A numerical approach to the study of chloride ion penetration into concrete

Abstract

This paper deals with a key aspect of concrete durability, namely, the ingress of chloride ions into concrete exposed to a saline environment. The work numerically studies the movement of chloride ions in the pore structure by diffusion. This is achieved by treating the porous concrete material as a continuum and adopting a mass transport governing differential equation to serve as the basis of a numerical model. Some of the factors which affect the behaviour of chloride ions in concrete are accounted for by considering the diffusivity functions obtained from earlier studies. Good correlations are observed between numerical results obtained herein and those from studies of laboratory and field specimens. This confirms that, with some efforts, the model can be seen upon as a reliable tool.