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Durability Design of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Sea-Link Project:

Principle and Procedure

Article in Journal of Bridge Engineering · February 2015

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000741

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 1 Durability design of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau sea link project: Principle and

2 Procedure

3
4 Kefei Li1, Quanwang Li2, Xin’gang Zhou3, Zhihong Fan4
5
6 Abstract: This paper introduces the durability design of concrete structures in Hong

7 Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HZM) project for a working life of 120 years. The environmental

8 actions are analyzed and the deterioration processes for structural concrete are identified. The

9 durability design is performed from both materials composition control and

10 performance-based procedure. The target design lives and durability limit states are attributed

11 to concrete elements according to the structural importance and maintenance ability. Given

12 the prescriptive requirements on material compositions, the carbonation-induced and

13 chloride-induced corrosions of reinforcement steel are considered as the most critical

14 processes and subject to model-based design. The thickness and quality of concrete covers are

15 determined from carbonation and chloride penetration models using a partial factor scheme.

16 For chloride ingress, the partial factors are calibrated from full probabilistic approach for a

17 target reliability β =1.3. The statistical properties of parameters are regressed from 30-year

18 exposure tests. Finally, the study explores the relation between the design values of chloride

19 diffusion coefficient and the laboratory measured values to establish a basis for durability

20 quality control in construction.

21 Keywords: Durability; Design; Concrete Structures; Corrosion; Chloride; Carbonation;

22 Reliability

1
Professor, Laboratory of Civil Engineering Safety and Durability of China Education Ministry, Civil
Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China (Corresponding author).
E-mail: likefei@tsinghua.edu.cn
2
Associate professor, Laboratory of Civil Engineering Safety and Durability of China Education
Ministry, Civil Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
E-mail: li_quanwang@tsinghua.edu.cn
3
Professor, Civil Engineering College, Yan-tai University, Yantai 264005, China.
E-mail: ytuzhou@126.com
4
Senior Engineer, CCCC Fourth Harbor Engineering Institute, Guangzhou 510230, China.
E-mail: concretenjx@163.com
23 Introduction

24 Durability design has been recognized as an essential part of structural design to

25 ensure the expected working life of concrete structures (ISO 2008). Durability is most

26 often referred to as the resistance of concrete structures or elements to the

27 environmental actions. In recent years, considerable research efforts have been

28 dedicated to both the mechanism investigation of relevant durability processes and the

29 deterioration of structural performance directly at element levels (DuraCrete 1998;

30 Sarja 2000). These results, along with the in place investigation of real structural

31 durability performance, help to perform durability design for concrete structures.

32 Basically, the durability design of a concrete structure for a target working life can be

33 achieved both from prescriptive (deemed-to-satisfy) approach and performance-based

34 approach. The prescriptive approach, based on acquired engineering experiences and

35 empirical data, provides directly the requirements for material composition and

36 structural details for given environmental actions and target working lives (Hobbs et

37 al. 1998), and this approach is followed by most design codes in use, such as

38 EuroCode2 (CEN 2002; ACI 2005; CNS 2008). The performance-based approach

39 stresses on the real ageing process of structural materials under environmental actions

40 and usually employs mathematical models to evaluate the required properties and

41 structural dimensions for expected design lives (fib 2006; AFGC 2007; Alexander et

42 al. 2008). However, one should be aware that the acquired knowledge on durability

43 phenomena is far from complete and not all durability requirements can be easily

44 quantified, e.g. the requirement/index with respect to soil-borne sulfate (Neville 2004).

45 Accordingly, a rational procedure for durability design in practice should always

46 incorporate qualitative requirements, for raw material constituents, concrete practice

47 and structural details, and model-based requirements, for target properties under
48 specific ageing processes (CCES 2005; Li et al. 2008).

49
50 Fig.1. Global view of HZM sea link project (left: China mainland, right: Hong Kong)
51
52 The sea link project of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HZM) consists of sea bridges of

53 28.8 km (three navigable spans), two artificial islands and an immerged tube tunnel of

54 6.8 km with a total investment near 12 billions US dollars, cf. Fig.1. The main

55 constitutive elements for structures of HZM project is given in Table 1. The design

56 working life of the project is 120 years (CPDI 2008; HZMBA 2010). The preliminary

57 study of project began from 2008 to 2010, the detailed study phase started from 2010

58 and construction works are expected to end between 2105 and 2016. One of the main

59 technical challenges of whole project is to ensure the service life of 120 years for the

60 concrete structures in a rather aggressive marine environment. This paper introduces

61 the philosophy of durability design incorporating prescriptive requirements and

62 model-based requirements, and provides the procedure of durability design from the

63 environmental actions analysis until the durability index for quality control in

64 construction. To this aim, this paper is arranged as follows: Section 2 is dedicated to

65 environmental condition analysis, environmental actions classification and

66 deterioration mechanisms; the philosophy and principles of durability design are

67 given in Section 3; the model-based design procedures are provided in Section 4 for
68 carbonation and chloride ingress; the quality control for durability is given in Section

69 5; the concluding remarks are brought forth at the end.

70 Table 1 Main constitutive elements for structures of HZM project (RC for reinforced concrete, PC
71 for prestressed concrete)
Structure Element Material Function Construction
Cable-stayed Integral Pylon RC (Base) Principal Cast-in-place (RC)/
bridges /Steel (Upper part) Prefabricated (Steel)
(navigable Cable High strength steel Principal Prefabricated
spans) Box girder RC (deck) Principal Cast-in-place (RC)/
/Steel (box girder) Prefabricated (Steel)
Pier (auxiliary) RC Principal Cast in place
Bearing platform RC Principal Cast in place
Pile Steel tube/Concrete Principal Cast in place (Concrete)/
Driven pile (Steel tube)
Steel Box girder Steel (in sea) Principal Prefabricated
box-girder PC (approach to Principal Cast-in-place (PC)
bridges artificial islands)
(non Pier RC Principal Cast-in-place (upper)/
navigable) Prefabrication (base)
Bearing platform RC Principal Prefabrication (with base
part of pier)
Pile Steel tube/concrete Principal Cast-in-place (Concrete)/
Driven pile (Steel tube)
Immerged tube Tube segment RC (in sea) Principal Prefabricated
tunnel RC (approach to Principal Cast-in-place
artificial islands)
Anti-shock pier RC Secondary Prefabricated
Segment joint Rubber Principal Prefabricated
Pile Compacted sand Principal Bored hole, cast-in-place
Artificial Retaining wall Concrete Principal Cast-in-place
islands Break water Concrete Principal Prefabrication
Facilities RC/ Steel Secondary Cast in place (RC)/
prefabrication (Steel)

72
73 Environmental actions

74 Basic environmental data

75 The HZM sea link project is situated in the southern subtropical marine monsoon

76 region of China. The environmental data are extracted from site investigation in the

77 project preliminary study phase (FHEI 2009) for atmospheric temperature, humidity,

78 sea water salinity as well as wave and tide heights to evaluate the exposure conditions

79 of concrete structures of HZM project.

80 The annual average temperature is between 22.3~23.1ºC with 28.4~28.8 ºC in July

81 and 14.8-15.9 ºC in January. Historically the highest and lowest recorded

82 temperatures are 38.9 ºC and -1.8 ºC (Macau site). The annual average humidity is

83 between 77~80% with large seasonal variation, and the seasonal humidity can reach

84 100% (spring and summer) and drop to 10% (winter). The predominated wind

85 directions are east and southern-east. The annual wind speeds are recorded as 3.1m/s

86 (Zhuhai site), 3.6m/s (Macau site) and 6.6 m/s (HK site). The maximum wind speeds

87 are 44.6 m/s, 58.6 m/s and 71.9 m/s for Zhuhai, Macao and HK observation stations

88 respectively.

89 The hydrology data show that the chloride ions (Cl-) content in sea water at the

90 project site is in the range of 10700~17020 mg/L and the content of sulphate ions

91 (SO42-) is in the range of 1140~2260 mg/L. The pH values of sea water samples are

92 between 6.65~8.63. The salinity of sea water in the eastern part of project site (HK

93 side) is higher than the western part (Zhuhai-Macau side). For a given site the sea

94 water salinity increases with the water depth. The recorded highest salinity is 32.9 for

95 eastern part and 25.4 for western part (bottom on sea bed), and lowest salinity is

96 recorded as 8.1 and 10.4 for eastern and western regions.

97 The tide and wave data retained for project design are from Macau observation station.
 98 The design water levels are 2.74m (high) and -1.27m (low) for return period of 10

99 years, and 3.47m (high) and -1.51m (low) for return period of 100 years. The wave

100 height H1%=5.47m for return period of 100 years (SSW, 202 degree, high tide), and

101 the wave amplitude is calculated for pile foundation and retained as η0=4.83m

102 according to the Chinese port and harbour design code JGJ 275-2000 (CIS 2000). The

103 highest astronomic tide is retained as 3.52m and lowest astronomic tide is -1.32m; the

104 effective wave amplitude H1/3 is retained as 3.92m for a return period of 100 years.

105 On the basis of these data, the exposure zones are evaluated through JGJ 275-2000 for

106 unsheltered conditions as: atmospheric zone (above +6.26m), splashing zone

107 (+6.26m~-0.40m), tidal zone (-0.40m~-2.10m) and immerged zone (under -2.10m).

108
109 Exposure environmental classification
110
111 According to the Chinese design code GB/T50476 (CNS 2008), the natural

112 environments are classified into five classes according to the deterioration processes

113 of RC elements, cf. Table 2. For each environmental class, the actions are divided

114 further into six intensity levels, with A for the slightest level and F for the extremely

115 severe level. The details of the specifications in this code can be found in (Li et al.

116 2008), and this environmental classification is comparable to EuroCode classification

117 (CEN 2002). Table 3 summarizes the environmental classification for main RC

118 elements in HZM project. The external wall of immerged tube tunnel is classified as

119 severe exposure condition (III-E) because air and sea water can be alternatively

120 available for the reinforcement steel. The classification of retaining wall and

121 break-waters, under splashing and tidal actions, is III-C since these elements are plain

122 concrete elements.

123
124 Table 2. Classification for environmental actions according to GB/T 50476-2008
Class Environment Intensity Deterioration mechanisms for RC elements
I Atmospheric A,B,C Corrosion of embedded steel by carbonation
II Freeze-thaw C,D,E Concrete damage by frost actions in cold climate
III Marine C,D,E,F Corrosion of embedded steel by chloride penetration
IV Deicing/other salts C,D,E Corrosion of embedded steel by chloride penetration
V Chemicals C,D,E Concrete damage by chemicals in soils and water

125
126 Table 3. Environmental classification for RC elements in HZM project
Structure Class Agents Intensity Exposure condition Element (RC/PC)
I CO2 I-B Indoor, sheltered Box girder (internal)
Pile,
III-C Immerged in sea water
Bearing platform (part)
Chloride Salt fog, 15m above Deck, Pylon (part),
III III-D
ions sea level Pier (part)
Bridge
Bearing Platform(part),
III-F Splashing, tidal actions
Pier(part), Box girder
2- 2+ 2-
SO4 , Mg , SO4 :1000-4000 mg/L
Bearing platform
V CO2 in sea V-D Mg2+:1000-3000 mg/L
(underwater part)
water CO2 :30-60 mg/L
I CO2 I-B Indoor, sheltered Tube (internal)
III-D Salt fog Tube (internal)
Chloride
III III-E Sea water/air Tube (external)
ions
Tunnel III-F Splashing/tidal actions Anti-shock pier
2- 2+ 2-
SO4 , Mg , SO4 :1000-4000 mg/L
V CO2 in sea V-D Mg2+:1000-3000 mg/L Tube (external)
water CO2 :30-60 mg/L

Chloride Splashing/tidal actions Retaining wall,

III III-C
ions (plain concrete) Breakwater
Artificial
island SO42-, Mg2+, SO42-:1000-4000 mg/L
Retaining wall,
V CO2 in sea V-D Mg2+:1000-3000 mg/L
Breakwater
water CO2 :30-60 mg/L

127
128 Deterioration processes and mechanisms
129
130 Following the classification in Table 2 and Table 3, the deterioration mechanisms of

131 concrete elements under environmental actions include: (1) carbonation-induced

132 corrosion of reinforcement steel (Class I), (2) chloride-induced corrosion of

133 reinforcement steel (Class III), and (3) physical and chemical attack of salts in sea

134 water (Class V). In addition, the internal expansion reactions in structural concrete

135 like alkali-aggregate reaction and sulphate reaction have to be taken into account

136 given the long service life of project and the crucial function of concrete elements. In

137 the following each process is reviewed for its mechanism, influential factors and

138 control factors in durability design.

139 (1) Carbonation-induced corrosion. The corrosion process includes two phases: the

140 carbonation reaction between atmospheric CO2 with the alkaline pore solution of

141 concrete, and the subsequent steel corrosion induced by the carbonation of concrete

142 cover (Papadakis et al. 1991). Dry environment favours carbonation reaction while

143 wet environment facilitates the subsequent corrosion process. Thus the most severe

144 environmental conditions are drying-wetting cycles. The control factors in durability

145 design for this process include concrete cover quality, concrete cover thickness and

146 crack control (Bohni 2005).

147 (2) Chloride-induced corrosion. This corrosion is composed of two processes: the

148 migration of external chloride through concrete cover and the electrochemical

149 reactions of steel corrosion (Tuutti 1982). The first process is controlled by the

150 concrete diffusivity and its water content while the later is controlled mainly by the

151 cathode/anode area ratio, and the availability of water and oxygen. The most severe

152 exposure zone is the splashing and tidal zones where water, chloride ions and oxygen

153 are alternatively available for these two processes. The control factors for durability
154 design include the concrete cover quality, concrete cover thickness and crack control

155 (Bohni 2005).

156 (3) Salt attack. The salt attack on structural concrete involves both physical processes

157 and chemical reactions. The physical attack concerns mainly the crystallization of

158 sulphate salts in pore solution as concrete is subject to drying-wetting cycles, and the

159 crystallization pressure can facture concrete materials (Valenza and Scherer 2006).

160 For chemical reactions, the Mg2+ ions can react with cement hydration products

161 (Portlandite) and weaken the solid skeleton of material (Ganjian and Pouya 2005).

162 The SO42- ions can react with hydrated C3A and produce expansive ettringite and

163 gypsum, likely to induce cracks in concrete materials (Skalny et al. 2004). In addition

164 to the compactness of concrete material itself, the concentration of salts is crucial to

165 evaluate the physical attack extent while both salts concentration and cement types are

166 important for chemical attack evaluation.

167 (4) Internal expansion reactions. These reactions include the alkali aggregate reaction

168 (AAR) between the aggregates containing reactive silica and the alkaline pore

169 solution, and the sulphate reaction between the internal cement hydrates, i.e. delayed

170 ettringite formation (DEF). Both reactions can generate expansive products, inducing

171 material cracks. The necessary conditions for AAR are the alkali reactivity

172 (aggregate), alkali content (cement) and high humidity (environment). Even occurred,

173 AAR reaction normally needs decades of years to demonstrate its deterioration (Ulm

174 et al. 2000). The DEF needs enough level of aluminates, sulphates and high humidity

175 as necessary conditions to occur (Skalny et al. 2004). According to the state-of-art of

176 practice, the risk control of AAR is mainly through aggregate reactivity and alkali

177 content while DEF is controlled by C3A and equivalent SO3 content in cement, and

178 concrete internal temperature at early age (Hobbs et al. 1998).

179 Design for Durability
180
181 Global philosophy
182
183 The general philosophy of durability design with respect to the above deterioration

184 processes is to formulate the requirements both on material level and structural level,

185 combining the material design with the structural design to achieve a working life of

186 120 years. Table 4 recapitulates all the requirements divided into material and

187 structural levels (Hobbs et al. 1998; CCES 2005).

188 After the evaluation of raw material compositions, the risks of salt attacks and internal

189 expansion reactions for structural concretes are regarded low enough for long term

190 durability. Accordingly the carbonation-induced corrosion and chloride-induced

191 corrosion remain as the most critical processes for durability design. Moreover, the

192 requirements at material level are formulated mainly from experience-based

193 prescriptions and the structural requirements can be evaluated following model-based

194 approach.

195 Table 4. Durability requirements for RC elements at both material and structural levels
Carbonation Chloride Internal expansion
Salt attack
Requirements induced induced reaction
corrosion corrosion Physical Chemical AAR DEF
w/b ratio √ √ √ √ √ √

Binder type √ √ √ √

Binder content √ √ √ √ √ √

Material Cl- content √

level C3A content √ √

SO3 content √ √

Alkali content √

Alkali reactivity √

Cover quality √ √ √ √
Structural
Cover thickness √ √ √ √
level
Crack control √ √ √ √
196 Design service lives and Durability limit states
197
198 The design working life of whole project is 120 years. Aiming at this target, the

199 durability design at structural level should firstly determine the working lives for

200 structural elements on the basis of their structural importance and technical feasibility.

201 The principle is that the principal elements adopt the same working life as whole

202 project, 120 years, and those of secondary or replaceable elements can be shorter. For

203 these elements the maintenance and replacement schemes should be specified in

204 design phase.

205 Table 5. Design lives for PC/RC elements and their durability limit states (DLS)
Structure Element Design Environmental DLS Crack
life (year) Class control
(mm)
Cable-stayed Integral Pylon-Pier 120 III-F (a) 0.15
bridges Steel box girder 120 - - -
(navigable Concrete pavement 120 III-D (a) 0.20
spans) Pier (auxiliary) 120 III-F (a) 0.15
Bearing platform 120 III-F (a) 0.15
Pile 120 III-C (a) 0.20
Box-girder RC Deck 120 III-D (a) 0.20
bridges (non PC box girder (external) 120 III-D (a) 0.20
navigable PC box girder (external) 120 III-F (a) 0.15
spans) PC box girder (internal) 120 I-B/III-D (a) 0.20
Pier 120 III-F (a) 0.15
Bearing platform 120 III-C,F (a) 0.15
Pile 120 III-C (a) 0.20
Immerged Tube (immerged, external) 120 III-E (a) 0.15
Tube Tunnel Tube (immerged, internal) 120 I-B, III-D (a) 0.20
Tube (approach, internal/ 120 III-E (a) 0.15
external)
Anti-shock pier 120 III-F (a) 0.15
Artificial Breakwater 120 III-C - -
island Retaining wall 120 III-C - -

206

207 Durability limits states (DLS) are needed for quantitative durability design (ISO 2008;
208 Li et al. 2008). These states are specified as the minimum acceptable performance

209 levels for different durability processes. For carbonation-induced and

210 chloride-induced corrosion processes, two DLS can be defined: (a) corrosion

211 initiation state; (b) corrosion to an acceptable extent. In HZM project, PC elements,

212 principal RC elements and RC elements with high maintenance difficulty should

213 adopt (a) while secondary RC elements can adopt (b). Table 5 provides the principal

214 PC/RC elements with their respective exposure classification, design service life and

215 the corresponding DLS.

216
217 Approaches and methods
218
219 This paper describes the structural design of durability for carbonation-induced

220 corrosion and chloride-induced corrosion processes. The design factors are listed in

221 Table 4 as concrete cover quality (diffusivity, carbonation resistance), concrete cover

222 thickness as well as crack control criteria. The concrete cover quality and thickness

223 are designed through the durability models with the target service lives and DLS

224 provided in Table 5. During this model-based design procedure, the concrete surface

225 is supposed to expose directly to aggressive agents (CO2, Cl-). The model-based

226 design follows a partial factor format with a target reliability index calibrated as β=1.3.

227 This value seems to be lower than the present specification, e.g. β=1.5 by fib model

228 code (fib 2010). In fact, the design by β=1.3 provides the basic requirements for

229 structural concretes, and the surface protection and treatment will be implemented in

230 the detailed design phase for RC elements. Moreover, the DLS retained for

231 model-based design is corrosion initiation state (a), corresponding to a very early

232 stage of deterioration thus a conservative design.

233 The third structural factor for durability design is the crack control width. Although

234 the influence of cracks on the steel corrosion process has not been fully clarified, it is
235 accepted that the opening aperture of working cracks of RC elements should be

236 limited in order to slow down the penetration of external aggressive agents (Otieno et

237 al. 2012). Design codes and standards adopt different limit values for different

238 exposure conditions and the crack control values for RC elements in HZM project are

239 given in Table 5 according to the requirements of GB/T 50476 (CNS 2008). It is

240 assumed that, within these limits, the influence of cracks can be neglected for

241 durability performance of RC elements.

242
243 Model-based design for chloride ingression
244
245 Basic models
246
247 The design model for chloride induced corrosion is adapted from the widely used

248 analytical model of Fick’s second law (DuraCrete 1998; fib 2006). With the DLS

249 specified as the corrosion initiation state (a), the deign equation can be written as,

250
  xd 
G  Ccr  Cs 1  erf    0
  2 D t 
251  Cl SL  (1)
252
253 with Ccr,s stand for the threshold chloride concentration for steel corrosion and the

254 concrete surface chloride concentration (in mass percentage of binders) respectively,

255 xd is the concrete cover thickness (m), DCl is the chloride diffusion coefficient of

256 concrete (m2/s), tSL is the design service life of structural elements, and erf is the

257 mathematical error function. Usually, the chloride diffusion coefficient, DCl, is

258 assumed to adopt a power function in terms of concrete exposure age t,

259
n
t 
260 DCl  t   D  0   DCl0   t0 , t 
0
Cl (2)
t
261
262 with n as the exponential coefficient for DCl decrease law and D0 the diffusion
263 coefficient for concrete age t0. The term η(t0,t) is the ageing coefficient of diffusion

264 coefficient. The main mechanism for this decrease is the microstructure evolution due

265 to long-term hydration of binders after concrete hardening (Andrade et al. 2011).

266 Since it is not rational to assume DCl decreases infinitively with exposure age, this

267 decrease law is truncated at t = 30 years for durability design in HZM project,

268
269   t0 , t  t 30 years    t0 , t  30 years  (3)

270
271 In other words, the coefficient decreases no longer with exposure age after 30 years’

272 exposure. Thus this models contains five parameters totally: Ccr, Cs, xd, D0, n(or η),

273 for a give target service life tSL.

274
275 Statistical properties and partial factors
276
277 These parameters have important dispersions for a given exposure condition and their

278 statistical nature must be taken into account to guarantee enough safety margin for

279 durability design. As aforementioned, the reliability index is fixed as β=1.3 for the

280 design at this stage. To this aim, the design can be performed either by full

281 probabilistic scheme using directly the statistical properties of parameters or through

282 partial factor scheme with characteristic values of parameters and assigned partial

283 factors (ISO 1998). The two schemes can be equivalent for a specified target

284 reliability level provided that all statistical properties of parameters are known (Palle

285 and Bakler 1982).

286 The probability distributions of the model parameters are presented in Fig.2 for

287 different exposure zones. The details of the statistical analysis are presented in next

288 series paper and here only analysis results are given. The statistics of surface chloride

289 concentration Cs are performed on 351 concrete specimens in Zhanjiang Exposure

290 Station (China) during 12 years, showing Cs obeys normal distribution with the mean

291 value and standard deviation as: 2.0% and 0.31% (atmospheric zone), 5.4% and 0.82%

292 (splashing zone), 3.8% and 0.58% (tidal zone), and 4.5% and 0.68% (immerged zone).

293 The statistical properties of threshold concentration Ccr are regressed from 68

294 specimens at the same exposure station. Lognormal distribution, 0.85% and 0.13% as

295 mean value and standard deviation, is used to describe Ccr in atmospheric zone, and

296 beta-distribution is adopted for immerged zone ( = 0.23,  = 0.33, lower bond 1%,

297 upper bound 3.5%), tidal and splashing zones ( = 0.22,  = 0.36, lower bond 0.45%,

298 upper bound 1.25%). The statistical properties of diffusion coefficient DCl and the

299 corresponding exponent coefficient n are obtained from 395 concrete specimens

300 exposed since 2002. The diffusion coefficient DCl adopts a lognormal distribution

301 with the coefficient of variation as 0.2, and exponent coefficient n follows normal

302 distribution with the mean and standard deviation as 0.53 and 0.08 (atmospheric zone),

303 0.47 and 0.028 (splashing zone), 0.46 and 0.029(tidal zone), and 0.44 and 0.029

304 (immerged zone). The distribution of cover thickness xd is regressed on 1904

305 measurements from in-place investigation on marine structures during last 30 years.

306 For cover thickness over 50mm, xd observes normal distribution, with the standard

307 deviation of 6.1mm for the concrete elements before 1996 and 5.3mm for elements

308 after 1996.

1.4 4.0
Atmospheric
Atmospheric
1.2 Splashing 3.5
Splashing/Tidal
Tidal
3.0
Prbability density

1.0 Immerged
Prbability density

Immerged
2.5
0.8
2.0
0.6
1.5
0.4
1.0
0.2 0.5
0.0 0.0
0 2 4 6 8 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
309 Surface chloride concentration (%) Threshold chloride concentration (%)

310 (a) (b)

 4.0 0.08
Before1996
Atmospheric
3.5 0.07 After 1996
Splashing/Tidal
3.0 0.06

Prbability density
Immerged
Prbability density

2.5 0.05
2.0 0.04
1.5 0.03
1.0 0.02
0.5 0.01
0.0 0.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 50 60 70 80 90
Threshold chloride concentration (%) Concrete cover thickness (mm)
311
312 (c) (d)
313 Fig.2. Statistical properties for model parameters of chloride ingress: (a) Surface chloride concentration
314 (b) Threshold chloride concentration (c) Exponent coefficient (d) Cover thickness

315 On the basis of the obtained statistical properties, the partial factors and characteristic

316 values for model parameters are calibrated through full probabilistic scheme for a

317 target reliability index of β=1.3, using the model Eqs.(1)-(3). Following the custom of

318 structural design, the concrete cover is not calibrated as characteristic value and

319 partial factors, but specified as its minimum requirement xdmin and its nominal value

320 xdnom, with the difference Δx as the operation error. Taking the average values in Fig.2

321 for xdnom and the 95% guarantee value as xdmin, the operation error Δx is estimated as

322 10mm.

323 Table 6. Calibrated characteristic values and partial factors for chloride ingress design for
324 service life of 50 years and 120 years (β=1.3)
Immerged Tidal Splashing Atmospheric
Parameter
zone zone zone zone
Characteristic value 2.0 0.75 0.75 0.85
Ccr (%binder)
Partial factor γc 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.1
Characteristic value 4.50 3.82 5.44 1.98
Cs(%binder)
Partial factor γs 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.1
-12 2
DCl（10 m /s） Characteristic value 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Partial factor γD 1.05 1.1 1.1 1.1
Ageing Characteristic value 0.074 0.067 0.061 0.047
coefficient η (-) Partial factor γη 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.35
Characteristic value xdnom 60 80 80 50
Cover xd（mm）
Operation error Δxd 10 10 10 10

325
326 The calibration results are given in Table 6 and the detailed calibration procedure is

327 omitted herre. It is noted that the partial factors are very close for tSL=50 and 120

328 years, so same partial factors are adopted for both cases. The characteristic values for

329 DCl and xd are retained as such just for calibration purpose, these two values are

330 durability design parameters, and to be determined for target service life and

331 reliability using the calibrated model in partial factor format.

332
333 Design results
334
335 With the calibration results for the design parameters as above, the design equation

336 can be expressed as,

337

  
Ccr  xdnom  xd   0
338 G1    s Cs 1  erf  (4)
  
c

 2
  D
0
D
Cl       t
 SL
 

339
340 The design process takes the characteristic value of chloride diffusion coefficient DCl0

341 and nominal value of concrete cover xdnom as design parameters. Using this equation,

342 the characteristic values of these two parameters are calculated for the concrete

343 elements in HZM project exposed to immerged, tidal, splashing and atmospheric

344 zones. For quality control purpose, the diffusion coefficients are calculated both for

345 28d values (t0=28 days in Eq.(2)) and 56d values (t0=56 days in Eq.(2)).

346 The results are presented in Fig.3 and Fig.4 for service lives of 50 years and 120 years

347 respectively. From Fig.3, the reasonable design range for DCl0 can be 2.9~4.3×10-12

348 m2/s (28d values) and 2.1~3.1×10-12 m2/s (56d values) for RC elements exposed in

349 splashing zones for 50 years given the range of cover thickness as 55~65mm. From

350 Fig.4, for cover thickness range of 75~85mm, the design range for DCl0 are

351 respectively 2.5~3.3×10-12 m2/s (28d values) and 1.8~2.4×10-12 m2/s (56d values)
352 for RC elements in splashing zones for 120 years.

80 80
Atmospheric Atmospheric
75 75

Concrete cover xdnom (mm)

Splashing Splashing
Concrete cover xdnom (mm)

70 70 Tidal
Tidal
65 65 Immerged
Immerged
60 60
55 55
50 50
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.6
Diffusion coefficient DCl0 (10‐12m2/s) Diffusion coefficient DCl0 (10‐12m2/s)
353
354 (a) (b)
355 Fig.3. Concrete cover thickness and quality for RC elements in different exposure zones in terms of (a)
356 28d chloride diffusion coefficient, and (b) 56d chloride diffusion coefficient (β=1.3, tSL=50 years).
357

105 Atmospheric Atmospheric

Splashing 105 Splashing
Concrete cover xdnom(mm)
Concrete cover xdnom (mm)

95 Tidal Tidal
95
Immerged Immerged
85 85
75 75
65 65
55 55
45 45
35 35
2 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4 4.4 4.8 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 3 3.3 3.6
Diffusion coefficient DCl0 (10‐12m2/s) Diffusion coefficient DCl0 (10‐12m2/s)
358
359 (a) (b)
360 Fig.4. Concrete cover thickness and quality of RC elements in different exposure zones in terms of (a)
361 28d chloride diffusion coefficient, and (b) 56d chloride diffusion coefficient (β=1.3, tSL=120 years).
362
363 Model-based design for carbonation
364
365 Basic models
366
367 The carbonation model is an extended form of the widely used square time law for

368 carbonation depth (DuraCrete 1998; fib 2006),

369

370 xc  tSL   Wt 2ke kc  kt RACC,0

-1
  t   CCO2  tSL (5)

371
372 In the equation Wt is the weather function expressing the influence of atmospheric
373 precipitation on concrete carbonation process (-); ke is the environmental factor of

374 humidity (-); kc is the curing factor defining the influence of curing time during

375 concrete hardening (-); (ktRACC,0-1+εt) is the carbonation resistance of concrete in

376 natural environment; RACC,0-1 is the concrete carbonation resistance in accelerated test

377 conditions (20ºC, RH 65%), in (mm2/year)/(kg/m3); kt is the regression parameter

378 between the two resistances; εt is the error term; CCO2 is the CO2 concentration in

379 atmosphere (kg/m3) and tSL is the service life of concrete structures or elements (year).

380 The environmental factor ke is expressed as (fib 2006),

381
2.5
 1  h5.0 
382 ke  h    5.0 
(6)
 1  h0 
383
384 with h0 as the reference humidity (65%). The corrosion initiation state, DLS (a), can

385 be expressed as the difference between the carbonation depth from Eq.(5) and the

386 design value of cover thickness xd. Thus, the governing parameters in this model are

387 concrete cover thickness xd, accelerated carbonation resistance RACC,0-1 and concrete

388 pore humidity h. The partial factor format of design equation writes,

389

 h 
G 2  xd  xc  tSL   xd  Wt 2ke   kc  kt RACC,0 R   t   CCO2  tSL  0
-1
390 (7)
  RH 
391
392 The design value of concrete cover thickness xd, as in Eq.(4), is expressed as xdnom-Δxd,

393 and partial factors are calibrated for RACC,0-1 and h for a reliability level β=1.3 and

394 service lives of 50 years and 120 years. For other parameters, the mean values are

395 directly used as characteristic values. The statistical properties for the parameters

396 needed for partial factor calibration can be found in (fib 2006, Annex B1). The

397 calibrated partial factors and the retained model parameters are given in Table 7. From

398 calibration process, it is showed that the partial factors and characteristic values for
399 design parameters is not sensitive to the service lives, thus the same partial factors and

400 characteristic values of parameters are kept for tSL of 50 years and 120 years.

401 Table 7. Characteristic values and partial factors for carbonation design for service life of 50
402 years and 120 years (β=1.3)
Service life 50 years Service life 120 years
Parameter
Interior Exterior Interior Exterior
Characteristic value 77% 85% 77% 85%
Humidity h (-)
Partial factor 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3
Carbonation Characteristic value design design design design
resistance RACC,0-1
Partial factor 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
(mm2/a)/(kg/m3)
Concrete cover xd Characteristic value xdnom design design design design
(mm) Operation error Δxd 10 10 10 10
Environmental factor
Design value 1.10 0.99 1.10 0.99
ke (-)
Curing factor kc (-) Design value (14d) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Regression
Design value 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25
parameter kt (-)
Error term εt
Design value 315.5 315.5 315.5 315.5
(mm2/year)/(kg/m3)
CO2 concentration
Design value 8.2 8.2 8.2, 32.8 8.2
CCO2 (10-4 kg/m3)
Service life tSL
Design value 50 50 120 120
(years)
Weather function Wt
Design value 1.0 0.523 1.0 0.479
(-)

403
404 Design results
405
406 In the table, four representative cases for carbonation design are presented: interior

407 surface and exterior surface of concrete elements for service lives of 50 years and 120

408 years. Compared to interior surface, exterior surfaces have elevated humidity and

409 lower weather function due to rain exposure conditions. For CO2 concentration, a high

410 concentration of 32.8×10-4, four times of design value, is also retained to take into

411 account the possible CO2 accumulation in the immerged tube tunnel by automobile
412 exhaust. The characteristic values of concrete cover thickness xd and the carbonation

413 resistance RACC,0-1 are retained as design parameters, and the design results are

414 presented in Fig.5.

1600

1400

1200
RACC,0⁻¹ (mm²/a)/(kg/m³)

1000
CEM I binder
800

600 Interior,50yrs
Exterior,50yrs
400 Interior,120yrs
Exterior,120yrs
200 FA‐Slag binder
High CO2, 50yrs
High CO2, 120yrs
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Concrete cover xdnom (mm)
415
416 Fig.5. Accelerated carbonation resistance in terms of concrete cover thickness for service lives of 50
417 years and 120 years (β=1.3, tSL=50, 120 years).
418
419 The preliminary concrete proportioning sets the water to binder ratio (w/b) around

420 0.35 for structural concretes used for HZM project, and both fly-ash and slag are used

421 in binder of concrete for immerged tube tunnel. From these information, the

422 accelerated carbonation resistance of structural concretes are conservatively estimated

423 as 3.1×10-11 (m2/s)/(kg/m3), or 977.6 (mm2/year)/(kg/m3), for OPC (ordinary

424 Portland cement) binder concrete and 1.0×10-11 (m2/s)/(kg/m3), or 315.4

425 (mm2/year)/(kg/m3), for OPC-FA (ordinary Portland cement incorporating 20%

426 fly-ash) binder concrete, according to (fib 2006, Annex B), indicated in Fig.5 by the

427 horizontal dashed lines. The required concrete cover thickness can be read from Fig.5.

428 For immerged tunnel (OPC-FA concrete), the required values for nominal cover

429 thickness are 27mm (interior, 50 years) and 38 mm (interior, 120 years). For other

430 concrete structures (OPC concrete), the required values are 23mm (interior, 50 years),

431 17mm (exterior, 50 years), 32mm (interior, 120 years) and 20mm (exterior, 120 years).
432 Knowing that the achievable values of chloride diffusion coefficient for structural

433 concretes can not be lower than 2×10-12 m2/s (28d), the corresponding requirement on

434 cover thickness for all exposure zones is surely larger than 30mm (tSL=50 years) and

435 40mm (tSL=120 years) from Fig.3 and Fig.4. Thus, the design values of cover

436 thickness from carbonation in Fig.5 do not control the design.

437
438 From design to quality control
439
440 From the model-based design for chloride ingress and carbonation, it is seen that the

441 chloride ingress controls the durability design. On the basis of the design results in

442 Fig.3 and Fig.4, the values of required cover thickness and chloride diffusion

443 coefficient are obtained, modulated and given in Table 8 for the main concrete

444 elements in HZM project. The concrete cover thickness requirement from carbonation

445 process is also given in the table based on the results in Fig.5. It should be noted that

446 the cover thickness for tube tunnel exterior, 80mm, is lightly smaller than other

447 elements in splashing zone for same chloride diffusion coefficients (DNSSD=3.5 10-12

448 m2/s at 28d). It is due to the fact that the tube exterior, though considered as exposed to

449 splashing zone, is actually immerged in sea water. Thus, the surface concentration of

450 immerged zone, lower than splashing zone, is used for its design and results in a

451 lower value for thickness.

452 The rapid chloride migration (RCM) tests conform to NT Build 492 (NORDTEST

453 1999) are retained as the durability quality control method for structural concretes in

454 HZM project. However, the design values for chloride diffusion coefficients cannot be

455 used directly for the durability quality control parameters because the significance of

456 DCl0 in Eq.(2) is the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient regressed from in-situ

457 exposure tests at a given concrete age while RCM measures a short term migration

458 coefficient under an electrical field. The former is a non-steady state diffusion (NSSD)
459 coefficient while the later is a non-steady state migration (NSSM) coefficient.

460 Theoretical analysis on the difference between the two coefficients can be found in

461 (Tang 1999a; Tang 1999b).

462 Table 8. Durability design results for RC elements in HZM project (β=1.3)
Design value Control value
Design Cover
DNSSD DNSSM
Element Exposure life DLS xd,nom -12 2
(10 m /s) (10-12 m2/s)
(year) (mm)
28d 56d 28d 56d
Salt fog 120 (a) 45 3.0 2.0 6.0 4.0
Box girder (exterior)
Splashing 120 (a) 80 3.0 2.0 6.0 4.0
CO2 120 (a) 35 - - - -
Box girder (interior)
Salt fog 120 (a) 45 3.0 2.0 6.0 4.0
Salt fog 120 (a) 50 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Pier, Pylon (exterior)
Splashing 120 (a) 85 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
CO2 120 (a) 35 - - - -
Pier (interior)
Salt fog 120 (a) 50 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Splashing 120 (a) 85 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Bearing platforms
Immerged 120 (a) 65 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Bored hole pile Immerged 120 (a) 65 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
RC facilities (artificial Splashing 50 (a) 60 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
islands) CO2 50 (a) 25 - - - -
Tunnel tube (exterior) Splashing 120 (a) 80 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Salt fog 120 (a) 50 3.5 2.2 7.0 4.5
Tunnel tube (interior)
CO2 120 (a) 40 - - - -

463
464 Thus it is necessary to establish a relationship between the NSSD design value and the

465 NSSM quality control value. To this aim, concrete materials in the Zhanjiang

466 Exposure Station are reconstituted in laboratory, and the NSSM coefficients are

467 measured by RCM method at 28d and 56d. In Fig.6 is presented the correlation

468 between the NSSD coefficients from the long term exposure tests and the NSSM

469 coefficients from the RCM tests.

470
471 Fig.6. Correlation between the NSSD coefficients and NSSM coefficients
472
473 Finally, from the analysis the NSSM coefficients are conservatively retained as two

474 times of the NSSD coefficients, and the corresponding NSSD values for quality

475 control are also presented in Table 8. These values have been adopted by the HZM

476 project as the basis for detailed design of concrete structures.

477
478 Summary
479
480 1. This paper presents the global philosophy and procedure of durability design of

481 concrete structures in HZM project for a service life of 120 years. On the basis of the

482 environmental data of project site, the environmental actions and exposure zones are

483 identified for the concrete structures. The criticality of possible deterioration

484 processes is evaluated and the durability design is performed both at material level

485 and structural level. The sulphate reactions and internal expansion reactions of

486 structural concrete is controlled through raw material composition and the

487 chloride-induced and carbonation-induced corrosion processes are controlled both at

488 material level and structural level.

489 2. The chloride-induced corrosion and carbonation-induced corrosion are considered

490 as control processes for durability design. The durability design is performed for each

491 process with specified DLS, service life and crack control width. For concrete

492 elements in HZM project, the DLS is taken as the corrosion initiation state. The

493 statistical properties of design parameters are taken into account and the durability

494 design follows a partial factor format with the target reliability index fixed as β=1.3 in

495 preliminary study phase.

496 3. For chloride ingress process, Fick’s model is retained for durability design. The

497 statistical properties of design parameters are regressed from long term exposure tests

498 in South-eastern China as well as in-place structural investigation. Then, the partial

499 factors of parameters are calibrated for service lives of 50 years and 120 years and

500 β=1.3. The design results provide the required concrete quality (chloride diffusion

501 coefficient) in terms of cover thickness for different exposure zones and different

502 service lives. For carbonation process, the expanded square time law is retained as

503 design model with the partial factors of parameters calibrated for service lives of 50

504 years and 120 years. Using the calibrated design model, the required concrete quality

505 (accelerated carbonation resistance) is given in terms of cover thickness for typical

506 and extreme design cases.

507 4. Comparison between the design results from chloride ingress and carbonation

508 processes shows the concrete cover thickness is controlled by chloride ingress for a

509 same concrete quality. Thus the final design results for durability are given in terms of

510 the specified concrete cover thickness and the corresponding chloride diffusion

511 coefficients. To achieve the in-site quality control for concrete durability, difference

512 must be made between the design value of chloride diffusion coefficient (NSSD) and

513 rapid migration test value (NSSM). From the concrete mixtures reconstituted from the

514 long-term exposure tests, the correlation between the two coefficients is established.
515 The design values are finally converted into quality control values.

516
517 Acknowledgements
518
519 The research is supported by the China National Science and Technology Support

520 Planning Project No. 2011BAG07B04. The support of Management Bureau of HZM

521 project (Zhuhai, China) is also acknowledged.

522
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603
 604 FIGURE CAPTIONS
605

606 Fig.1. Global view of HZM sea link project (left: China mainland, right: Hong Kong)

607 Fig.2. Statistical properties for model parameters of chloride ingress: (a) Surface
608 chloride concentration (b) Threshold chloride concentration (c) Exponent
609 coefficient (d) Cover thickness

610 Fig.3. Concrete cover thickness and quality for RC elements in different exposure
611 zones in terms of (a) 28d chloride diffusion coefficient, and (b) 56d chloride
612 diffusion coefficient (β=1.3, tSL=50 years).

613 Fig.4. Concrete cover thickness and quality of RC elements in different exposure
614 zones in terms of (a) 28d chloride diffusion coefficient, and (b) 56d chloride
615 diffusion coefficient (β=1.3, tSL=120 years).

616 Fig.5. Accelerated carbonation resistance in terms of concrete cover thickness for
617 service lives of 50 years and 120 years (β=1.3, tSL=50, 120 years).

618 Fig.6. Correlation between the NSSD coefficients and NSSM coefficients
619

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