Prediction of carbonation in concrete buildings protected by external thermal insulation layers in consideration of concrete water content

Reinforced concrete buildings nowadays are popularly required to have external thermal insulations layers (ETIL) for energy-saving purpose. However, the issue of how to predict the service life of these buildings remains unsolved. This contribution studies how to predict the carbonation of concrete buildings protected by ETIL. A model capable of predicting the carbonation rate of concrete protected by ETIL is proposed by taking into account the effects of the type of ETIL, temperature, CO2 concentration, and in particular, the water content in concrete. Predicting results based on this model are compared with some field inspecting data. A good agreement demonstrates the validity of the proposed model.