Numerical model for local corrosion of steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete structure

Reinforcement corrosion is the main cause of the durability failure of reinforced concrete (RC) structure. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical model of macro-cell corrosion is established to reveal the corrosion mechanisms of steel reinforcement in RC structure. Modified Direct Iteration Method (MDIM) is employed to solve the system of partial differential equations for reinforcement corrosion. Through the sensitivity analysis of electrochemical parameters, it is found that the average corrosion current density is more sensitive to the change of cathodic Tafel slope and anodic equilibrium potential, compared with the other electrochemical parameters. Furthermore, both the anode-to-cathode (A/C) ratio and the anodic length have significant influences on the average corrosion current density, especially when A/C ratio is less than 0.5 and anodic length is less than 35 mm. More importantly, it is demonstrated that the corrosion rate of semi-circumferential corrosion is much larger than that of circumferential corrosion for the same A/C ratio value. The simulation results can give a unique insight into understanding the detailed electrochemical corrosion processes of steel reinforcement in RC structure for application in service life prediction of RC structures in actual civil engineer.

Automated summary

Reinforcement corrosion is the main cause of durability failure in reinforced concrete structures. A 3D numerical model was established to investigate the corrosion mechanisms, revealing that the average corrosion current density is more sensitive to changes in cathodic Tafel slope and anodic equilibrium potential. Factors such as anode-to-cathode ratio and anodic length also significantly influence corrosion rates, particularly in scenarios where the A/C ratio is less than 0.5 and anodic length is less than 35 mm. The study also showed that semi-circumferential corrosion has a higher corrosion rate compared to circumferential corrosion for the same A/C ratio value.