Modelling of service life for a concrete structure exposed to seawater for 30 years

This paper presents the results from the modelling of service life in a concrete structure after 30 years’ exposure under the seawater. Both the DuraCrete model and the ClinConc model were used for prediction of chloride penetration profiles. Actual chloride penetration profiles were measured from the cores taken from the structure. The chloride transport properties in the non-chloride contaminated part of the concrete were measured using the Rapid Chloride Migration Test (NT BUILD 492). The modelled chloride profiles were compared with the measured ones. The results show that the ClinConc model predicted the chloride penetration depths with an adequate accuracy. Based on the modelled results it can be concluded that alkali leaching can dramatically change chloride binding capacity, resulting in flat chloride penetration profiles. When using the DuraCrete model for predicting chloride penetration profiles the parameter for the surface chloride content has to be adjusted from the recommended value of 10.3 to 3.4 in order to make the predicted profiles comparable with the actually measured ones