ABSTRACT
The serviceability and durability of concrete structures may be seriously affected by the corrosion of steel reinforcement in structures that are exposed to aggressive environments, such as bridges, buildings, and marine structures. Reinforcement corrosion consumes original steel rebar, generates much lighter rust products, and creates expansive layer at the interface between the reinforcement and the surrounding concrete cover. This paper presents analytical solutions for cohesive concrete cracking evolution due to non-uniform corrosion of the steel reinforcements. The corrosion contour line of the steel reinforcements is assumed as fan-shaped, and meanwhile the shape of expanded rust products is assumed accumulating rectangularly in the interface region between rebar and concrete. Based on cumulative rust products geometric analysis, the depth of rectangular is found out while the rebar eroding, the depth is then regarded as the settlement in foundation soil, the rust products pressure acting onto the concrete cover is then obtained. Accordingly, the stress distribution at any point in concrete cover would be formulated. Furthermore, the proposed analytical solutions are validated by comparing with the experimental results.
