ABSTRACT
In chloride-laden environments, reinforced concrete structures are highly susceptible to steel corrosion, which leads to concrete cracking, spalling, and ultimately, reduced structural safety. This review paper compares the effects of two commonly employed laboratory corrosion methods—galvanostatic (GS) and artificial climate environment (ACE)—on the corrosion-induced cracking behavior and structural performance. A novel approach combining X-ray apparatus with digital image processing techniques is proposed to precisely quantify corrosion products and analyze their continuous development. Through long-term corrosion tests, the mechanisms behind corrosion-induced crack formation were examined in detail. The experimental results revealed the GS method resulted in smaller corrosion-induced cracks, attributed to a smaller steel-to-rust volume expansion ratio, which occurs due to continuous leakage and a lower oxidation degree of corrosion products in GS specimens as corrosion progresses. This study highlighted that expansion stress from corner-located rebars restrained the growth of corrosion products on center-located rebars, subsequently limiting crack propagation.
