Durability of Reinforced Concrete Beams under Simultaneous Flexural Load in Corrosive Environment

摘要

The deterioration of concrete over time is the result of various mechanical, physical, chemical and biological processes, with the corrosion of reinforcement being the most serious problem of durability of reinforced concrete structures. Over the last 50 years, a tremendous effort has been spent by the international scientific community with laboratory research and experimental field studies in order to increase the resistance of concrete over corrosion. This paper presents an experimental study of the corrosion behaviour of reinforced concrete beams with simultaneous sustained flexural loading. For this purpose, 40 reinforced concrete beams of 5 different compositions were constructed and exposed in simulated harmful environmental conditions in 3 different stress ratios for a total period of 42 months. Their behavior against corrosion was determined via regular measurements of the electrical resistance of concrete (according to ASTM G57) and the corrosion potential of the steel-reinforced bars with the use of copper sulphate (CSE) as reference electrode (according to ASTM C876). A theoretical calculation of the corrosion rate was conducted based on the electrochemical measurements of the beams. The results indicate that the corrosion potential of steel decreased in time and more rapidly after the initiation of the corrosion process; the electrical resistance firstly increased, remained stable for a short period and then decreased with the corrosion development, as expected. An inversely proportional relationship of the water/cement ratio of a composition with its corrosion behaviour as well as an analogous relationship between the cement content of a composition and its corrosion behaviour was observed. Also, the corrosion rate of steel is increased gradually with increasing load.