The corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete has been reported as one of the main durability problems of reinforced concrete (RC) structures exposed to chloride, carbonation or both. To investigate the structural performances of RC structures subjected to corrosive exposure, the corrosion of rebars embedded in concrete is accelerated to induce a targeted degree of reinforcement corrosion in a short time duration. Several earlier researchers have attempted to develop a setup to induce the accelerated corrosion of steel bars in concrete structures. However, the induced corrosion has not been simulative of the naturally occurring corrosion of steel in concrete, causing a lack of accuracy in the test results. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a novel approach that could be utilized to induce required degrees of reinforcement corrosion following a natural pattern. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed setup and procedure of introducing uniform reinforcement corrosion, RC beam specimens were designed, cast, and corroded to three different corrosion levels. After inducing reinforcement corrosion, the beams were tested under flexural stress, and then the corroded bars were extracted to measure the mass loss due to corrosion. The visual inspection and gravimetric and flexural test results showed the capability of the proposed corrosion setup and procedure to induce the targeted uniform corrosion of steel bars, simulating a real-life scenario and facilitating the evaluation of the effect of reinforcement corrosion on the flexural performances of RC beams with very high accuracy.
This article aims to investigate the flexural behavior of strengthened corroded reinforced concrete (RC) beams using carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates and using a hybrid system of CFRP laminates and ultrahigh‐performance concrete (UHPC) layers. A total of 15 RC beam specimens were prepared, out of which one specimen was uncorroded–unstrengthened, and 14 specimens were corroded using accelerated corrosion set up to cause a significant reduction in the load‐carrying capacity of the RC beams. The damaged covers of the corroded RC beam specimens were first repaired and then strengthened with different strengthening strategies involving CFRP laminates alone as well as the CFRP laminates and UHPC jacketing together. The experimental results obtained by testing the strengthened RC beam specimens in flexure showed a significant enhancement in the load‐carrying capacity and stiffness of the strengthened corroded RC beams. The number of CFRP laminates, hybridization of the CFRP laminates and UHPC layer, and the thickness of the UHPC layer all significantly improved the load‐carrying capacity and stiffness of the strengthened corroded RC beams indicating the possibility of selecting an optimal strategy out of different options for strengthening the corroded beams to achieve a targeted degree of the efficacy of the strengthening. The analytical model developed in this study to estimate the flexural capacity of the strengthened RC beams was found to predict the values of the load‐bearing capacity of the RC beams strengthened using different strategies very close to their respective experimental values.
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