Numerical Modeling of Nonuniform Corrosion-Induced Concrete Crack Width
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 8
Abstract
Corrosion of reinforced concrete is one of the major deterioration mechanisms that results in premature failure of the reinforced concrete structures. In practice, concrete crack width is one of the most important criteria for the assessment of the serviceability of concrete structures. Literature review suggests that little research has been undertaken on numerical prediction of concrete crack width, especially by considering the corrosion as a nonuniform process. This paper attempts to develop a numerical model to predict concrete crack width for corrosion-affected concrete structures under realistic nonuniform corrosion of the reinforcement. A nonuniform corrosion model was first formulated as a function of time. To simulate arbitrary cracking in concrete, cohesive elements are inserted in the sufficiently fine mesh that is achieved through a script written in Python. The surface crack width is obtained as a function of service time, and verification against experimental results from literature is conducted. Accurate prediction of crack width can allow timely maintenance, which prolongs the service life of the reinforced concrete structures.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support from European Commission via the Marie Curie IRSES project GREAT under FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES-612665, Scottish Funding Council GRPe for early career researcher exchanges, and Australian Research Council under DP140101547, LP150100413, and DP170102211 is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support from the China Scholarship Council for the second author to carry out Ph.D. study at the University of Strathclyde is also thankfully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 8 • August 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 27, 2017
Accepted: Feb 5, 2018
Published online: Jun 12, 2018
Published in print: Aug 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Nov 12, 2018
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