The effect of fibres on corrosion of reinforced concrete
Paper in proceeding, 2020

In the present paper, long-term experiments involving natural corrosion of RC beams subjected to chloride solution cyclic exposure were carried out to investigate the effect of fibres on different aspects of the corrosion process as well as their contribution to the structural behaviour of RC elements damaged by corrosion. The long-term experiments were complemented with short-term accelerated corrosion experiments and mechanical tests to investigate the influence that low fibre contents may have on individual mechanisms that play an important role in the corrosion process of steel in concrete. These showed that fibres promote crack branching which results in a change of the internal crack pattern towards multiple thinner cracks, particularly near the reinforcement. This agrees with the long-term experiment results, which exhibited longer times to corrosion initiation for FRC beams with bending cracks and revealed a more distributed corrosion with more pits but less crosssectional loss compared to bars in plain concrete. Fibres also proved beneficial in delaying corrosion-induced cracks and preventing cover spalling, which greatly enhanced the bondbehaviour of corroded bars. Furthermore, a positive effect of the fibres was also observed on the residual flexural capacity of corroded beams, which generally increased the load-carrying capacity and rotation capacity.

Chloride-induced corrosion

Durability

Residual flexural capacity

Cracking

Reinforcement bond

Author

Carlos Gil Berrocal

Thomas Concrete Group

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Karin Lundgren

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Ingemar Löfgren

Thomas Concrete Group

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

American Concrete Institute, ACI Special Publication

01932527 (ISSN)

Vol. SP-343 361-370
9782883941427 (ISBN)

3rd ACI-fib-RILEM International Workshop on Fibre Reinforced Concrete: From Design to Structural Applications, FRC 2018
Desenzano, Italy,

Subject Categories

Other Materials Engineering

Composite Science and Engineering

Corrosion Engineering

DOI

10.35789/fib.BULL.0095.Ch37

More information

Latest update

7/29/2021