An experimental study on the shear capacity of corroded reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement

Abstract

The effect of corrosion on the structural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams without stirrups was experimentally investigated. A total of eight medium-scale RC beams were constructed without stirrups. The beams were 150 mm in width, 200 mm in depth, and 1100 mm in length. Test variables included three distinct degrees of corrosion (0%, 3.13%, 4.11%, and 4.93% by mass loss of steel rebar). Six beams were subjected to an accelerated corrosion test, while two beams served as non-corroded control beams. All beams were tested under four-point loading failure after the corrosion stage. The effect of various small degrees of corroded longitudinal reinforcements has been observed for the shear capacity. Test findings found that all tested beams had a brittle failure with tested corrosion degrees. Moreover, corroded beams that are exposed to 3% and 4% average corrosion degree reported having a larger shear capacity of approximately 7% compared to control beams. Lastly, beams with a corrosion degree of about 5% showed a decrease of 10% shear strength and a different failure mechanism with distinguished cracking patterns due to the formation of corrosion cracks along the longitudinal reinforcements.
 Keywords:
 reinforced concrete beam; reinforcement corrosion; shear strength; no stirrups.