Evaluation of Models for Service-Life Prediction of Reinforced Concrete Structures in Persian Gulf Marine Environment

Chloride ion ingress is one of the major problems that affect the durability of reinforced concrete structures such as bridge decks, concrete pavements, and other structures exposed to harsh saline environments. Therefore, durability based design of concrete structures in marine areas has gained great significance in recent decades and various mathematical models for estimating the service life of reinforced concrete have been proposed. In spite of comprehensive researches on the corrosion of reinforced concrete, there are still various controversial concepts. Effect of environmental conditions on durability of concrete structures is one of the most important issues. Hence, regional investigations are necessary for durability-based design and evaluation of the models proposed for service-life prediction. The Persian Gulf is one of the most aggressive regions of the world because of elevated temperature and humidity as well as high content of chloride ions in seawater. In this work, two probabilistic service-life prediction models and two other service-life models proposed by local research centers are studied and compared using chloride profiles obtained from marine RC structures located in the Persian Gulf region. The results show the various uncertainties in model predictions and incompatibility of non-local models with Persian Gulf region.