Once AAR is known to occur, two questions take on paramount importance: 1) How will AAR affect structural integrity and safety? and 2) For how long will the reaction continue? The answer to the first is more straightforward and undoubtedly entails a “proper finite element simulation”, as discussed in the previous chapters. The second question, on the other hand, proves to be very difficult to address and, not surprisingly, has received (comparatively) very little attention from the research community. This chapter will nevertheless seek a response to this second question by first reviewing the (rather limited) body of literature in detail and then presenting a methodology, though not yet fully developed, capable of providing a partial answer.

Three models will be reviewed herein, though only the third explicitly addresses determining the potential for future expansion.