Influence of corrosion rate on rust penetration in concrete

Abstract

HONG Shuxian, ZHENG Fan, XING Feng, and DONG Biqin College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong Province, P. R. China Abstract: Rust penetration in pore structure of concrete cover happens after the reinforcement corrosion, which impedes the cracking development. To improve the accuracy of deducing the corrosion level of reinforcement from the crack width, reinforcements are designed to be corroded with different corrosion rates using different impressed current densities. Based on an inverse modeling method that consists of a combination of X-ray micro-computed tomography and the finite element method, the development of the modification coefficient of the rust volume is calculated to quantify the rust penetration and the influence of the corrosion rates. The results indicate that as the corrosion rate increases, the rust penetration decreases, and the modification coefficient of the rust volume increases. As the corrosion process develops, a decrease in the modification coefficient of the rust volume is found, which is independent of the corrosion rate. The modification coefficient of the rust volume decreases exponentially with the increase of corrosion rate. This study could provide a basis for the evaluation of reinforcement corrosion of reinforced concrete structures.