Exploring Damage Projections for Corroding Stainless and Carbon Steel Reinforced Concrete

Paper ID: C2025-00542 ABSTRACT: The durability of reinforced concrete structures is significantly impacted by steel reinforcement corrosion, especially in aggressive environments. To address this, corrosion-resistant alloys like stainless steels (SS) have gained attention. Studies have indicated that despite higher material costs, SS’ longer service life may justify the higher initial cost, as its chloride threshold can be up to ten times greater than that of carbon steel (CS) reinforcement. However, there are currently no models available to accurately forecast the corrosion of SS-reinforced infrastructure, and durability projections for CS do not consider the necessary mechanistic steps. Previous work has shown that chloride-induced corrosion of SS leads to localized pit clusters of which puts into question the serviceability limit state. Research efforts to identify an appropriate serviceability limit state will be presented considering SS’ corrosion damage morphology. The results will inform service life projections based on a physics-based model, considering spatially resolved corrosion damage distributions and the electrochemical coupling between passive and active sites. Comparisons of service life estimates will be made between traditional CS reinforcement and various grades of SSs to better inform service life costs and, therefore, aid in materials selection during the design phase.