Non-uniform corrosion of steel in mortar induced by impressed current method: An experimental and numerical investigation

In this work, a new experimental method was proposed to rapidly induce non-uniform distribution of rust layers around steel bars in mortar and concrete. The proposed method is based on the impressed current method with short testing duration, but capable of inducing morphologies of rust distribution closer to those observed in natural corrosion environments than other existing methods. X-ray microtomography with image analysis techniques was implemented to quantify the rust formation and propagation in the proposed setups. A finite element model to systematically and semi-quantitatively investigate several experimental parameters (e.g., the distance between anode and cathode, the anode-to-cathode area ratio) was established and verified by a series of independent experimental programs.