Abstract
Previous research shows that freeze–thaw cycles represent one of the most dangerous threats to reinforced concrete (RC) structures. However, there is almost no experimental data on the effects of freeze–thaw cycles on the seismic behavior of RC columns showing flexure-shear failure. In this study, three columns with the shear span-to-depth ratio of 2.5 were subjected to different numbers of freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs) and pseudo-static testing. The seismic performance indexes of the specimens were analyzed in terms of hysteretic behavior, skeleton curves, shear deformation, and energy dissipation. The test observations show that the failure patterns of the test columns altered from the flexure dominated to shear dominated, owing to the more severe deterioration in shear capacity induced by freeze–thaw attack than in flexure capacity. The test results also indicate that freeze–thaw cycles significantly decrease the ductility and energy dissipation of test columns, and they increase the contributions of shear deformation to the total deformation.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, concrete structures in cold regions have experienced severe deterioration due to freeze–thaw penetration
When considering the potential consequences of earthquakes in the seismic area, it is important to quantify the seismic performance of structures subjected to freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs)
(1) The increase in the number of FTCs changed the failure mode of the reinforced concrete columns tested in this experiment
Summary
Over the past few decades, concrete structures in cold regions have experienced severe deterioration due to freeze–thaw penetration. The main mechanism of freeze–thaw damage which is widely accepted is related to the 9% volume expansion of freezing water that exists in the concrete pore system, resulting in an increase of hydraulic pressure [3,4,5]. As the pressure accumulates and exceeds the concrete tensile stress, cracks initiate and lead to the degradation of concrete properties. A series of experiments [6,7,8,9,10] were conducted to investigate these degradations on the material level and concluded that in many aspects the apparent deteriorations were produced due to the freeze–thaw action, which comprised concrete compressive and tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and the bond strength between concrete and reinforcement. When considering the potential consequences of earthquakes in the seismic area, it is important to quantify the seismic performance of structures subjected to freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs)
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