Impact of cracks on distribution of chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion
Journal article, 2023

Surface crack width is regulated in codes to limit corrosion of reinforcement bars in concrete. However, the influence of surface crack width on corrosion damages is not directly inferable from previous research.In this work, data on corroded cracked concrete specimens in chloride environments was compiled. Detailed information was included, such as crack and pit locations, local corrosion pattern, etc. Five hypotheses on the influence of transversal cracks on corrosion damage were formulated, and statistical methods were used to test them on the dataset.Transversal cracks were good indicators of the position of corrosion pits. The corrosion rate of the pit increased in proximity of a crack. With time, pits grew in depth at a slower rate but increased in number. No clear correlation between surface crack width and corrosion damage was found. Results point out discrepancies in the collected data, arguing for the need of well-defined procedures for assessing crack and corrosion damage.Further, the statistical treatment allowed for identification of bias in existing data, which was used as a research planning tool to provide guidance on the design of additional experiments. Thus, recommendations for future experimental work required to reduce the bias are given.

Transversal cracks

Reinforced Concrete

Chlorides

Corrosion

Author

Samanta Robuschi

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Oskar Larsson Ivanov

Lund University

Mette R. Geiker

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Ignasi Fernandez

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Karin Lundgren

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Materials and Structures/Materiaux et Constructions

1359-5997 (ISSN)

Vol. 56 1 7

Effect of cracks on reinforcement corrosion (Cracor)

Swedish Transport Administration (TRV2019/108016), 2019-11-01 -- 2022-12-31.

Subject Categories

Applied Mechanics

Infrastructure Engineering

Building Technologies

DOI

10.1617/s11527-022-02085-6

More information

Latest update

12/15/2023