Numerical simulation of behavior of reinforced concrete structures considering corrosion effects on bonding

Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete can alter the interface between the steel and concrete and thus affects the bond mechanism. This subsequently influences the behavior of reinforced concrete structures in terms of their safety and serviceability. The present paper attempts to develop a numerical method that can simulate the behavior of reinforced concrete walls subjected to steel corrosion in concrete as measured by their load-deflection relationship. The method accounts for the effects of corrosion on the stiffness, maximum strength, residual strength, and failure mode of the bond between the steel and concrete. In the numerical method, the corrosion-affected stiffness and maximum strength of the bond are explicitly expressed as a function of the corrosion rate. It is found in this paper that the increase in the bond strength due to minor corrosion can increase the load-bearing capacity of the wall and the corrosion-affected reinforced concrete walls exhibit less ductile behavior compared with the uncorroded walls. The paper concludes that the developed numerical method can predict the behavior of corrosion-affected reinforced concrete seawalls with reasonable accuracy.