Modeling of concrete cracking due to corrosion process of reinforcement bars

The reinforcement corrosion in Reinforced Concrete (RC) is a major reason of degradation for structures and infrastructures throughout the world leading to their premature deterioration before design life was attained. The effects of corrosion of reinforcement are: (i) the reduction of the cross sec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cement and concrete research 2015-05, Vol.71, p.78-92
Main Authors: Bossio, Antonio, Monetta, Tullio, Bellucci, Francesco, Lignola, Gian Piero, Prota, Andrea
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bars
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
Corrosion
Corrosion (C)
CORROSION PRODUCTS
CRACK PROPAGATION
CRACKS
Degradation (C)
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Fracture mechanics
HARDNESS
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Mathematical models
Modeling (E)
PITTING CORROSION
REDUCTION
REINFORCED CONCRETE
Reinforcement
Reinforcement (D)
Reinforcing steels
SERVICE LIFE
STEELS
STRESSES
WEAR RESISTANCE
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Summary:The reinforcement corrosion in Reinforced Concrete (RC) is a major reason of degradation for structures and infrastructures throughout the world leading to their premature deterioration before design life was attained. The effects of corrosion of reinforcement are: (i) the reduction of the cross section of the bars, and (ii) the development of corrosion products leading to the appearance of cracks in the concrete cover and subsequent cover spalling. Due to their intrinsic complex nature, these issues require an interdisciplinary approach involving both material science and structural design knowledge also in terms on International and National codes that implemented the concept of durability and service life of structures. In this paper preliminary FEM analyses were performed in order to simulate pitting corrosion or general corrosion aimed to demonstrate the possibility to extend the results obtained for a cylindrical specimen, reinforced by a single bar, to more complex RC members in terms of geometry and reinforcement. Furthermore, a mechanical analytical model to evaluate the stresses in the concrete surrounding the reinforcement bars is proposed. In addition, a sophisticated model is presented to evaluate the non-linear development of stresses inside concrete and crack propagation when reinforcement bars start to corrode. The relationships between the cracking development (mechanical) and the reduction of the steel section (electrochemical) are provided. Finally, numerical findings reported in this paper were compared to experimental results available in the literature and satisfactory agreement was found.
ISSN:0008-8846
1873-3948
DOI:10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.01.010