• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.497-504
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• 2020

Concrete can lose its alkalinity by concrete carbonation causing steel corrosion. Thus, the determination of the carbonation depth is necessary. An empirical model is proposed in this research to predict the carbonation depth of concrete using Gene expression programming (GEP). The GEP model was trained and validated using a large and reliable database collected from the literature. The model was developed using the six parameters that predominantly control the carbonation depth of concrete including carbon dioxide CO2 concentration, relative humidity, water-to-cement ratio, maximum aggregate size, aggregate to binder ratio and carbonation period. The model was statistically evaluated and then compared to the Jiang et al. model. A parametric study was finally performed to check the proposed GEP model's sensitivity to the selected input parameters.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2019

Metakaolin (MK), which is increasingly being used to produce high performance concrete, is produced by calcining purified kaolinite between 650 and $700^{\circ}C$ in a rotary kiln. The carbonation resistance of metakaolin blended concrete is lower than that of control concrete. Hence, it is critical to consider carbonation durability for rationally using metakaolin in the concrete industry. This study presents microstructure modeling during the carbonation of metakaolin blended concrete. First, based on a blended hydration mo del, the amount of carbonatable substances and porosity are determined. Second, based on the chemical reactions between carbon dioxide and carbonatable substances, the reduction of concrete porosity due to carbonation is calculated. Furthermore, $CO_2$ diffusivity is evaluated considering the concrete composition and exposed environment. The carbonation depth of concrete is analyzed using a diffusion-based model. The proposed microstructure model takes into account the influences of concrete composition, concrete curing, and exposure condition on carbonation. The proposed model is useful as a predetermination tool for the evaluation of the carbonation service life of metakaolin blended concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.241-252
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• 2023

Corrosion of rebar is one of the major deteriorating mechanisms that affect the durability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The increase in CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere leads to early carbonation and deterioration due to corrosion in RC structures. In the present study, an attempt has been made to modify the existing carbonation depth prediction empirical model. The modified empirical model is verified from the carbonation data collected from selected RC structures of CSIR-SERC campus, Chennai and carbonation data available from the reported literature on in-situ RC structures. Attempt also made to study the carbonation depth in the laboratory specimens using oxygen permeability index (OPI) test. The carbonation depth measured from RC structures and laboratory specimens are compared with estimated carbonation depth obtained from OPI test data. The modified empirical model shows good correlation with measured carbonation depth from the identified RC structures and the reported RC structures from the literature. The carbonation depth estimated from OPI values for both in-situ and laboratory specimens show lesser percentage of error compared to measured carbonation depth. From the present investigation it can be said that the OPI test is the suitable test method for both new and existing RC structures and laboratory RC specimens.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2017

The paper concerns concrete carbonation, the phenomena that occurs in every type of climate, especially in urban-industrial areas. In European Standards, including Eurocode (EC) for concrete structures the demanded durability of construction located in the conditions of the carbonation threat is mainly assured by the selection of suitable thickness of reinforcement cover. According to EC0 and EC2, the thickness of the cover in the particular class of exposure depends on the structural class/category and concrete compressive strength class which is determined by cement content and water-cement ratio (thus the quantitative composition) but it is not differentiated for various cements, nor additives (i.e., qualitative composition), nor technological types of concrete. As a consequence the selected thickness of concrete cover is in fact a far estimation - sometimes too exaggerated (too safe or too risky). The paper presents the elaborated "self-terminated carbonation model" that includes abovementioned factors and enables to indicate the maximal possible depth of carbonation. This is possible because presented model is a hyperbolic function of carbonation depth in time (the other models published in the literature use the parabolic function that theoretically assume the infinite increase of carbonation depth value). The paper discusses the presented model in comparison to other models published in the literature, moreover it contains the algorithm of concrete cover design with use of the model as well as an example of calculation of the cover thickness.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.177-192
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• 2011

This research paper aims at computer based modeling of carbonation induced corrosion under extreme conditions and its experimental verification by incorporating enhanced electrochemical and mass balance equations based on thermo-hygro physics with strong coupling of mass transport and equilibrium in micro-pore structure of carbonated concrete for which the previous research data is limited. In this paper the carbonation induced electrochemical corrosion model is developed and coupled with carbon dioxide transport computational model by the use of a concrete durability computer based model DuCOM developed by our research group at concrete laboratory in the University of Tokyo and its reliability is checked in the light of experiment results of carbonation induced corrosion mass loss obtained in this research. The comparison of model analysis and experiment results shows a fair agreement. The carbonation induced corrosion model computation reasonably predicts the quantitative behavior of corrosion rate for normal air dry relative humidity conditions. The computational model developed also shows fair qualitative corrosion rate simulation and analysis for various pH levels and coupled environmental actions of chloride and carbonation. Detailed verification of the model for the quantitative carbonation induced corrosion rate computation under varying relative conditions, different pH levels and combined effects of carbonation and chloride attack remain as scope for future research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.30-31
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• 2019

Carbonation of the root concrete reduces the durability of the reinforced concrete, and it is important to check the carbonation resistance of the concrete to ensure the durability of the reinforced concrete structure. In this study, a basic study on the prediction of carbonation progress was conducted by considering the mixing conditions of concrete using deep learning algorithm during the theory of artificial neural network theory. The data used in the experiment used values that converted the carbonation velocity coefficient obtained from the mixing conditions of concrete and the accelerated carbonation experiment into the actual environment. The analysis shows that the error rate of the deep learning model according to the Hidden Layer is the best for the model using five layers, and based on the five Hidden layers, we want to verify the predicted performance of the carbonation speed coefficient of the carbonation test specimen in which the exposure experiment took place in the real environment.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.419-429
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• 2018

Climate changes, such as increasing of $CO_2$ concentration and global warming, will impact on the carbonation service life of concrete structures. Moreover, slag blended concrete has a lower carbonation resistance than control concrete. This study presents a probabilistic numerical procedure for evaluating the impact of climate change on carbonation service life of slag blended concrete. This numerical procedure considers both corrosion initiation period and corrosion propagation period. First, in corrosion initiation period, by using an integrated hydration-carbonation model, the amount of carbonatable substances, porosity, and carbonation depth are calculated. The probability of corrosion initiation is determined through Monte Carlo method. Second, in corrosion propagation period, a probabilistic model is proposed to calculate the critical corrosion degree at surface cracking, the probability of surface cracking, and service life. Third, based on the service life in corrosion initiation period and corrosion propagation period, the whole service life is calculated. The analysis shows that for concrete structures with 50 years service life, after considering climate changes, the service life reduces about 7%.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.128-138
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• 2015

Carbonation is one of the most critical deterioration phenomena to concrete structures exposed to high $CO_2$ concentration, sheltered from rain. Lots of researches have been performed on evaluation of carbonation depth and changes in hydrate compositions, however carbonation modeling is limitedly carried out due to complicated carbonic reaction and diffusion coefficient. This study presents a simplified carbonation model considering diffusion coefficient, solubility of $Ca(OH)_2$, porosity reduction, and carbonic reaction rate for low concentration. For verification, accelerated carbonation test with varying temperature and MIP (Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry) test are carried out, and carbonation depths are compared with those from the previous and the proposed model. Field data with low $CO_2$ concentration is compared with those from the proposed model. The proposed model shows very reasonable results like carbonation depth and consuming $Ca(OH)_2$ through reduced diffusion coefficient and porosity compared with the previous model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2012.11a
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• pp.71-72
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the depth of carbonation considering the relative humidity in concrete using the FEM model. The difference of relative humidity in concrete has not been considered in calculating the carbonation depth in analytic model. That reason can make the over estimation in expectation of RC structure durability. The temperature and R.H. expectation model and the carbonation depth expectation model are development in past author's studies. The two models are coupled in this study. The fact that there is the difference between actual environment and acceleration test is revealed from FEM numerical analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.373-389
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• 2019

It is important to study the problem of durability for tunnel structures. As a main influence on the durability of tunnel structures, carbonation-induced corrosion is studied. For the complicated environment of tunnel structures, based on the data samples from real engineering examples, the intelligent method (genetic programming) is used to construct the service life prediction model of tunnel structures. Based on the model, the prediction of service life for tunnel structures in carbonation environments is studied. Using the data samples from some tunnel engineering examples in China under carbonation environment, the proposed method is verified. In addition, the performance of the proposed prediction model is compared with that of the artificial neural network method. Finally, the effect of two main controlling parameters, the population size and sample size, on the performance of the prediction model by genetic programming is analyzed in detail.