Study of changes in the kinetic parameters of corrosion on the macrocell current induced by the repair of reinforced concrete structures - Results of numerical simulation

Corrosion of reinforcing bars in reinforced concrete structures due to chloride attack in environments containing chloride ions is one of the most important factors in the destruction of concrete structures. According to the abundant reports that the corrosion rate around the repair area has increased due to the macro-cell current known as the incipient anode, it is necessary to understand the effective parameters. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the kinetic parameters of corrosion including the cathodic Tafel slope, exchange current density, and equilibrium potential in repair materials on the total corrosion rate and maximum corrosion rate in the patch repair system. With the numerical simulation of the patch repair system and concerning the effect of parameters such as electromotive force (substrate concrete activity level), length of repair area, and resistivity of substrate and repair concrete, and with constant other parameters, the sensitivity of the macro-cell current caused by changes in the kinetic parameters of corrosion of the repairing materials has been investigated. The results show that the maximum effect on the macro-cell current values occurred with the change of cathodic Tafel slope, and the effect change of exchange current density and the equilibrium potential is almost the same. In the low repair extant and low resistivity of the repairing materials, with the increase in the electromotive force (degree of substrate concrete activity) of the patch repair system, the sensitivity of the total corrosion current reduces with the reduction in the cathode Tafel slope. The overall corrosion current will be very sensitive to changes in the kinetic parameters of corrosion. The change in the cathodic Tafel slope from 0.16 to 0.12 V⁄dec and in 300 mV the electromotive force will translate into an increase of 200% of the total corrosion current. While the percentage of this change in currency density and equilibrium potential is 53 and 43 percent, respectively. Moreover, by increasing the electro-motive force, the sensitivity of the total corrosion current decreases or becomes constant. The maximum corrosion does not change significantly based on the modification of the corrosion kinetic parameters and the modification will not affect the maximum corrosion in the repair system. Given that the macro-cell current in addition to the repair geometry is influenced by the sections of reactions of cathodic, anodic, and ohmic drop in repair and base concrete materials, in different parameters depending on the dominance of each section, the sensitivity of the total current and maximum corrosion in each scenario will be different.