Abstract:
Concrete is a highly heterogeneous composite material that is widely used in the construction
industry. At present with the development of new constituent materials, the durability of
concrete is the key factor in the service life predictions of structures. The durability of concrete
can be defined as its ability to resist against any sort of deterioration which depends on the
interaction with the service environment. This project mainly focuses on chloride-induced
corrosion and its effects on durability.
Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT) is a rapid indication of resistance for the penetration
of chloride ions which depends on the pore structure and pore solution characteristics. This
project examines the effect of fly ash content and curing period on RCPT. Results have shown
that there is a significant effect of those two factors on RCPT. In addition, relevant compressive
strength gain over a period of 28 days is also discussed. Once the RCPT was completed, the
chloride profile was obtained by collecting concrete powder samples at different depths.
Obtained chloride profiles were fitted into a nonlinear regression analysis, and chloride
penetration depths were calculated. Thereafter, the chloride diffusion coefficient was
determined from Fick’s second law using chloride profile and chloride penetration depth. It
was observed that the RCPT results can be directly used to determine the chloride diffusion
coefficient based on the expected chloride concentration as those two parameters show a linear
relationship.
Finally, a performance-based design approach was proposed to correlate RCPT values with Fib
Model code 2010, in order to predict the service life of corrosion affected - uncracked concrete.
