ABSTRACT
The main mechanism of deterioration of reinforced concrete structures is the corrosion of steel reinforcement, and the maintenance and repair of corroded reinforced concrete structures costs billions of dollars per year. Several studies have been proposed with the aim of modeling the behavior of corroded reinforced concrete structures, highlighting the importance of evaluate the uncertainty of the corrosion phenomenon, and the corrosion initiation time and the corrosion rate have a significant impact on the reliability of these structures over time. Corrosion of reinforcements is usually expansive, subjecting the surrounding concrete to tensile stresses that can cause cracking and even spalling of the concrete. Although concrete cracking has an impact on both initiation and propagation of corrosion, few articles consider this effect in corrosion modeling. This article presents a reliability-based evaluation of corroded reinforced concrete structures. In the proposed model, analysis of concrete cracking due to reinforcement corrosion (expansion of steel bars) is carried out in order to update the corrosion propagation model. In the corrosion propagation phase, it is proposed different corrosion rates and compressive resistance of concrete cover, depending on the cracking state of the element. The proposed framework is illustrated on a reinforced concrete railway bridge.
