Phase-field method for modeling non-uniform corrosion-induced cracking in concrete.

Non-uniform corrosion of rebar leads to the cracking of the concrete cover, which reduces the reliability of structures and increases maintenance costs. In this paper, we present a coupled phase-field model at the mesoscale to investigate the time-dependent process of non-uniform corrosion-induced cover cracking. This model couples chloride and oxygen diffusion, electrochemical reaction, and concrete cover cracking. A time-dependent non-uniform corrosion model is established based on chloride diffusion and electrochemical theory by considering the cracking effect. The cracking behavior of the concrete cover is described using a phase-field regularized cohesive zone model. The model was verified against several experiments available in the literature. Parametric studies were conducted to observe the effects of the crack and chloride diffusion coefficient, the interaction between the corrosion of multiple rebars, and the crack characteristics in three dimensions. • The non-uniform corrosion model is based on chloride diffusion and electrochemical theory. • The effect of corrosion-induced cracks on the diffusion process is considered. • The characteristics of rebar corrosion and concrete cracking in 2D and 3D are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]