Probability-Based Durability Analysis of Concrete Structures under Chloride Attack Environments

Recently, a variety of researches has been carried out to obtain a more controlled durability and long-term performance of concrete structures under chloride attack environments. In particular, new procedures for probability-based durability analysis/design have been noticed to be very valuable for the enhancement of service life of concrete structures. Although there is still a lack of relevant data, this approach has been successfully applied to some new concrete structures. In this paper, the diffusion equation based on Fick's second law has been solved with a time dependent diffusion coefficient and the probabilistic analysis of the durability performance has been carried out by using a Monte Carlo Simulation. From the results, the influence of each parameter on the durability of concrete structures was investigated and the new procedure for durability analysis was demonstrated in terms of chloride penetration data from various concrete structures. The new procedure might be very useful in designing important concrete structures and help to predict the remaining service life of existing concrete structures under chloride attack environments.