Degradation Law and Service Life Prediction Model of Tunnel Lining Concrete Suffered Combined Effects of Sulfate Attack and Drying–Wetting Cycles

Abstract

The present study explored the degradation law and service life prediction of tunnel lining concrete with different mineral admixtures under coupled actions of sulfate attack (SA) and drying–wetting (DW) cycles. The deterioration resistance coefficient (DRC) of compressive strength and influence coefficients of sulfate concentration, mineral admixture content, water/binder (w/b) ratio, and curing regime on DRC were studied. After that, a new service life prediction model based on damage mechanics was developed and analyzed. Results show that, by increasing the DW cycles, the DRC first increases and then decreases. DRCs of Ordinary Portland cement (OPC), fly ash (FA), and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) concrete linearly decrease with the increase of sulfate concentration, while the silica fume (SF) concrete displays a two-stage process; by increasing the admixture content, the DRCs of FA and GGBS concrete exhibit two distinct stages, while the SF concrete depicts a three-stage process; increasing the w/b ratio linearly decreases the DRC; the DRC of curing regime was sequenced as standard curing (SC) > fog curing (FC) > water curing (WC) > same condition curing (SCC). Based on the experimental results, the service life prediction model is applied and validated. The validation results show that the proposed model can accurately predict the lifetime of concrete with different mix proportions. Furthermore, it is found that the mineral admixture can effectively improve the lifetime of concrete, and the composite mineral admixture is more effective than a single mineral admixture in improving the lifetime of concrete.