Chloride diffusion in concrete containing nano-TiO2 under coupled effect of scouring

The advantage of concrete containing nano-TiO2 in resisting the coupled effects of chloride diffusion and scouring with respect to pure concrete was studied in this paper. Because of the movement in exposed concrete surface induced by scouring and the deterioration in concrete microstructure caused by chloride salt accumulation, an increasing mutual accelerative effect between the chloride diffusion and the scouring abrasion was experimental observed, which agreed with the theoretical simulation results. Benefited from the improvement in microstructure and porosity compared with the pure concrete, concrete containing 1% nano-TiO2 in the weight of cement showed a better impermeability as well as the abradability. Correspondingly, a better performance in resisting the coupled effects of chloride diffusion and scouring was founded for the concrete containing nano-TiO2 compared to the pure concrete, and this advantage increased upon the time. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.