Experimental verification and application of a practical corrosion model for uniformly depassivated steel in concrete

A practical corrosion model for predicting the corrosion rate of uniformly depassivated steel in concrete was previously developed. The model is built on Stern’s earlier work that an optimum anode-to-cathode ratio exists on the steel surface for which the corrosion current reaches a maximum value. Based on this principle, analytical and numerical techniques were used to obtain a relationship among the steel corrosion rate, concrete resistivity, the oxygen concentration on the surface of the member, oxygen diffusion coefficient, and cover thickness. The main objective of this paper is to present an extensive experimental verification and application of the developed model. For this purpose, three experimental programs carried out by other research groups were selected. The first set of data was used in the verification of the model when different types of cement are used in concrete. The second study was selected to verify the model with the measured corrosion rates obtained by different instruments to eliminate any concerns that may originate from the corrosion measurement technique. Finally, in the last verification study, the model’s interpretation of the effects of concrete resistivity and the oxygen concentration on the corrosion rate is verified. In all cases, it has been demonstrated that the developed model predicts the experimental observations with reasonable accuracy.