The corrosion pattern of reinforcement and its influence on serviceability of reinforced concrete members in chloride environment

Journal Article · Sun Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Cement and Concrete Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.07.025· OSTI ID:21347454

Castel, Arnaud; Francois, Raoul ^[1]

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1. Universite de Toulouse, UPS, INSA, LMDC, Laboratoire Materiaux et Durabilite des Constructions, 137 Avenue de Rangueil, F 31077 Toulouse (France)

This paper deals with two corroded reinforcement concrete beams, which have been stored under sustained load in a chloride environment for 14 and 23 years respectively. The evolution of corrosion pattern of reinforcement and its influence on serviceability are studied. In chloride-induced corrosion process, corrosion cracking affects significantly the corrosion pattern. During the corrosion cracking initiation period, only local pitting corrosion occurs. At early stage of cracking propagation, localized pitting corrosion is still predominant as cracks widths are very small and cracks are not interconnected, but a general corrosion slowly develops as the cracks widen. At late cracking stage, interconnected cracking with wide width develops along large parts of the beam leading to a general corrosion pattern. Macrocells and microcells concepts are used for the interpretation of the results. Mechanical experiments and corrosion simulation tests are performed to clarify the influence of this corrosion pattern evolution on the serviceability of the beams (deflection increase). Experimental results show that, when the corrosion is localized (early cracking stage), the steel-concrete bond loss is the main factor affecting the beams serviceability. The local cross-section loss resulting from pitting attack does not significantly influence the deflection of the beam. When corrosion is generalized (late cracking stage), as the steel-concrete bond is already lost, the generalized steel cross-section reduction becomes the main factor affecting the beams serviceability. But, at this stage, the deflection increase is slower due to the low general corrosion rate.

• OSTI ID: 21347454
• Journal Information: Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 39, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.07.025; PII: S0008-8846(09)00186-0; Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0008-8846
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CHLORIDES
CRACKS
CROSS SECTIONS
PERFORMANCE
PITTING CORROSION
REINFORCED CONCRETE
SIMULATION
STEELS
ALLOYS
BUILDING MATERIALS
CARBON ADDITIONS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
CONCRETES
CORROSION
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
MATERIALS
REINFORCED MATERIALS
TRANSITION ELEMENT ALLOYS