Prediction of Concrete Compressive Strength in Saline Soil Environments

Saline soil in Western China contains high concentrations of chloride ions, sulfate ions, and other corrosive ions, and the performance of concrete will substantially deteriorate from exposure to this environment. Therefore, it is of great significance to study and predict the concrete compressive strength in saline soil environments. In this paper, the effects of corrosion on concrete were analyzed from the aspects of surface damage, damage depth, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the corrosion products. The effects of corrosion were quantified by damage depth and corrosion depth. Then, considering the corrosion effects combined with Fick’s diffusion law, a time-dependent model of concrete compressive strength and a time-dependent model of damage depth were established. The results show that the deterioration of concrete gradually developed from the surface to the interior, and that the interface of the concrete specimen was equivalent to three parts: a failure zone, a filling zone, and an undisturbed zone. The results also showed that the time-varying model of concrete compressive strength proposed by the author was fully applicable, with an error of less than five percent. The service life of concrete predicted by the damage depth was found to be about 253 months (21.1 years), and the service life predicted by the time-varying compressive strength model was about 187 months (15.6 years). Both prediction results were far less than the normal concrete service life of 50 years. In addition, the long-term compressive strength of the corroded concrete was about 90% of that of the noncorroded concrete, which did not deteriorate with the corrosion time.