Mechanical performance of deep beams damaged by corrosion in a chloride environment

Abstract

Two full-scale beams with dimensions 3000 × 280 × 150 mm were exposed in a chloride chamber for 27 and 36 months. Corrosion of the reinforcement in the beams was accelerated by wetting and drying cycles. Two deep beams were taken from each full-scale beam. Loading tests were carried out on the four deep beams and loading–deflection curves and slip of tensile bars were recorded during the tests. Then, the cross-sectional loss in the tensile bars and diameter loss in the stirrups were examined. The results showed that corrosion distribution was not uniform along the tensile bars. The correlation between cross-sectional loss of steel bar and surface crack width was weak. Serious pitting corrosion on the tensile bars changed the failure mode of deep beams from shear to flexure. The failure mode of corroded deep beams depends not only on span to effective depth ratio and the degree of corrosion of the tensile bars but also on the corrosion degree of the stirrups.