An Assessment of the Structural Performance of Rebar-Corroded Reinforced Concrete Beam Members

This paper aims to determine the effects of local corrosion at three different corrosion areas, the (1) entire area, (2) the constant moment area, and (3) the constant shear area, on the flexural performance of RC beams. To analyze this, an experimental study was carried out to prepare two series of RC beams (200 x 300 x 2800 mm) created with three different degrees of corrosion, inducing local rebar corrosion. Furthermore, two series of experimental tests were conducted under different loading types: monotonic and cyclic loading. It was observed that the strength capacity reduction grew in the RC specimens with induced corrosion in the order of the (1) entire area > (2) the constant moment area > (3) the constant shear area, as the average corrosion rate increased. Our test results further showed that the yield and ultimate strength were kept nearly equivalent to the uncorroded RC specimen, with average corrosion rates of 10% and 15%, respectively. Over these corrosion rates, the yield strength and ultimate strength dropped significantly. Compared to the test results under a monotonic loading condition, the structural capacity under a cyclic loading condition decreased, with a more pronounced tendency for each corrosion case as the corrosion rate increased. Longitudinal cracks developed throughout and adjacent to the corrosion areas as the corrosion rate increased. Thus, we can infer that strength reductions may be strongly influenced by these longitudinal cracks.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the effects of local corrosion on the flexural performance of RC beams at different corrosion areas. Experimental tests were conducted on two series of RC beams with varying degrees of corrosion induced by local rebar corrosion. It was found that the strength capacity reduction followed the order of entire area > constant moment area > constant shear area as the average corrosion rate increased. The yield and ultimate strength remained nearly consistent until average corrosion rates of 10% and 15% respectively, beyond which they significantly dropped. Under cyclic loading condition, the structural capacity decreased further with increasing corrosion rate, accompanied by the development of longitudinal cracks.