Simulation and experimental verification of the non-uniform corrosion cracking process of reinforced mortar specimen

Abstract To better study the non-uniform corrosion cracking process of reinforced mortar specimens, the numerical simulation has been carried out from the perspective of meso-mechanics. By applying X-ray CT technology to extract the distribution of pores, a reinforced mortar model was established, containing large pores and mortar matrix. An elastoplastic damage constitutive model of mortar was proposed based on parallel spring theory, by which the differences between tensile and compressive damage are considered. Combined with Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) technology, the non-uniform corrosion expansion displacement field of the reinforcement surface was obtained as load, and was applied in the numerical simulation. Using the finite element analysis software ABAQUS, the whole non-uniform corrosion cracking process of reinforced mortar was simulated. The damage development process of this numerical model was then verified by the DVC calculation results at specific times. In addition, the differences between the damage development of reinforced mortar model under non-uniform and uniform corrosion displacement loads are discussed.