Numerical study of corrosion crack opening

Palle Thoft-Christensen, Henrik Lund Frandsen, Staffan Svensson

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Determining the reliability of reinforced concrete structures, based on visual inspections of corroding cracks on the surfaces of structures, is of great interest. In the present study, models for the deterioration of reinforced concrete structures are presented with a special emphasis on a model for corrosion crack opening. Experiments and theoretical analysis conducted by a numerical finite element method (FEM), support that the reduction of the reinforcement bar diameter due to corrosion is proportional to the corresponding increase in the crack width, measured on the surface of a concrete specimen, for a given time interval. More recently, the constant of proportionality, the so-called crack-corrosion index, has been studied further with respect to its dependence on the diameter of the reinforcement and the concrete cover. In the present paper, the above work is presented and extended with more realistic three-dimensional models of the cracked concrete beam. The crack-corrosion index is evaluated for variations of different parameters, such as bar diameter, concrete cover, crack length, and type of corrosion product. This paper is an extended version of a paper by Thoft-Christensen, Svensson and Frandsen (2005) presented at the IFIP WG 7.5 Conference, Aalborg, Denmark, May 2005.
Original languageEnglish
JournalStructure & Infrastructure Engineering
Volume4
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)381 – 391
ISSN1573-2479
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes

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