Numerical modelling of corrosion – Theoretical backgrounds –

During recent years research projects with different approaches have been carried out to develop models which are suitable to assess the metal removal rate in case of reinforcement corrosion. Some of them are based on empirical methods and correlate the corrosion rate to parameters like concrete resistivity, temperature and relative humidity. Another type of model is based on a quantification of the ongoing electrochemical processes. In this paper the theoretical backgrounds and mathematical descriptions of reinforcement corrosion with regard to a numerical modelling are presented and discussed.