A novel method to prevent chloride from accumulating on surface of reinforcement in concrete: Embedding diaphragm

The corrosion of reinforcement embedded in concrete caused by chloride attack is the main factor leading to the durability failure of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. A novel method of embedding diaphragm to effectively delay the corrosion of reinforcement is proposed in this paper. Furthermore, the mechanism of the diaphragm hindering chloride diffusion is revealed and the shape of the diaphragm is optimized and designed through numerical simulation. The results show that the diaphragm can effectively delay the accumulation of chloride on the surface of reinforcement, and the geometry of diaphragm has a great influence on the delay effect, and the best geometry is semicircular. Mover, the radius of diaphragm and the distance between diaphragm and reinforcement surface have nonlinear effects on the service life of reinforced concrete. The diaphragm configuration proposed in this paper provides a novel idea to solve the problem of reinforcement corrosion caused by chloride attack. •A novel method of embedding diaphragm is proposed to effectively delay the corrosion of reinforcement.•The mechanism of diaphragm blocking chloride transport is revealed through chloride transport streamline.•The geometry of each diaphragm is optimized to determine the best shape of the diaphragm.