Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of accelerated carbonation conditions on the characterization of load-induced damage in reinforced concrete members

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reinforced concrete is widely used in the construction of buildings, historical monuments and also nuclear power plants. For various reasons, many concrete structures are subject to unavoidable cracks that accelerate the diffusion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the steel/concrete interface. Carbonation at the interface induces steel corrosion that may cause the development of new cracks in the structure, and this is a determining factor for its durability. It is therefore important to accurately characterize the length of the load-induced damage along the steel/concrete interface in order to understand the effect of cracking on corrosion initiation and propagation. The aim of this paper is to present an experimental procedure that allows the load-induced damage length to be assessed. The procedure consists in subjecting specimens to accelerated carbonation and determining the length of the carbonated steel/mortar interface, which is assumed to be equal to the length of the damaged steel/mortar interface. Suitable conditions should therefore be found for the accelerated carbonation in order to obtain an accurate characterization of the damaged steel/mortar interface length. To this end, two carbonation concentrations (3, 50%) and several carbonation durations were tested. The results indicate that a strong carbonation shrinkage phenomenon develops at high carbon dioxide concentration and leads to new cracking along the steel/mortar interface. These cracks allow the carbon dioxide to spread along the interface over a length greater than the damaged length. This is not the case when the accelerated carbonation test is performed at lower carbon dioxide concentration. Consequently, accelerated carbonation at high carbon dioxide concentration (50%) cannot be used neither for the estimation of the length of the mechanically damaged steel/mortar interface nor for the carbonation-induced corrosion studies because it will lead to an overestimation of the size of the corroded area.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schießl P, Raupach M (1997) Laboratory Studies and Calculations on the Influence of Crack Width on Chloride-Induced Corrosion of Steel in Concrete. ACI Mater J 94:56–61

    Google Scholar 

  2. Tuutti K (1982) Corrosion of steel in concrete. Cement and Concrete Research Institute, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  3. François R, Arliguie G (1999) Effect of microcraking and cracking on the development of corrosion in reinforced concrete members. Mag Concr Res 51:143–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Arya C, Ofori-Darko FK (1996) Influence of crack frequency on reinforcement corrosion in concrete. Cem Concr Res 26:345–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Berke NS, Dallaire MP, Hicks MC, Hoopes RJ (1993) Corrosion of steel in cracked concrete. Corros Sci 49:934–943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mohammed TU, Otsuki N, Hisada M, Shibata T (2001) Effect of crack width and bar types on corrosion of steel in concrete. J Mater Civ Eng 13:194–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. François R, Maso JC (1988) Effect of damage in reinforced concrete on carbonation or chloride penetration. Cem Concr Res 18:961–970

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Tremper B (1947) The corrosion of reinforcing steel in cracked concrete. J Proc 43:1137–1144

  9. Vesikari E (1981) Corrosion of reinforcing steels at cracks in concrete. In: NASA STI/Recon Tech. Rep. N, vol 83

  10. Bertolini L, Elsener B, Pedeferri P, Redaelli E, Polder RB (2005) Corrosion of steel in concrete: prevention, diagnosis, repair. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  11. L’Hostis V, Millard A, Perrin S, Burger E, Neff D, Dillmann P (2011) Modelling the corrosion-induced cracking of reinforced concrete structures exposed to the atmosphere. Mater Corros 62:943–947

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Markeset G, Myrdal R (2008) Modelling of reinforcement corrosion in concrete-state of the art. SINTEF Building and Infrastructure

  13. Dang VH, François R, L’Hostis V, Meinel D (2015) Propagation of corrosion in pre-cracked carbonated reinforced mortar. Mater Struct 48:2575–2595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gehlen C (2004) Influence of cracks upon corrosion. In: European Union—Fifth Framework Pro-gramme, GROWTH 2000. Contract G1RD-CT-2000-00467, Project GRD1-25633, Report R4 of Workpackage 2.1, p 55

  15. Alahmad S, Toumi A, Verdier J, François R (2009) Effect of crack opening on carbon dioxide penetration in cracked mortar samples. Mater Struct 42:559–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. XP P18–458 (2008) essai pour béton durci - essai de carbonatation accélérée - mesure de l’épaisseur de béton carbonaté

  17. Castellote M, Fernandez L, Andrade C, Alonso C (2009) Chemical changes and phase analysis of OPC pastes carbonated at different CO2 concentrations. Mater Struct 42:515–525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Thiel C, Beddoe R, Lowke D, and Gehlen C (2014) Accelerated carbonation: changes in water transport, porosity and phases of mortar due to different CO2 pressures. In: Proceedings of the 10th fib international Ph.D. symposium in civil engineering, pp 217–221

  19. Bary B, Mügler C (2006) Simplified modelling and numerical simulations of concrete carbonation in unsaturated conditions. Rev Eur Génie Civ 10:1049–1072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Turcry P, Oksri-Nelfia L, Younsi A, Aït-Mokhtar A (2014) Analysis of an accelerated carbonation test with severe preconditioning. Cem Concr Res 57:70–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Johnstone J, Glasser F (1992) Carbonatation of portlandite single crystals and portlandite in cement paste. In: 9th international congress on the chemistry of cement, pp 370–376

  22. Galan I, Glasser FP, Baza D, Andrade C (2015) Assessment of the protective effect of carbonation on portlandite crystals. Cem Concr Res 74:68–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yang T, Keller B, Magyari E, Hametner K, Günther D (2003) Direct observation of the carbonation process on the surface of calcium hydroxide crystals in hardened cement paste using an atomic force microscope. J Mater Sci 38:1909–1916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Groves G, Rodway D, Richardson I (1990) The carbonation of hardened cement pastes. Adv Cem Res 3:117–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Groves GW, Brough A, Richardson IG, Dobson CM (1991) Progressive changes in the structure of hardened C3S cement pastes due to carbonation. J Am Ceram Soc 74:2891–2896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Morandeau A, Thiery M, Dangla P (2014) Investigation of the carbonation mechanism of CH and C–S–H in terms of kinetics, microstructure changes and moisture properties. Cem Concr Res 56:153–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Verbeck GJ (1958) Carbonation of Hydrated Portland Cement. Cem Concr Spec Tech Publ 205:17–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hunt CM, Tomes LA (1962) Reaction of blended Portland Cement Paste with Carbon- dioxide. J Res Natl Bur Stand 1934(66A):473–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Swenson E, Sereda P (1968) Mechanism of the carbonation shrinkage of lime and hydrated cement. J Appl Chem 18:111–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen JJ, Thomas JJ, Jennings HM (2006) Decalcification shrinkage of cement paste. Cem Concr Res 36:801–809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Faucon P, Gerard B, Jacquinot J, Marchand J (1998) Water attack of a cement paste: towards an improved accelerated test? Adv Cem Res 10:67–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Dang VH, François R, L’Hostis V (2013) Effects of pre-cracks on both initiation and propagation of re-bar corrosion in pure carbon dioxide. In: International workshop NUCPERF 2012 long-term performance of cement barriers and reinforced concrete in nuclear power plant and radioactive waste storage and disposal (RILEM Event TC 226-CNM EFC Event 351), vol 56, pp 1–11

  33. François R, Khan I, Vu NA, Mercado H, Castel A (2012) Study of the impact of localised cracks on the corrosion mechanism. Eur J Environ Civ Eng 16:392–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Michel A, Solgaard AOS, Pease BJ, Geiker MR, Stang H, Olesen JF (2013) Experimental investigation of the relation between damage at the concrete-steel interface and initiation of reinforcement corrosion in plain and fibre reinforced concrete. Corros Sci 77:308–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Pease BJ (2010) Influence of concrete cracking on ingress and reinforcement corrosion. Thesis, Technical University of Denmark

  36. Pease B, Geiker M, Stang H, Weiss J (2011) The design of an instrumented rebar for assessment of corrosion in cracked reinforced concrete. Mater Struct 44:1259–1271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Yoon S, Wang K, Weiss WJ, Shah SP (2000) Interaction between loading, corrosion, and serviceability of reinforced concrete. Mater J 97:637–644

    Google Scholar 

  38. Gagné R, François R, Masse P (2001) Chloride penetration testing of cracked mortar samples. Concr Under Sev Cond 1:198–205

    Google Scholar 

  39. Drouet E (2010) Impact de la température sur la carbonatation des matériaux cimentaires - prise en compte des transferts hydriques. Ph.D. thesis, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan

  40. Galan I, Andrade C, Castellote M (2013) Natural and accelerated CO2 binding kinetics in cement paste at different relative humidities. Cem Concr Res 49:21–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Wierig H (1984) Longtime studies on the carbonation of concrete under normal outdoor exposure. In: Proceedings of RILEM, Hann. Univ., pp 239–249

  42. Hyvert N (2009) Application de l’approche probabiliste à la durabilité des produits préfabriqués en béton. Ph.D. thesis, Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse III

Download references

Acknowledgements

The experiments reported in this paper were conducted in the LECBA Laboratory at CEA Saclay and in the LMDC Laboratory of INSA Toulouse. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the industrial partner EDF.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Den-Service d’Etude du Comportement des Radionucléides (SECR), CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Rita Maria Ghantous, Stéphane Poyet & Valérie L’Hostis

  2. EDF, R&D, MMC, F-77818, Moret-sur-Loing Cedex, France

    Nhu-Cuong Tran

  3. Laboratoire Matériaux et Durabilité des Constructions, Université de Toulouse, INSA, UPS, F-31077, Toulouse Cedex 4, France

    Rita Maria Ghantous & Raoul François

Authors
  1. Rita Maria Ghantous
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stéphane Poyet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Valérie L’Hostis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nhu-Cuong Tran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Raoul François
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rita Maria Ghantous.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ghantous, R.M., Poyet, S., L’Hostis, V. et al. Effect of accelerated carbonation conditions on the characterization of load-induced damage in reinforced concrete members. Mater Struct 50, 175 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-017-1044-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-017-1044-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation