Development of simulation method of concrete cracking behavior and corrosion products movement due to rebar corrosion

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2018-11, Vol.190, p.560-572
• Main Authors: Amalia, Zahra, Qiao, Di, Nakamura, Hikaru, Miura, Taito, Yamamoto, Yoshihito
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Chemical properties; Concrete cracking; Corrosion (Chemistry); Corrosion products movement; Crack width; Mechanical properties; Reinforced concrete; Rigid Body Spring Method; Truss Network model
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.09.100

•Internal cracks and penetrated corrosion products into cracks were clarified by SEM.•The movement of corrosion products decrease cracking speed.•Surface and internal crack widths can be well predicted using the proposed model.•The ratio of liquid and solid phase of corrosion products affect the cracking speed. In this paper, both experimental and numerical studies were carried out to evaluate the concrete cracking behavior and the corrosion products movement during rebar corrosion process. The electric corrosion tests with an applied current density of 900 μA/cm2 were conducted, in which the development of surface and internal cracks and the distribution of corrosion products within the concrete were investigated. The test results showed that the corrosion products movement through cracks affects the crack propagation. Therefore, a numerical model based on three-dimensional Rigid Body Spring Method combined with Truss Network model was developed, which treated the corrosion products movement as a diffusion problem. The model was validated against the test results, showing that it can reasonably reproduce the effect of corrosion products movement on the crack propagation.