BCIT Citations Collection | BCIT Institutional Repository

BCIT Citations Collection

Carbonation in concrete infrastructure in the context of global climate change
There is nearly unanimous consensus amongst scientists that increasing greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 generated by human activity, are affecting the Earth’s climate. Increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions will likely increase the rates of carbonation in reinforced concrete structures.In this paper, the serviceable life, from construction through to cracking due to carbonation induced corrosion of concrete infrastructure is considered in various cities throughout the world. It was concluded that global climate change will affect the progression and will result in much higher ultimate carbonation depths in the long term., Peer-reviewed article, Published. Received 23 May 2012; Revised 1 October 2012; Accepted 9 November 2012; Available online 25 December 2012.
Modelling the effects of structural cracking on carbonation front advance into concrete
Concrete structures are almost certain to contain cracks due to different physiochemical mechanisms. The formation of cracks is sure to affect its durability by altering ion and fluid transport properties. This includes the incursion of CO2 into the structure. There presently exists no consensus on how to model the effects of structural cracking on carbonation progress within concrete structures. This paper first examines the concept of effective diffusion based on simultaneous diffusion of CO2 through sound and cracked concrete and then considers a series diffusion concept where CO2 diffuses first into the crack, and then outwards into the sound concrete. It is concluded that the effective diffusion concept is not valid for structurally cracked concrete. Instead, research efforts should be concentrated on developing a two–phase series diffusion model., Peer-reviewed article, Published.