Abstract Corrosion can cause mechanical damage near the material surface and reduce material strength. The understanding and simulation of corrosion damage evolution is essential for predicting residual service life of the engineering structure, reliability analysis, and corrosion-resistant design of materials. Most of the mathematical models are intended to describe the interface evolution process at a single corrosion spot. These models, usually based on diffusion theory and electrochemical kinetics, can predict the geometric evolution of corrosion pits and the evolution of metal ion concentration distribution in solution. In this paper, we briefly introduce the electrochemical kinetics of corrosion for researchers in mechanics. The existing pitting corrosion models are classified and reviewed. Several major new corrosion simulation methods are highlighted: Cellular Automaton, Peridynamics and Phase-Field models. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. Finally, to deal with the challenges in applying corrosion models for real engineering problems, we suggest several research directions for the future work.
2019, Vol. 40 
