changes due to chloride, sulphate, and carbonation effects. Previous studies have detailed the chemical and physical binding of these ions with Calcium Aluminate (CA) composites and C-S-H binding [8,45,46]. ...
... When the chlorides are transported into the pores of the concrete through diffusion, it bounds with CA and, the free chlorides react and bind with C-S-H surfaces or react with CA components (C 3 A & C 4 AF) resulting to form Friedel's salt compound [45,46]. Only free chloride ions are considered to take part in the reaction; hence the reaction mass loss is due to binding with C-S-H. ...
... where, the theoretical initial concentrations of C-S-H, CA, Ca 2+ are from previous research [8,11,45] as given in the Table 1. ...
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