Numerical simulation of chloride front movement into stressed reinforced concrete

This paper presents a study carried on the effect of damage imparted by the service loading on chloride diffusion in concrete. To appreciate the practical engineering application of the phenomenon, a beam of specified span under the influence of both dead and live loads was, first, designed. The effect of the damage was evaluated using a simplified damage model which maps the stress distribution in the beam's cross-section to a dimensionless damage parameter. As a result of the low concrete tensile strength as compared to its compressive strength, only the tensile stress distribution within the tensile zone was considered for the damage prediction. Also, as a result of the non-homogeneous nature of reinforced concrete section the transformed moment of inertia of the designed concrete section was used to arrive at the stress distribution. Validation of the approach was made with existing results from literature.