Abstract:The chloride ion transport in concretes with different size of splitting cracks at marine tidal zone is investigated. The splitting crack widths of concrete are about 003 mm, 005 mm, 010 mm, 015 mm and 030 mm. The cracked concrete and sound concrete are placed at marine tidal zone for 30 d, and the chloride ion content in crack zone and perimeter zone of concrete, chloride ion penetration depth and steel bar corrosion area are quantitatively determined. It is shown that splitting crack will be recovered when the concrete is unloaded in split test. And the splitting crack width of concrete should be characterized by the value of displacement sensor when the concrete is unloaded in split test. The chloride ion content of cracked concrete decreases with increased depth, and then gets to remain steady from 10 mm to the inner. The relationship between chloride ion content and crack width in the steady zone can be regressed as the exponential function and the linear function for the crack zone and the perimeter zone of concrete, respectively. Due to away from the crack zone, the influence of splitting crack width on accelerated chloride ion ingression in the perimeter zone is less than that in the crack zone. When the splitting crack width is more than 005 mm, the chloride ion penetration depth in crack plane and in vertical crack plane of concrete is 50 mm and 20 mm, respectively. And the steel corrosion area enlarges with the increasing crack width. And the chloride diffusion coefficient of cracked concrete is closely related to the resistance capacity to chloride penetration of concrete, crack density (matrix width, crack width), and chloride binding capacity of concrete. When the crack density of concrete is less than 70, the chloride diffusion coefficient of cracked concrete increases with decreased crack density linearly. The chloride penetration will accelerate near the crack zone. And the raised splitting crack width will lead to its influence area in concrete increased quickly.