Structural performance of RC beams under simultaneous loading and reinforcement corrosion

Abstract The paper aims to investigate the influence of simultaneous loading and reinforcement corrosion on the structural performance of concrete beams. Five reinforced concrete beams were first loaded to 60% of their strengths, and then subjected to the sustained load and reinforcement corrosion simultaneously, until they collapsed either due to corrosion development or further loading. The experimental results indicate that, under the same loads, the time-dependant deflections of corroded beams increased more rapidly than those of non-corroded beam, and reached their limiting deflections prematurely. A local corrosion of a shorter length of tensile bars decreased beam strength and ductility more greatly than an extensive corrosion of a longer length of bars. Simultaneous loading and corrosion impairs beam strength and ductility more significantly than separate one. Either a further corrosion or an occasional over-loading or both are likely to cause concrete structures under service loads to collapse suddenly without significant deflection.