A Carbonation and Chloride Induced Corrosion Model for Hot-dip Galvanised Reinforcement Bar Material in Concrete

This paper focuses on methodological issues relevant to corrosion risk prediction models. A model was developed for the prediction of corrosion rates associated with hot-dip galvanised reinforcement bar material in concrete exposed to carbonation and chlorides in outdoor environment. One-year follow-up experiments, over five years, were conducted at various carbonation depths and chloride contents. The observed dependence of corrosion rate on the depth of carbonation and chloride content is complex indicating that the interaction between the carbonation and chloride influencing the corrosion. A non-linear corrosion model was proposed with statistical analysis to model the relationship between the corrosion rate and the test parameters. The main methodological contributions are (i) the proposed modeling approach able to take into account the uncertain measurement errors including unobserved systematic and random heterogeneity over different measured specimens and correlation for the same specimen across different measuring times, which best suits the measurement data; (ii) the developed model in which an interaction parameter is introduced especially to account for the contribution and the degree of the unobserved carbonation-chloride interaction. The proposed model offers greater flexibility for the modelling of measurement data than traditional models.