Practical Model for Three-Stage Corrosion Behavior of Galvanized Steel Reinforcement in Soil

Failure of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls attributed to the corrosion of galvanized steel in soil has raised concern on the adequacy of current design requirements. In this work, a numerical model was developed to calculate the corrosion rate of galvanized steel in soil at three different stages of corrosion by considering key soil corrosion parameters, such as resistivity, temperature, moisture content, pH, and oxygen availability. Results show that the proposed model is in agreement with widely accepted empirical models, and can be used for the service-life design and risk assessment of MSE walls and to determine the optimum zinc cover thickness.