Chloride-Induced Corrosion of RC Structures

This paper describes the service life of the reinforced concrete (RC) structures in chlorideladen environments. Presence of chloride ions is the most important causes of reinforcingsteel corrosion and the subsequent failure of the whole structure. In this paper, the rate ofchloride transport in the concrete is defined using Fick’s second law of diffusion. Variousstages of corrosion process are defined base on the available models. A stochastic model isintroduced for RC structures corrosion initiation period and cover cracking time period. It isconcluded that a “Lognormal” distribution might best describe the initiation period ofcorrosion. Moreover, it is found that the “Lognormal” and “Normal” distributions coulddefine the cracking time of RC structures elements appropriately.