APPLICATION OF AN ATMOSPHERIC CORROSION MODEL TO THE PREDICTION OF INDUCED DAMAGE IN REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

The prediction of concrete cracking due to corrosion is a major issue for the evaluation of the durability of structures and the choice of maintenance policies. Because of the complexity of the phenomenon, a fully predictive approach is still missing. The proposed work can be considered as one step in this direction. For the study of long term atmospheric corrosion of rebars embedded in concrete, a reactive transport model has been developed, considering the kinetic of oxygen diffusion through the system and its consumption at the metal/corrosion product layer interface as a function of concrete water saturation degree. Corrosion products growth can then be simulated and used as input to a mechanical model capable of predicting the damage induced by corrosion. This multi-physics model has been implemented and first applied to a simple bi-dimensional reinforced concrete slab, in order to investigate the development of the cracks pattern. Then the model has been applied to a three-dimensional beam, inspired from chloride corrosion experiments performed at LMDC (INSA Toulouse). Special attention has been given to the steel concrete interface degradation, in order to investigate its role in the corrosion propagation phase.