Numerical study on cracking and its effect on chloride transport in concrete subjected to external load

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures have been severely threatened by chloride attacks during long-term service, particularly under mechanical loading conditions. This study presents a multi-species and multi-phase model considering the time-dependent cracking in concrete. In addition to the crack propagation and chloride diffusion being individually modelled, these two processes are coupled by statistical learning approach, which is supposed to better reveal the influence of cracking on chloride transport. Meanwhile, the electrostatic potential generated by the inner charge imbalance and its effect on multi-species transport is also considered. The validity of the presented model is verified against third-party experiments following the standard of RILEM TC 246-TDC. The impact of different crack characteristics on chloride transport was carefully elaborated, and the effects caused by multi-species interactions, coupling between cracking and chloride ingress, as well as other environmental factors such as external concentration are also discussed in detail. The findings of presented study can better enhance the understanding on the deterioration of both durability and bearing capacity of RC structures.