A Numerical Study on the Electrochemical Treatment of Chloride-Contaminated Reinforced Concrete

Electrochemical treatment, specified as electrochemical chloride extraction (ECE), is one of the common techniques developed for the rehabilitation of chloride-contaminated reinforced concrete. In practice, ECE is time-consuming; for instance, the treatment duration could last several weeks or even longer. In order to reduce the laboratory work, this paper presents some results about a numerical study of the ECE. It is to solve a series of physical equations governing multiple ionic transport making use of a finite difference method. The effects of some critical factors are discussed in detail, such as the treatment duration, the current density and the cover thickness. In addition, for the sake of validation, the numerical results are also compared with those obtained from an experimental test.