Abstract
Maintenance of reinforced concrete structures is a prevailing topic, especially with regard to lifeline structures and bridges, many of which are now designed with a service life beyond 100 years. Reinforcement made of ordinary (carbon) steel may corrode in aggressive environments. Stainless steel, being much more resistant to corrosion, is a valid solution to facilitate the protection of the works, increasing the service life and reducing the need for repair and maintenance. Despite the potential for stainless steel to reduce maintenance costs, studies investigating the influence of stainless steel on the behavior of reinforced concrete structures are limited. This study investigated the bond behavior of stainless steel rebars by means of experimental tests on reinforced concrete specimens with different concrete cover thicknesses, concrete strengths, and bar diameters. In each case, identical specimens with carbon steel reinforcement were tested for comparison. The failure modes of the specimens were examined, and a bond stress–slip relationship for stainless steel bars was established. This research shows that the bond behavior of stainless steel rebars is comparable to that of carbon steel bars.
Highlights
Stainless steel is a viable alternative to carbon for use as reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures
The purpose of this research work was to investigate the bond behavior of concrete elements reinforced by means of stainless steel rebars and compare this behavior to that of elements reinforced by conventional carbon steel rebars
Considering the average of the ratios Fexp /Fbmax (Table 1, column (12)) and excluding the specimens that exhibited concrete tensile failure, the value of 0.69 was obtained. This result confirms that, as expected, the bond strength of a bar anchored in concrete that is subjected to tensile stresses parallel to the bar is less than the bond strength of a bar anchored in concrete that is subjected to compression parallel to the bar
Summary
Stainless steel is a viable alternative to carbon for use as reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures. In [10], the bond-slip characteristics of corrosion-resistant reinforcing steel bars, including stainless steel bars, embedded in concrete were determined through a beam-end test. The purpose of this research work was to investigate the bond behavior of concrete elements reinforced by means of stainless steel rebars and compare this behavior to that of elements reinforced by conventional carbon steel rebars. A bond stress–slip relationship for stainless steel bars was established based on the analogous formulation proposed by fib Model Code 2010 [17] for carbon steel bars. Such a relationship is useful for analytical solution of the equations governing the bond problem [18,19,20]. The presented results are expected to enrich knowledge about the bond behavior of stainless steel bars embedded in concrete
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