Effects of current density on the spatial variability associated with steel corrosion and flexural behavior of corroded RC beams

Since structural performance of corroded RC members primarily depends on localized corrosion damages on their reinforcements, modelling the spatial steel corrosion is important for the long-term performance assessment of RC structures. To achieve this purpose, there is a need to study the time-variant spatial distribution of steel corrosion. The impressed current technique by means of applying current density has been widely used to investigate the effect of steel corrosion on the structural capacity deterioration. It was reported that current density has great influence on the propagation of average crack width, steel corrosion, and structural behavior of RC members. However, the study of the effect of current density on the spatial variability of corrosion and cracking is scarce. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to study, using X-ray and digital image processing techniques, the effects of current density on the spatial steel corrosion and corrosion cracking of corroded RC beams.