Simulation of chloride penetration into concrete structures subjected to both cyclic flexural loads and tidal effects

Chloride induced corrosion is a concern that governs the durability of concrete structures in marine environments, especially in tidal environments. During the service lives of concrete structures, internal cracks in the concrete cover may appear due to imposed loads, accelerating chloride penetration because of the simultaneous action of environmental and service structural loads. This paper investigated the effects of cyclic flexural loads on chloride diffusion characteristics of plain concretes, and proposed a model to predict the chloride penetration into plain concretes subjected to both tidal environments and different cyclic flexural load levels. Further, a new experiment was performed to verify the model. Results of the model using Finite Difference Method (FDM) showed that the durability of concretes in tidal environments was reduced as cyclic flexural load levels, SR, increased, and the modeling results fitted well with the experimental results.