ABSTRACT
The assessment of structures subject to deterioration is a non-negligible aspect that engineers must deal with to correctly estimate the structural response, retrofit strategies as well as maintenance plans. In fact, inaccurate estimation could result in an inappropriate design or require premature and additional interventions that were not initially planned, thus increasing the maintenance costs of the structure. Consider in this regard that in the United States alone, in-vestment in the replacement and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures and infrastructures can be estimated at around $20 billion annually. Thus, accurate estimation of structural response can result in resource savings. To this end, a simplified approach to consider the impact of corrosion on reinforced concrete structural elements is proposed here. Material deterioration, in terms of reduced area and spatial and temporal concrete degradation with a re-reduction in strength and deformation capacity, is numerically incorporated through a fibre approach with the advantage of not increasing the computational cost of analysis. The technique is validated by comparing numerical results with experimental tests available in the literature considering nonlinear static and dynamic analyses due to corrosive attack. The results demonstrate the ease and efficiency of the proposed technique to capture the impact of deterioration in the response of structural elements during the nominal life period.
