Prediction of extent and liklihood of corrosion-induced cracking in reinforced concrete bridge decks

Corrosion of reinforcement due to frequently applied deicing salts is the major source of deterioration of concrete bridge decks, e.g. severe cracking and spalling of the concrete cover. Since crack width is easily recordable in routine visual inspections there is a motivation to use it as an appropriate indicator of condition of RC bridge elements in decision making process of bridge management. While few existing research in literature dealing with spatial variation of corrosion-induced cracking of RC structures is based on empirical models, in this paper the extent and likelihood of severe cracking of a hypothetical bridge deck during its lifetime is calculated based on a recently proposed analytical model for corrosion-induced crack width. Random field theory has been utilized to account for spatial variations of surface chloride concentration, as environmental parameter, and concrete compressive strength and cover depth as design parameters. This analysis enables to track evolution of cracking process, spatially and temporally, and predict the time for the first repair of bridge deck based on acceptable extent of cracked area. Furthermore based on a sensitivity analysis it is concluded that increasing cover depth has a very promising effect in delaying corrosion phenomenon and extension of the service life of bridge decks.