Abstract
The premature failure of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is significantly affected by chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcing steel. Although researchers have achieved many outstanding results in the structural capacity of RC structures in the past few decades, the topic of service life has gradually attracted researchers’ attention. In this work, based on the stress intensity, two models are developed to predict the threshold expansive pressure, corrosion rate and cover cracking time of the corrosion-induced cracking process for RC structures. Specifically, in the proposed models, both the influence of initial defects and modified corrosion current density are taken into account. The results given by these models are in a good agreement with practical experience and laboratory studies, and the influence of each parameter on cover cracking is analyzed. In addition, considering the uncertainty existing in the deterioration process of RC structures, a methodology based on the third-moment method in regard to the stochastic process is proposed, which is able to evaluate the cracking risk of RC structures quantitatively and predict their service life. This method provides a good means to solve relevant problems and can prolong the service life of concrete infrastructures subjected to corrosion by applying timely inspection and repairs.
Highlights
The chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcement bars is considered as one of the dominant causes of the deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures [1,2,3]
By taking into account the above assertions, studies on RC structures incorporating concrete cover cracking in chloride-laden environments are endowed with great engineering significance and such efforts are capable of prolonging the service life and reducing the maintenance cost of RC
The initial there is a one-to-one correspondence. This is because the limited pore area inside the defects cracks, or concrete cover cracks, the initial threshold pressure, the threshold crackconcrete cannot satisfy the expansion of the corrosion product volume greatly, in the case ing pressure, corrosion rate of rebar and cover cracking time all increase with the increase of a low rate of reinforcement corrosion rust had a great expansion pressure caused by in the initial defect size (a/c)
Summary
The chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcement bars is considered as one of the dominant causes of the deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures [1,2,3]. Zhang et al [22] developed a dynamic model based on the fracture mechanics approach by taking into account the initial defects This model is capable of predicting the initiation time of initial defects, cover cracking time, threshold expansion pressure, and critical corrosion rate of reinforcing bar, which provided a more reasonable prediction associated with the serviceability of RC structures. In this model, two essential factors were ignored: the shape of the initial defects and the corrosion current density with time. By adopting the third-moment method, a cover cracking time probabilistic analysis is conducted
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