Influence of rubber geometrical characteristics on the corrosion behavior of rebar in rubberized concrete

Abstract

Reinforced concrete containing rubber is widely used in building engineering, roads and other fields due to good vibration damping and energy dissipation of rubber. Unlike ordinary concrete, the corrosion-induced cracks of rubberized concrete may differ significantly from that of ordinary concrete due to the irregularity of rubber morphology. In this paper, the 3D mesoscale model of rubberized concrete containing rebars is developed, and the corrosion behavior affected by rubber geometrical characteristics is studied by numerical simulation and experiment. Chloride ion and stray current are selected as the main simulation factors, and the corresponding experiment is conducted through applying constant current. On the basis, the influence of different rubber contents, rubber shapes and rubber sizes on corrosion-induced cracks of rubberized concrete is considered. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The rust is centered on the rebar and develops around in a forked shape. Rubber particles accumulated in concrete can delay the damage development to some extent. (2) The damage range of the longitudinal sections of rebars is close, and the damage degree is the largest in the section near the center of rebars. (3) The complete rust layer shows an oval shape with a large upper part and a small lower part. The maximum rust layer thickness is obtained near the position of 80 mm or 85 mm.