Influence of Boundary and Initial Condition on Durability of Concrete Structures Exposed to Chloride Environment

According to investigations of apparent surface chloride contents and chloride penetration profile of concrete structures exposed to chloride environment, the influences of boundary and initial conditions, geometry parameters such as the geometry dimension and section shape, etc. were discussed. Based on the Fick’s second law of diffusion and different boundary and initial conditions, different analytical models to predict the chloride penetration profile in concrete structural members with different boundary and initial conditions were derived. Some calculations examples were made using those analytical models. Computational results show that the boundary and initial conditions have remarkable influences on chloride penetration profile and service life time of concrete structures. Using prevailing error-function solution model based on the semi-infinite assumption of chloride ingress, the prediction of service life time of concrete structures are over evaluated, in particular for the steel reinforcement in corner of the section. Some modify coefficients should be taken into consideration, concerning the influences of boundary and initial conditions.