Abstract:
Corrosion of reinforcement embedded in concrete is a significant problem in the
world. Chloride induced corrosion is a major problem for reinforced concrete (RC)
structures. Due to corrosion, cross-sectional steel area is reduced causing the RC
structures become structurally inadequate. Conventional design guidelines do not
provide any design procedures to predict the residual flexural strength capacity of
corroded RC structures. Therefore, a method which can be used to predict the
percentage reduction of the ultimate load bearing capacity of RC structures,
subjected to different corrosion conditions is discussed in this paper! Several RC
beams were cast and 'electrochemical corrosion technique' was adopted to corrode
the reinforcement bars of the specimens. There, the reinforcement bars of the
specimens were connected to a positive terminal (anode), and a copper bar is
connected to a negative terminal (cathode). Specimens were immersed in NaCl
solution which has a concentration of 5% by weight to provide electrical contact
between the anode and the cathode. After the specimens were corroded with
different corrosion conditions, they were tested under static load to determine the
remaining flexural strength capacities. It was revealed from the results that the
flexural strength capacity7 was reduced with the increase of the severity of the
corrosion conditions.