ABSTRACT
Further details are given in (Polder 1998). Numerical simulations were carried out using the finite element package COMSOL Multiphysics (formerly known as FEMLAB). The main objectives were to evaluate the CP system throwing power and to assess whether the prestressing steel was safe. The humidity and the number of corroding rebars were varied. It was assumed that the concrete slowly dried out to reach the equilibrium with the atmosphere, after replacing the joints and leakage stop. However, in the future the joint could start leaking again and the concrete would become wet again. As a result two extreme situations with respect to humidity were taken into account: equilibrium with air of 80% relative humidity (RH) and a temperature of 10◦C or a RH higher than 90% and 10◦C. In these conditions, the concrete was considered dry or wet, respectively, which is expressed by its electrical resistivity. The behaviour of steel in concrete under these specific conditions was described using data available in literature (Redaelli et al. 2006); no temporal variations in the steel conditions (active/passive) were considered.
