The interplay between corrosion and cracks in reinforced concrete beams with non-uniform reinforcement corrosion

Journal article, 2022

This paper investigates the interplay between corrosion of reinforcement and corrosion-induced cracking in reinforced concrete structures with non-uniform corrosion distribution based on the experimental results of a concrete beam simultaneously subjected to sustained deflection and accelerated corrosion through impressed current. Unlike previous studies, this work encompasses various refined techniques for the measurement of surface cracks, such as digital image correlation and distributed optical fiber sensors, as well as for the assessment of reinforcement corrosion, namely 3D laser scanning, to explore previously hidden aspects of the relationship between the two parameters. The applied techniques proved very effective in providing an unprecedented level of detail of both the crack development and corrosion distribution. More specifically, the formation and propagation of corrosion-induced cracks were accurately and constantly monitored over time and subsequently compared to the distribution of corrosion. The results revealed that determining the maximum corrosion level or even the location of the section with maximum corrosion based solely on visual inspection of the surface crack width may not be possible. However, the width of corrosion-induced cracks was found to increase linearly with the local corrosion level, implying that crack width monitoring can still be used to estimate the rate of corrosion degradation.