Abstract
The paper presents a new analytical model to study the evolution of radial cracking around a corroding steel reinforcement bar embedded in concrete. The concrete cover for the corroding rebar is modelled as a thick-walled cylinder subject to axisymmetrical displacement constraint at the internal boundary generated by expansive corrosion products. A bilinear softening curve reflecting realistic concrete property, together with the crack band theory for concrete fracture, is applied to model the residual tensile stress in the cracked concrete. A governing equation for directly solving the crack width in cover concrete is established for the proposed analytical model. Closed-form solutions for crack width are then obtained at various stages during the evolution of cracking in cover concrete. The propagation of crack front with corrosion progress is studied, and the time to cracking on concrete cover surface is predicted. Mechanical parameters of the model including residual tensile strength, reduced tensile stiffness, and radial pressure at the bond interface are investigated during the evolution of cover concrete cracking. Finally, the analytical predictions are examined by comparing with the published experimental data, and mechanical parameters are analysed with the progress of reinforcement corrosion and through the concrete cover.
Highlights
The serviceability and durability of concrete structures may be seriously affected by the corrosion of steel reinforcement in structures that are exposed to aggressive environments, such as motorway bridges, car parks, and marine structures
Considerable research has been conducted on the predictions of the time to concrete cover cracking due to steel rebar corrosion based on the experimental results and the numerical models, limited work has been done on the theory of cracking evolution in cover concrete during the progress of reinforcement corrosion with reference to realistic concrete material properties such as tensile softening behaviour of the cracked concrete and crack band spacing in the concrete cover
A new method for theoretically analysing the evolution of cracking in concrete cover subject to expansive internal displacement caused by steel rebar corrosion is presented based on the thick-walled cylinder model for the concrete cover and the tensile softening model for the cracked concrete
Summary
The serviceability and durability of concrete structures may be seriously affected by the corrosion of steel reinforcement in structures that are exposed to aggressive environments, such as motorway bridges, car parks, and marine structures. Pantazopoulou and Papoulia 9 proposed a numerical model to study the mechanical implications of cover concrete cracking due to reinforcement corrosion and provided estimates for the time to cover cracking over corroded rebar. The propagations of the cracked front and critical crack front are investigated, and the time to concrete cover cracking is predicted Mechanical parameters, such as residual tensile strength, reduced tensile stiffness, and radial pressure at the bond interface, are studied with the progress of rebar corrosion. The developed analytical model is examined through its ability to reproduce reported experimental measurements and theoretically provides the evolution of concrete cracking and the deterioration of tensile stiffness and strength of the cracked concrete over the time of reinforcement corrosion
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