Influence of corrosion crack patterns on the rate of crack widening of RC beams

Corrosion crack widths are often used by structural engineers in the field to predict level of steel corrosion as well as residual load-bearing capacities of corroding RC structures. This paper presents further work on this matter but with focus on corrosion crack patterns and how they affect rate of crack widening. It is based on results from a research where 17 quasi-full-scale (153 × 254 × 3000 mm) RC beams were corroded under various levels of sustained loads. The rate of widening of corrosion crack widths was found to be very much dependent on crack patterns. Deformation of cover concrete under each crack pattern was discussed. It was found that at maximum crack widths below 0.6 mm, the majority of beams exhibited nearly similar crack patterns as well as rate of widening of corrosion cracks. A mass loss of steel of 1% corresponded to a maximum crack width between 0.14 and 0.22 mm. At large crack widths (>0.6 mm), various beams exhibited very different rates of crack widening. It was shown that at crack widths above 0.6 mm, to be conservative an increase in mass loss of steel of 1% corresponded to corrosion crack widening of 0.02 mm.     

Flexural strengthening of RC beams with prestressed NSM CFRP rods – Experimental and analytical investigation

The effectiveness of strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) beams with prestressed near-surface mounted (NSM) carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods was investigated. Four RC beams (254 mm deep by 152 mm wide by 3500 mm long) were tested under monotonic loading. One beam was kept un-strengthened as a control beam. One beam was strengthened with a non-prestressed NSM CFRP rod. Two beams were strengthened with prestressed NSM CFRP rods stressed to 40% and 60% of the rod’s ultimate strength. The test results showed that strengthening with non-prestressed NSM CFRP rod enhanced the flexural response of the beam compared to that of the control beam. A remarkable improvement in the response was obtained when the RC beams were strengthened with prestressed (40% and 60%) NSM CFRP rods. An increase up to 90% in the yield load and a 79% in the ultimate load compared to those of the control beam were obtained. An analytical model was developed using sectional analysis method to predict the flexural response of RC beams strengthened with prestressed NSM CFRP rods. The proposed model showed excellent agreement with the experimental results.     

Composite tubes as an alternative to steel spirals for concrete members in bending and shear

Glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) tubes are compared to steel spiral reinforcement in circular concrete members with longitudinal reinforcement and prestressing, using six beam tests. Two 324 mm diameter and 4.2 m long prestressed specimens were tested in bending. Four 219 mm diameter reinforced specimens were also tested, including two 2.43 m long beams tested in bending and two 0.6 m long beams tested in shear. In each set, one specimen was essentially a concrete-filled GFRP tube, while the other control specimen included steel spiral reinforcement of comparable hoop stiffness to that of GFRP tube. The strength of control specimens was governed by crushing and spalling of concrete cover. Unlike spiral reinforcement, GFRP tubes confined larger concrete areas and also contributed as longitudinal reinforcement, leading to increases in flexural and shear strengths, up to 113% and 69%, respectively.     

Lateral deformation of RC beams under simultaneous load and steel corrosion

Cracking of cover concrete due to steel corrosion is one of the clear physical indicators of loss of service life of corroding RC structures. Its prediction is therefore very important for service life modelling of these structures. Models developed to predict the time to cover cracking assume that stresses due to steel corrosion follow the principles of a thick-walled cylinder under internal pressure. Considering the errors in the models, this paper contests the applicability of the thick-walled cylinder approach to model the time to cover cracking as well as the rate of lateral expansion of concrete after cover cracking using experimental results from 12 RC beams (153 × 254 × 3000 mm) corroded under a sustained load. It is shown in the paper that, contrary to the assumptions of uniform expansion made in the thick-walled cylinder approach, before cracking of the cover concrete, tensile strains are applied on the face of beams where corrosion agents are drawn whilst other faces are in compression. Corroded steel coupons are used to verify that this variation of strains is caused by the corrosion process not being uniformly distributed around the steel bar. It is also shown in the paper how cracking and location of cracks affects the rate of lateral deformation of concrete due to steel corrosion.     

Behaviour of RC beams corroded under sustained service loads

This paper presents the results of an experimental study conducted to characterize the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams corroded whilst subjected to constant sustained service loads. Corrosion of tensile steel bars was induced by an accelerated corrosion process using a 5% solution of NaCl and a constant impressed current. Four RC beams were tested, each with a width of 153 mm, a depth of 254 mm and a length of 3000 mm. Beams were tested whilst under a load equivalent to 1%, 8% and 12% of the ultimate load. Longitudinal tensile and compressive strains were monitored during the corrosion process and used to determine the variation of the depth of the neutral axis, the curvature and the second moment of area of beams with the time of electrolysis. The results indicate that the longitudinal strains, the depth of the neutral axis and the curvature of beams depend on both the level of corrosion and the applied service load whilst the second moment of area is mostly influenced by the level of corrosion.     

Shear strength of RC beams subjected to cyclic thermal loading

The experiments were performed for assessing the influence of cyclic thermal loading on the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beam specimens. One hundred eleven RC beams of 100 × 150 × 1200 mm size reinforced in tension zone with two bars of 8, 10 and 12 mm diameters were tested under four point loading. The beams were subjected to a number of thermal cycles varying from 7 to 28 cycles with peak temperature taken as 100, 200 and 300 °C. The effects of thermal cycles on the crack pattern, failure mechanism, first crack load and the shear strength of beams have been discussed. The shear strength of the beams has been found to increase by up to 10% at lower temperature cycles of 100 and 200 °C but reduces by up to 14% at higher temperature (300 °C) depending on the severity of thermal loading. The results of study emphasize the need for developing appropriate guidelines for the design of RC structural elements used in comparatively high temperature environment with cyclic thermal loading conditions.     

Preliminary experimental investigation of the fatigue bond behavior of CFRP confined RC beams

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a study on the effect of the confinement provided by transverse carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets on the fatigue bond strength of steel reinforcing bars in concrete beams. Reinforced concrete bond-beams 150 × 250 × 2000 mm were tested. The variables examined were the area of the CFRP sheets (none or one U-wrap CFRP sheet), the reinforcing bar diameter (20 or 25 mm) and the load range applied to the specimens. The results showed that increasing the bar diameter increased the fatigue bond strength for the unwrapped beams. The CFRP sheets increased the bond strength of the bond-beams with 20 mm bars. However, for the beams with 25 mm steel bars the failure mode changed from a bond splitting failure for the unwrapped beams to a diagonal shear failure for the CFRP wrapped beams, and there was little increase in fatigue strength. Finally, the bond failure mechanism for repeated loading is described.     

Variation of steel loss and its effect on the ultimate flexural capacity of RC beams corroded and repaired under load

This paper presents results of an investigation on the variation of mass loss of deformed tensile steel bars in RC beams (153 × 254 × 3000 mm) that were corroded whilst under a sustained load using an impressed current, constant wetting cycles with 5% NaCl solution and two different drying cycles. Following the corrosion test, selected beams were patch repaired whilst under a sustained load, but eventually all beams were tested to failure. The results indicated that the highest level of corrosion occurred where there were longer drying cycles, and that the level of sustained load had little effect on the rate of corrosion. Maximum mass loss of steel was found to occur at the centre of the corrosion region. The ultimate flexural capacity of beams was found to be best related to the maximum gravimetric mass loss compared to the average mass loss of steel. A maximum mass loss of steel of 1% was found to reduce the flexural capacity of beams by 0.7%.     

Effects of steel fiber addition on mechanical properties of concrete and RC beams

C20 and C30 classes of concrete are produced each with addition of Dramix RC-80/0.60-BN type of steel fibers (SFs) at dosages of 0, 30, 60 kg/m³, and their compressive strengths, split tensile strength, moduli of elasticity and toughnesses are measured. Nine reinforced concrete (RC) beams of 300 × 300 × 2000 mm outer dimensions, designed as tension failure and all having the same steel reinforcement, having SFs at dosages of 0, 30, 60 kg/m³ with C20 class concrete, and nine other RC beams of the same peculiarities with C30 class concrete again designed as tension failure and all having the same reinforcement are produced and tested under simple bending. The load versus mid-span deflection relationships of all these RC and steel-fiber-added RC (SFARC) beams under simple bending are recorded. First, the mechanical properties of C20 and C30 classes of concrete with no SFs and with SFs at dosages of 30 and 60 kg/m³ are determined in a comparative way. The flexural behaviours and toughnesses of RC and SFARC beams for C20 and C30 classes of concrete are also determined in a comparative way. The experimentally determined (mid-section load)–(SFs dosage) and (toughness)–(SFs dosage) relationships are given to reveal the quantitative effects of concrete class and SFs dosage on these crucial properties.     

Creep behaviour of CFRP-strengthened reinforced concrete beams

The strengthening of reinforced concrete structures with externally bonded fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates has shown excellent performance and, as a result, this technology is rapidly replacing steel plate bonding techniques. The numerous studies that have been carried out to date on FRP-strengthened concrete elements have mainly focussed on the static and short-term responses; very little work has been done regarding the long-term performance. This paper addresses this issue, and presents results from a series of experiments on the time-dependent behaviour of carbon FRP-strengthened concrete beams. Twenty-six reinforced concrete beams with dimensions 100 × 150 × 1800 mm, with and without bonded CFRP laminates, were investigated for their creep behaviour. Different reinforcement ratios were used to evaluate the contribution of the external reinforcement on the creep resistance of the beams. High levels of sustained load were used in order to determine the maximum sustained load that can be applied without any risk of creep failure. The applied sustained loads varied from 59% to 78% of the ultimate static capacities of the un-strengthened beams. For most of the long-term tests, the applied sustained loads were higher than the service loads. This was done to account for the fact that strengthening is typically required when a structure is expected to carry increased service loads. The main parameters of this study were (i) the level of sustained load and (ii) the strengthening scheme. The results confirm that FRP strengthening is effective for increasing the ultimate capacities of the beams; however, there is virtually no improvement in performance with regard to the long-term deflections.     

Study on the cause of pop-out defects on the concrete wall and repair method

Concrete pop-outs are a common occurrence in foreign countries; however, this has not been the case in Korea, until recently when pop-outs were observed on the concrete walls of an apartment. Our investigation revealed that the electric arc furnace (EAF) slag, as fine aggregates in the concrete caused the pop-out.This study discusses the cause that EAF slag as fine aggregates for concrete create the pop-outs, and an appropriate repair depth for deteriorated concrete as suggested by finite element (FE) analysis.Results show that the free CaO and free MgO in the EAF slag were primarily responsible for creating the pop-outs. These findings led us to conclude that the defect could occur to the depth of 34 mm in the concrete with 21 MPa strength as the EAF slag size was up to 5 mm. As an effective repair method for pop-outs, replacing concrete up to 23 mm in depth from the surface with polymer mortar of 50 MPa design strength was suggested, and the proposed method is verified through experimentation.     

Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete of different compressive strengths

Corrosion of steel bars embedded in concrete having compressive strengths of 20, 30 and 46 MPa was investigated. Reinforced concrete specimens were immersed in a 3% NaCl solution by weight for 1, 7 and 15 days. In order to accelerate the chemical reactions, an external current of 0.4 A was applied using portable power supply. Corrosion rate was measured by retrieving electrochemical information of polarization technique. Pull-out tests of reinforced concrete specimens were then conducted to assess the corroded steel/concrete bond characteristics.Experimental results showed that corrosion rate of steel bars and bond strength between corroded steel/concrete were dependent on concrete strength and accelerated corrosion period. As concrete strength increased from 20 to 46 MPa, corrosion rate of embedded steel decreased. First day of corrosion acceleration caused a slight increase in steel/concrete bond strength, whereas sever corrosion after 7 and 15 days of corrosion acceleration significantly reduced steel/concrete bond strength. Visual and metallographic observation of steel bars removed from concrete samples after testing revealed that the severity of corrosion reactions and reduction of steel bar diameter increased as the corrosion acceleration period increased. Presence of localized corrosion pits as well as severe corrosion grooves of steel bars was confirmed after 7 and 15 days of corrosion acceleration, respectively.     

Creep effect on the behavior of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars subjected to different environments

The effect of different environmental conditions on the creep behavior of concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars under sustained loads is investigated. This is achieved through testing concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars and subjected to a stress level of about 20–25% of the ultimate stress of the GFRP bars. Reference beams were loaded in the temperature-controlled laboratory (24 ± 3 °C). Other test beams were either completely or partially immersed in different environments (tap-water and sea-water) at elevated temperature (40 ± 2 °C) to accelerate the reaction. During the exposure period, which lasted for ten months, strains in concrete and GFRP bars as well as the midspan deflections were recorded for all considered environmental conditions. The results show that the creep effect due to sustained loads was significant for all environments considered in the study and the highest effect was on beams subjected to wet/dry cycles of sea-water at 40 ± 2 °C.     

Impact resistance of steel fibrous concrete containing fibres of mixed aspect ratio

The paper presents results of an investigation conducted to study the impact resistance of steel fibre reinforced concrete containing fibres of mixed aspect ratio. An experimental investigation was planned in which 108 plain concrete and SFRC beam specimens of size 100 × 100 × 500 mm were tested under impact loading. The specimen incorporated three different volume fractions i.e. 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% of corrugated steel fibres. Each volume fraction incorporated mixed steel fibres of size 0.6 × 2.0 × 25 mm and 0.6 × 2.0 × 50 mm in different proportions. The drop weight type impact tests were conducted on the test specimens and the number of blows of the hammer required to induce first visible crack and ultimate failure of the specimen were recorded. The results are presented in terms of number of blows required as well as impact energy at first crack and ultimate failure. It has been observed that concrete containing 100% long fibres at 2.0% volume fraction gave the best performance under impact loading.     

A study on improvement of durability of reinforced concrete structures mixed with Natural Inorganic Minerals

As a fundamental study on the corrosion resistance of reinforced concrete structures using Natural Inorganic Minerals exposed to carbonation environment. The test specimens were concrete(W/C = 60%) with Natural Inorganic Minerals content of 0% and 10%. Accelerated arbonation and autoclave corrosion accelerated curing were then conducted with them. The corrosion resistance of steel in concrete with Natural Inorganic Minerals content of 0% and 10% was examined by corrosion form, half-cell potential, polarization resistance, corrosion area and weight loss after 24 h of autoclave corrosion accelerated curing.The results of the study showed that as for steel in concrete with Natural Inorganic Minerals content of 10%, the corrosion resistance was more excellent than steel in concrete with Natural Inorganic Minerals content of 0%.     

Placing conditions,mesostructural characteristics and post-cracking response of fibre reinforced self-compacting concretes

The benefits of adding fibres to concrete, evidenced in the post-cracking behaviour, are strongly influenced not only by the type and content of fibres but also by their orientation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of the casting/placing procedure on the post-peak behaviour of fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete, and its relationship with the mesostructural characteristics of the material (type, distribution and orientation of fibres). Three concretes were prepared using two types of steel fibres of different lengths (50 mm and 30 mm) and a structural type polymer fibre. Beams of 150 × 150 × 600 mm were cast in three different ways: filling the moulds from the centre in accordance with the EN 14651 Standard, pouring concrete from one end of the mould after a flowing along a 5 m length and 150 mm diameter pipe, and finally, filling the moulds vertically. Flexural tests according to the European Standard indicate that the three types of fibres achieve a preferential orientation along horizontal planes, like in conventional vibrated fibre reinforced concrete. The mechanical response of beams cast with longer steel fibres was strongly affected by the casting procedure while the flexural performance of the other two fibre concretes, was less affected. Such results are well in accordance with the density of fibres measured by fibre counting in different cut planes.     

Experimental and finite element analysis on the steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams ultimate behavior

Steel fiber-added reinforced concrete (SFRC) applications have become widespread in areas such as higher upper layers, tunnel shells, concrete sewer pipes, and slabs of large industrial buildings. Usage of SFRC in load-carrying members of buildings having conventional reinforced concrete (RC) frames is also gaining popularity recently because of its positive contribution to both energy absorption capacity and concrete strength.This paper presents experimental and finite element analysis of three SFRC beams. For this purpose, three SFRC beams with 250 × 350 × 2000 mm dimensions are produced using a concrete class of C20 with 30 kg/m³ dosage of steel fibers and steel class S420 with shear stirrups. SFRC beams are subjected to bending by a four-point loading setup in certified beam-loading frame, exactly after having been moist-cured for 28 days. The tests are with control of loads. The beams are loaded until they are broken and the loadings are stopped when the tensile steel bars are broken into two pieces. Applied loads and mid-section deflections are carefully recorded at every 5 kN load increment from the beginning till the ultimate failure.One of the SFRC beams modeled by using nonlinear material properties adopted from experimental study is analyzed till the ultimate failure cracks by ANSYS. Eight-noded solid brick elements are used to model the concrete. Internal reinforcement is modeled by using 3D spar elements. A quarter of the full beam is taken into account in the modeling process.The results obtained from the finite element and experimental analyses are compared to each other. It is seen from the results that the finite element failure behavior indicates a good agreement with the experimental failure behavior.     

Behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete under drop weight impact load

This paper presents the experimental results of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) beams prepared with different amount of recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) subjected to low velocity impact. The recycled coarse aggregates are obtained from a demolished RCC culvert. Four concrete mixes with 0%, 25%, 50% and 100% RCA respectively are prepared. With each mix three beam specimens of size 1.15 × 0.1 × 0.15 m are prepared and tested under drop weight impact load. The behavior of the RAC beams are studied in terms of acceleration, strains and support reaction histories under impact load in addition to the physical and mechanical characteristics of RCA and RAC. It is observed that 25% RCA does not influence the strength of concrete. In addition, it is found that for a given impact energy (the energy imparted by the hammer per blow) the reactions and strains of RAC with 50% and 100% RCA are significantly lower and higher respectively than those of normal concrete and RAC with 25% RCA.     

Frost attack resistance and steel bar corrosion of antiwashout underwater concrete containing mineral admixtures

This study aims to evaluate frost durability and steel-bar corrosion in antiwashout-underwater concrete, which has been neglected to date. To achieve this goal, repeated freezing and thawing and accelerated steel-bar corrosion tests have been performed for three types of antiwashout-underwater concrete specimens.The results of repeated freezing and thawing test reveal that adding mineral admixtures has little effects on frost durability because of the large and uneven entrapped-air imprisoned by the cellulose-type antiwashout-underwater admixture. Slight improvement of frost durability was observed through the action of air-entrained (AE) agent in the case of SG50 which presented an air content of 6 ± 0.5%.Measurement results using the half-cell potential showed that, among the entire specimens, steel-bar in Control specimen manufactured under artificial seawater was the first one that exceeded the threshold value, −350 mV proposed by ASTM C 876, at 14 cycles, where the corresponding corrosion current density and concentration of water soluble chloride were measured as 0.3 μA/cm² and 0.258%, respectively. For the other specimens, potential values became below −350 mV later than 18 cycles.     

Correlations among mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete

In this paper, applicability of previously published empirical relations among compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of normal concrete, polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete (PFRC) and glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) to steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) was evaluated; moreover, correlations among these mechanical properties of SFRC were analyzed. For the investigation, a large number of experimental data were collected from published literature, where water/binder ratio (w/b), steel fiber aspect ratio and volume fraction were reported in the general range of 0.25–0.5, 55–80 and 0.5–2.0%, respectively, and specimens were cylinders with size of Φ 150 × 300 mm and prisms with size of 150 × 150 × 500 mm. Results of evaluation on these published empirical relations indicate the inapplicability to SFRC, also confirm the necessity of determination on correlations among mechanical properties of SFRC. Through the regression analysis on the experimental data collected, power relations with coefficients of determination of 0.94 and 0.90 are obtained for SFRC between compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, and between splitting tensile strength and flexural strength, respectively.