Damage Evolution of RC Beams Under Simultaneous Reinforcement Corrosion and Sustained Load

Jiansheng Shen, Xi Gao, Bo Li, Kun Du, Ruoyu Jin, Wei Chen, Yidong Xu

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    To accurately obtain the performance of concrete structures in coastal regions, it is necessary to correctly understand the damage evolution law of reinforced concrete (RC) members under real working conditions. In this paper, four RC beams, subjected to different levels of corrosion and sustained load, are first tested. Reinforcement corrosion coupled with sustained load increases the number and width of cracks at the soffit of beams but decreases their loading capacities. Crack width of the corroded beam under 50% of designed load is two times of that under 30% of designed load. Residual loading capacities of the corroded beams subjected to 30% and 50% of designed load are 87.5% and 81.8% of the control beam. A finite element model is developed for the corroded RC beams. Due to less confinement, concrete below and at the sides of reinforcements is subjected to a higher stress, compared to concrete above the reinforcements. Corrosion expansion of reinforcements is successfully modelled by a temperature-filed method, as it properly simulates the damage evolution of the corroded RC beams. As a result, concrete cracking, caused by the reinforcement corrosion, is well captured. Coupling reinforcement corrosion with sustained load significantly increases the damage level in RC beams, particularly for those subjected to a high sustained load. The whole damage evolution process of concrete cracking due to corrosion expansion under the coupling effect of sustained loading and environment can be simulated, thus providing a reference for the durability evaluation, life prediction, and numerical simulation of concrete structure.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number627
    JournalMaterials
    Volume12
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 2019

    Bibliographical note

    This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

    Keywords

    • Damage evolution
    • Finite element model
    • Reinforced concrete beam
    • Reinforcement corrosion
    • Sustained load

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