Resistance of concrete to carbonation and chloride ingress: testing results and service life prediction

Abstract

Reinforcement corrosion due to carbonation and chloride ingress is one of the main deterioration mechanisms of reinforced concrete structures. There is a special concern about concrete structures with a very long demanded service life such as nuclear power plants. The focus of the paper is on the durability properties of concrete with intended use in containers for radioactive waste disposal. Processes of carbonation and chloride ingress are described together with their existing models. Experimental results of accelerated carbonation test and rapid chloride migration test are presented. Obtained results are used for calculation of service life according to the fib-Model Code provisions. Probabilistic approach with the FORM analysis performed over the results of accelerated carbonation depth give the relation between the depth of concrete cover and reliability index for the targeted service life of 300 years. Calculated chloride diffusion coefficient is used for qualitative comparison with the existing data from the literature. It is also used for estimation of concrete cover thickness in order to secure demanded service life. The conclusion of the conducted tests and analysis is that this type of concrete possesses very high durability performance and can be used for intended purpose.