Influences of current density on the spatial steel corrosion and reliability of corrosion-affected RC beams

Sopokhem Lim, Mingyang Zhang, Mitsuyoshi Akiyama*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Ignoring the effects of spatial variability of steel corrosion can lead to an error in the long-term performance assessment of RC structures. Recent research has been focusing on modelling spatial steel corrosion using experimental data from the corroded RC members by means of the impressed current method. However, researchers have applied a wide range of current density neglecting its effects on the spatial steel corrosion and the reliability of corrosion-affected RC beams. This paper aims to study effects of current density on the spatial steel corrosion and reliability of RC structural beam using finite element analysis. Three RC beams were corroded using current density of 50, 100, and 500 μA/cm2. The spatial growth in steel weight loss in RC specimens was quantified at different corrosion levels using X-ray and image processing techniques. It was found that low current density of 50 μA/cm2 induced more non-uniform steel corrosion than higher levels of current density. Gumbel distribution parameters were derived from the experimental results and used to approximately model the spatial steel corrosion. An illustrative example was provided to study the effect of the modelled steel corrosion associated with low and high current densities on the reliability analysis of a structural RC beam. It was found that the failure probability of the RC beam estimated using the modelled spatial steel corrosion associated with small current density was higher than that associated with high current density.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the fib Symposium 2019
Subtitle of host publicationConcrete - Innovations in Materials, Design and Structures
EditorsWit Derkowski, Piotr Krajewski, Piotr Gwozdziewicz, Marek Pantak, Lukasz Hojdys
PublisherInternational Federation for Structural Concrete
Pages2091-2097
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9782940643004
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Eventfib Symposium 2019: Concrete - Innovations in Materials, Design and Structures - Krakow, Poland
Duration: 2019 May 272019 May 29

Publication series

NameProceedings of the fib Symposium 2019: Concrete - Innovations in Materials, Design and Structures

Conference

Conferencefib Symposium 2019: Concrete - Innovations in Materials, Design and Structures
Country/TerritoryPoland
CityKrakow
Period19/5/2719/5/29

Keywords

  • Current density
  • Gumbel distribution
  • Reliability analysis
  • Spatial steel corrosion
  • X-ray

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Building and Construction
  • Architecture
  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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