A review of chloride transport in concrete exposed to the marine atmosphere zone environment: Experiments and numerical models

Concrete infrastructures in marine atmosphere zone environment face the threat of chloride ions aerosol erosion, which can lead to the corrosion of steel bars and shorten the service life of the structure. However, the mechanism of chloride transport in the marine atmosphere zone environment is complex and has many influencing factors. Therefore, this study describes the behaviour of chloride transport in the marine atmosphere zone and reviews the experimental studies and numerical simulations of chloride migration in concrete. The material factors, exposure conditions, exposure time, and other factors affecting the chloride ions transport are summarized and the microstructure and corrosion products after corrosion are analysed. In addition, there are some empirical models based on Fick's second law and physical models that consider the effects of moisture transport, carbonation, cracking, and other factors on the convection-diffusion modification model. Furthermore, this study proposes some promising strategies to improve the salt spray resistance of coastal concrete structures.